Lever escapement and other parts out of harder materials than steel, eliminating the need for lubrication. Materials being tried include silicon, nickel phosphorus, diamond, and diamond-on-silicon. Ulysse Nardin in 2001, Patek Philippe in 2005, and Zenith (watchmaker) in 2013 introduced watches with silicon escape wheels. Lever escapement The lever escapement, invented by British clockmaker Thomas Mudge in 1755, is a type of escapement that is used in almost all mechanical watches, as well as small mechanical non-pendulum clocks, alarm clocks, and kitchen timers. An escapement is a mechanical linkage that gives pushes to the timepiece's balance wheel, keeping it rotating back and
Escapement was recognized as a disturbing influence on the isochronism of the balance. Purchasers no longer buy mechanical watches primarily for their accuracy, so manufacturers had little interest in investing in the tooling required, although finally Omega adopted it in 1990. Although a highly ingenious escapement design, the Daniels coaxial nevertheless still needs lubrication to the lever pallet pivots. In addition, because of its geometry the impulse wheel can only have a limited number of teeth, thus it is necessary to have an extra wheel and pinion in the wheel train the pivots of which also need lubricating. Therefore, the advantages