A clip of the oversize metal and acrylic model of Patek Philippe's Oscillomax escapement. Video was shot at the Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

This watch escapement represents a groundup revision of the lever escapement, with every flat component (ie excluding the arbors) is grown using 'Deep Reactive Ion Etching' (DRIE), a process that was pioneered in the semiconductor industry.

The oscillating balance (dubbed GyromaxSi) is the latest component to receive the attention of the DRIE scientists, looking more like a 17th century 'foliot' than a classical balance wheel. Even the peripheral gold mass segments are electrolytically deposited!

The escape wheel now also has a revised shape, reminiscent of an anemone, with its weird tentaclelike teeth. The new shape helps provide better shockresistant banking for the lever and pallets in the event of a jolt.

The oversized demonstration model escapement refused to behave properly initially, due to it being so large, but later the Patek Philippe watchmaker sorted it out, saying, with a twinkle in his eye, that he had "lubricated it with a bit of earwax!"

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