The Co-Axial escapement is a modern watch escapement invented by English watchmaker George Daniels, who patented it in 1980. It is an altered lever escapement that borrows features from the detent escapement. Its main advantage over the lever escapement is that it almost entirely removes sliding friction.
How does the Co-Axial escapement work?
The escapement uses three pallets, so locking and impulse are handled separately. Its name comes from a second escape wheel that sits on the same axis, or arbor, as the main escape wheel. The teeth of the escape wheel push directly on the balance roller. Monochrome says this makes the escapement more mechanically efficient. Omega says the design has smaller contact surfaces, so it creates less friction. In theory, the pallets need no oil. In practice, a little lubricant is still put on the pallet stones.
Where it comes from
George Daniels created the escapement during the quartz crisis. Collector Seth G. Atwood had commissioned a watch meant to improve how mechanical watches perform. Daniels later patented the design in 1980. Omega launched it in 1999 and calls this the industry’s first practical new watch escapement in about 250 years. That year, Omega also made a model of the escapement for Daniels, now held by the Science Museum Group. The calibre 2500 was the first commercial movement to use it. Today it is used in most of Omega’s mechanical watch models. Apart from the Swiss lever escapement, it is the only escapement made on an industrial scale.
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