Anchor escapement clocks. During the 19th century the deadbeat form gradually took over in most quality clocks, but the anchor form is still used in a few pendulum clocks today. The anchor escapement is reliable and tolerant of large geometrical errors in its construction, but its operation is similar to the old verge escapement, and retains two of the major disadvantages of the verge: The above two disadvantages were removed with the invention of an improved version of the anchor escapement: the deadbeat or Graham escapement. This is often erroneously credited to English clockmaker George Graham who introduced it around 1715 in
Escapement to a point close to its unstable state, and is released with a snap each swing of the balance wheel to give the wheel an impulse, after which it is cocked again by the wheeltrain. The advantage claimed is that since the blade imparts the same amount of energy to the wheel each release, the balance wheel is isolated from variations in impulse force due to the wheeltrain and mainspring which cause inaccuracies in conventional escapements. Parmigiani Fleurier with its Genequand escapement and Ulysse Nardin with its Ulysse Anchor escapement have taken advantage of the properties of silicon flat springs.