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Today Dimitri has a bad day
you know, the kind of day
when you drop everything
Our friend has dropped his favorite watch
and almost broke it
Good thing that his watch is special
they are the "Komandirskie"
The "Komandirskie" watch was created
specially for the military
The watch has a solid waterproof case
luminous hands and the watch's caseback
was made of anti-magnetic metal
in case of a nuclear explosion
Dimitri is not wearing his "Komandirskie"
because he is in the military
but because he is a designer for the modern
"Komandirskie" watch
and Dimitri will explain to us
why the legendary "Komandirskie" are not afraid
of humidity, dust or shocks
We also would like to know
why the "Komandirskie" are so accurate
Let's begin by visiting the watch factory
and let's visit the workshop where the
main plate is made
The main plate is the base upon which
the watch's mechanism is built
It is cut out of brass plates
Then over 100 holes are drilled into the main plate
Then rubies are placed inside these holes
These rubies are synthetic, but for a watch
mechanism they are still a precious element
Having the proper number of jewels
ensures the watch will be more accurate and sturdy
Why?
Just watch...
The wheels and axis which are in constant
motion in a watch create friction
To prevent the moving parts from wearing down,
they are positioned on jewels like
rubies, sapphires or garnets
These jewels play the role of
incredibly resistant bearings
and they protect the various parts of the mechanism
which don't wear down, so retain their accuracy
Thus from a small brass plate
We now have a ready base for the watch
stuffed with artificial rubies
Let's go further
We are now in the "invisible details workshop"
Let's watch
As the machine-tolls are working
even though the details are invisible
Is this some kind of magic?
But if we look carefully
minute details the size of a grain of rice
You are not going to believe this
but this is the biggest part our camera could see
Amazing no?
There are 211 such microscopic details in this watch
and all of them are cut by machine-tools
But that is not all
Dimitri has asked one of the engineers
to give him a tiny wheel
We will take a closer look at it now
with the help of a special projector
This machine will increase the size of the wheel
several hundreds of times
It turns out that our microscopic wheel
also has small notches
When all the details are ready
they are sent to the assembly workshop
But how are watches assembled in the first place?
In the 16th century Galileo noticed
that an attached weight regularly swings back and forth
and Galileo proposed to use the pendulum for clocks
The mechanical energy of a clock comes from
either a pendulum or from a mainspring
When we wind up our watch
we tension this mainspring
Then, when the mainspring unfolds
a system of wheels transmits this energy
to the heart of the clock:
The balance wheel which, in turn,
moves the hands across the dial
Inside the balance there is a spring
which is thinner than a human hair
From one kilogram of this special alloy
we could make 50 kilometers of such wire
The balance wheel is the most important part of a watch
and if it is not assembled properly
the watch will either not run accurately
or will stop altogether
By the way, if you drop your watch
and it stopped running
you most likely have damaged your balance wheel
Now we can answer our initial question
why do the "Komandirskie" watches not fear shocks?
because the balance wheel is protected by a shock absorber
Let's watch
During a shock the balance staff breaks down
When the watch falls, the balance staff hits the jewel
and bends out of shape
But if we place a spring on top of the jewel
it will absorb the shock and return the jewel to the correct position
and the balance staff will not be damaged
A 24 hours cycle is composed of 86,400 seconds
and this is exactly the number of seconds
an accurate watch should count
to achieve this level of accuracy
All 211 watch parts are assembled manually
and at least fifty different pairs of hands
work on each watch
We still need to find the answer
to another question
Why do the "Komandirskie" not fear being exposed
to humidity
It is claimed that the "Komandirskie" can be submerged
to a depth of 200 meters
The secret of this is in the protective
watch crystal made of organic glass
When, for example, a demolition diver
submerges himself under water
the water pressure acts on the crystal
which flattens and pushes against the watch case
thus making the watch even more waterproof
The final element of the watch production:
the checking of every produced watch
Watches are tested for water resistance and accuracy
The new watches spend several hours in this special machine
and are subsequently place in a safe
In another 24 hours the watches are rotated and tested again
this testing continues for two weeks
If any watch is found to be inaccurate by more then 20 seconds
they will be sent back for re-timing
After visiting the workshops Dimitri became even more
convinced of the invulnerability of his watch
and he decided to try an incredible experiment
You have already guessed what will happen next
Dimitri will check to see whether his watch
can resist the pressure of a 2 ton car
Incredibly, this mechanical watch is still working
This is technology!