Calasys (for Calabrese’ system)

An invention that has been on Vincent Calabrese’s mind for forty years. Presented in 2021, praised by his peers, and further recognised with a Gold Medal at the last Geneva International Inventions Exhibition in 2023 and the Entrepreneurship Award.

More than an invention, it is an intervention, the separation of an old couple: the balance wheel and the hairspring, a flywheel and a snail spring, which have been keeping time in portable mechanical watches since the 17th century.

Vincent Calabrese wanted to break up this couple.

Calasys – the name of his invention. This delicate mechanism is like a rake, a serrated, arched head that meshes with a pinion fixed to the axle of a balance wheel and a handle held on a pivot to make it movable. It thus oscillates from left to right, constantly pushed back to the centre by two leaf springs that strive to restore an unstable equilibrium, like gravity on a clock pendulum. This is where equality and isochronism come from. Perhaps. Because the mechanism is still only a prototype, patented but not yet validated by the walking test, a key step towards industrial production.

PME, Stéphane Gachet
Published on 16 August 2023