Escapement eventually became the escapement of choice for turret clocks, because their wheel trains are subjected to large variations in drive force caused by the large exterior hands, with their varying wind, snow, and ice loads. Since in a gravity escapement the drive force from the wheel train does not itself impel the pendulum but merely resets the weights that provide the impulse, the escapement is not affected by variations in drive force. The 'Double Three-legged Gravity Escapement' shown here is a form of escapement first devised by a barrister named Bloxam and later improved by Lord Grimthorpe. It is the
Mechanical watch the watch from its time source, the balance spring, watches could be built without a fusee and still be accurate. In the 18th century the original verge escapement, which required a fusee, was gradually replaced in better French watches with the cylinder escapement, and in British watches with the duplex escapement. Then in the 19th century both were superseded by the lever escapement which has been used almost exclusively ever since. A cheaper version of the lever, the pin lever escapement, patented in 1867 by Georges Frederic Roskopf was used in inexpensive watches until the 1970s. As manual-wound mechanical watches