During the Baselworld 2011 show, the two Dutch watchmakers Tim and Bart Grönefeld are going to present their new Gronefeld One Hertz hand-wound watch that features a rare dead-seconds complication.
What’s dead seconds?
A normal mechanical watch has its second hand (if available) making VPH/3600 times per second.
If your timekeeper’s balance wheel beats at 28,800 vph (which is almost a standard for a contemporary movement,) then the seconds hand on your watch makes 28,800 / 3600 = 8 small steps to travel from one mark on the minute track to the other.
That’s why it is called a sweep second
: it runs so fast that its jumps
look like a continuous, flowing movement that differentiates mechanical watches from the majority of electric timepieces.
On the other hand, dead seconds complication makes the second hand make precisely 1 “big” step per second, like a quartz watch does.
Although the complication is not very popular now because a quartz watch is not deemed “cool” any more, it is still not an easy task to accomplish — via World Watch Review
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