Micro-Rotor Material Surprise

It's been incredible to see the response from the last post on the Supersede hands. Thank you all for the input and for voting on the hands. We are taking to heart the results, comments and emails we receive from you and will update you on the final decision this Sunday July 17th here in the forum prior to our live show and of course during the YouTube live show.

Today there are exciting things to dig into so let's get to it!

Supersede, the new integrated all-terrain sports watch, is the first to feature our ground-up K2 micro-rotor automatic. There’s a lot that makes this watch special, including four complications, a case thickness under 10mm, a water resistance rating of 200 meters and a tapered, integrated 904L stainless steel bracelet with a completely new and proprietary micro-adjustment buckle. Of course, our latest K2 micro-rotor caliber steals the show and it likely makes Supersede the most accessible Swiss micro-rotor GMT watch on the market. Did I mention that the K2 comes with both a silicon escapement and silicon hairspring? That’s likely a first for a small independent brand.

Allan taking a cool swim with Supersede in Scotland. Give him a follow @the_leica_journal

Are corners being cut for such a heavyweight watch with a lightweight price?

Absolutely not. In fact, attention to every conceivable detail and its overall performance enables Supersede to standout amongst the crowd at each tier in the luxury segment of Swiss micro-rotors. You’d think we’d have to make concessions somewhere, like the choice of metal for the micro-rotor. Given the difficulty of maintaining efficiency with a small, offset rotor (compared to a conventional, central counterpart), a heavy and dense metal is required. Tungsten is the most logical in this case as it’s perfectly dense and heavy, and still considered a premium material given the cost. Most movements makers mix brass with tungsten, but we always utilize pure tungsten. It's relatively accessible and its properties are well known to our engineers and manufacturers. However, there is another option - platinum. This rare metal perfectly meets the standard and provides both a fresh precious metal look with undeniable prestige. So, we thought why not offer both gold plated tungsten and platinum micro-rotors for Supersede pre-order customers.

Believe it or not, the spot price for platinum is currently less than gold, but it gets a little tricky. Gold is a soft metal and used as an alloy for necessary strength. For example, 18k gold is 75% gold and 25% other metals such as nickel, copper or silver. Platinum is stronger and comes in a much purer form, generally 95% called PT950. In fact, anything below 80% isn’t even considered platinum. So, more platinum is used for a given piece, whether it’s a watch case, bracelet or micro-rotor, and higher purity increases the price. With 95% purity, the remaining 5% of the rotor makeup is a hard white metal called ruthenium, which is a rare inert transition metal belonging to the platinum group. For those of you still digging the yellow gold look, it's legally not an option to gold plate PT950 and thus the reason we are offering both options at pre-order. In Switzerland, a precious metal like PT950 platinum can't be plated over with another precious metal if marked with PT950. This is due to PT950 being a protected hallmark granted and secured by the Swiss government.

What exactly is platinum?

The name comes from platina (or plata), which is Spanish for silver. It was discovered (officially) in South America in 1735, but dates back to ancient Egypt. Back then, however, it was mixed with gold and it’s debated whether or not they were aware of the metal. Fast forward to the 21st century and it’s among the most rare and desirable of precious metals. There are few viable mines around the world and much of what's found is monopolized by the global auto industry. Platinum is a vital component for emissions control devices, principally catalytic converters. That need significantly cuts into the global supply (around 45%), making it even more scarce for jewelry and watches. It’s one of the least reactive metals and incredibly resistant to corrosion, making it ideal for watch cases and other components like micro-rotors.

Difficulties go beyond rarity, however, as the metal is difficult to work with. It can become a bit gummy when cutting, requiring specialized equipment and experience compared to gold or steel. Labor costs increase by 500% in the case of micro-rotors as it's simply more to work with platinum than gold, for example, and unlike gold, the metal can’t simply be melted down and reused. Scraps and other pieces must go to a refiner for processing, which is much costlier than simply melting gold or silver. When compared to gold, platinum is five times more costly to manufacture, but when compared to tungsten, its a factor of thirty (30x)! However, none of this dissuaded us from considering platinum as it defines the upper echelon of rotor material in the Swiss micro-rotor market, but needless to say it's a significant upgrade.

How does platinum weigh up?

At 21 grams per cubic centimetre, K2 would utilize 3.18 grams of platinum. Tungsten is 18.5 grams per cubic centimetre, so a K2 tungsten micro-rotor would weigh in at 2.8 grams. 22K gold was the least efficient given its 17.45 grams per cubic centimetre, which equates to a 2.64 gram rotor for Supersede and thus the reason we did not consider gold as an option.

The tried, tested and true gold plated tungsten rotor of K2 seen above.

As one can see, platinum is the most dense and this could contribute to its performance. To see how things compare, our engineers look at the theoretical angle (or breaking angle) because it's the degree at which the rotor begins to move. The breaking angle is measured at approximately 95% of the main barrel's capacity, because a full mainspring is more difficult to wind than an empty one.

Comparing the theoretical angle for platinum and tungsten, we see that the platinum rotor only needs to be at 31 degrees, while tungsten needs 36 degrees to initiate rotor swing. Less angle for platinum means your wrist needs to be at less of an angle to initiate movement of the rotor, which will ultimately begin rewinding the main barrel. Today, more than at anytime in history, the work place is becoming less active with many of us working from the computer. Less arm movement means that a reduction of the theoretical angle by a matter of a few degrees initiates rotor winding earlier. Overall, on the Cyclomotion (a device where we simulate wrist movement), both materials have performed similarly. The theoretical angles at play on a real wrist is where we see how things stack up and is where platinum shines, but finalizing this data will take more time.

Photo @the_vintage_guy

It will be interesting to hear your reports in the future when you have the watch on your wrist.

Regardless of material, the K2 micro-rotor is incredibly efficient and rivals conventional rotors. In our initial tests with tungsten, a relatively relaxed 8 hour work day can wind the watch from zero to around 55 hours of power reserve (or 75%). A more active day where someone is walking and doing work around the house, as well as mixing in a little desk time, delivers 10 hours of power reserve every hour - that's 7.2 hours to arrive at a full power reserve. Compared to our K1 automatic, the results in the lab are pretty much identical and that's a massive win for a micro-rotor as K1 is deemed a very efficient, conventional automatic. Power generation is one thing, but power store from a single barrel is another. K2 packs a +72 hour power reserve and also meets the COSC standard of accuracy (-4/+6 seconds per day). It’s a remarkable achievement by our small team of engineers, but it's what we live for.

The Platinum Upgrade

We've been through a lot together. And by "we" I mean you, our project supporters, and all of us here at Horage engineering and designing Supersede.

Jumping in and supporting such a project isn't for everyone and we're extremely grateful that you've taken part! This includes those that join us in the upcoming August pre-order.

In our pursuit to find the best possible materials, we found that gold plated tungsten meets our performance requirements. Therefore, it will stay as the standard option and is inclusive in the price at pre-order. Platinum, on the other hand, is in a league of its own when it comes to its look and material costing. It has the upside of increased density with the potential to deliver more in terms of precious metal value, along with potential better rewinding efficiency (to be determined).

We've calculated that platinum would increase the price of the movement by 1,200 Swiss francs. We love the looks of it, but we also needed to take a step back and find a way to include it as an option.

For those who have taken part in the November 2021, March 2022 and the upcoming August 2022 pre-orders, you'll have the option to upgrade to platinum at just 390 Swiss francs. The option will remain available in our store during the August 2022 pre-order & the final pre-order round in October 2022.

Will you upgrade to PT950?

As always let us know in the comments and be sure to join Andi & Landon Live on YouTube tomorrow Sunday July 17th @17:00 CET

For those of you looking for the result of the Hands Vote we will have a forum update for you tomorrow Sunday July 17th prior to our live show.

Till next time...

Erik Slaven & Landon Stirling