A detailed look at the new Rolex Dynapulse Escape

Rolex surprised friends and enemies with this year’s watch and a mysterious new movement. That’s always a relatively big deal in our small watch subuniverse, but the Calibre 7135 represents a particularly big milestone. Rolex has developed a brand new escapement called Dynapulse. It felt like we were going to take a closer look at that.

Of course, the new caliber and this new technology debuted in hotly debated land residents. However, today I would like to focus solely on escape. Let’s see why this is so big.

Friction is the enemy

Most mechanical watches use traditional Swiss lever escapements. This type of escape relies on pallet forks and escape wheels. The balance wheel rocks the pallet fork back and forth, then proceed and stops the escape wheel with discrete steps. This regulation of escape wheel movement is due to friction between the gem and the wheels of the pallet fork.

Unfortunately, friction causes wear and reduces efficiency. This is why lubricant is needed to prevent the parts from eating each other. However, the lubricant deteriorates, which is a bottleneck in the service interval of movement. Also, two-thirds of the energy from the main spring is exhausted rather than travelling to the balance wheel. Simply put, Swiss lever escape is not efficient.

Rolex caliber 7135 Dynapulse escape moves permanent land residents of Oyster

Other attempts to reduce friction before dynapulse

Over the centuries, watchmakers have put a lot of effort into developing a more efficient escape. Rolex itself has the Cronegee escape, with changes in geometry increasing efficiency by about 15%.

In theory, a stop escape is the perfect solution. Provides direct impulses to a frictionless balance wheel. Unfortunately, stopping is a single impulse mechanism. This means that you won’t start self-initiated. Also, it is too out of balance for everyday (tool) watches. Breguet’s natural escape can be explained (inadequately) because it combines two stop escapes. Without going too far into too much detail, the mechanism introduces new inefficiencies.

George Daniels then took the escape of nature and redesigned it without mesh gear. The resulting mechanism was much more practical for use with watches due to daily wear. It reduces the scary slip friction to almost zero, and the remaining friction is of the radial kind.

Rolex Dynapulse

So let’s focus on Rolex innovations so that a bit of context around Dynapulse is out of the way. It looks very similar to a natural escape, but this is very different. First of all, there is no direct impulse from the wheel to the balance wheel. Instead, the impulse is provided by a locker between the wheels. Technically, Dynapulse has nothing to do with nature’s escape.

Mostly silicon mechanisms are about 30% more efficient than the Swiss family of lever escapes. This allows Rolex to increase beat rates from 4Hz to 5Hz without sacrificing any of the 66-hour power reserves. This makes Dynapulse escape more accurate and efficient. Not bad, huh?

In theory, the mechanism may work without friction and without lubrication. In reality, Rolex applies oil (not grease) to the nanoliter area. This application requires specialized tools and is done before installing movement escapements.

What does Dynapulse mean for the future of Rolex?

I fully hope that Dynapulse will become the standard for Rolex. I don’t think there’s a reason why the brand won’t integrate this mechanism into all future moves, just like Omega’s coaxial escape. It remains to be seen whether that means that all future Rolex calibers will become high-beat variety. Alternatively, efficiency can be used to increase power reserves. However, if you ask me, Rolex is more likely to pursue accuracy than power reserve.

Cynical readers may also point out the possibility of service. New calibers with Dynapulse can be difficult to service anywhere. In this sense, technology, like all internal developments across the market, helps lock people in.

Less ironic readers see new steps in pursuing mechanical timeline perfection. Both perspectives are probably effective. In my opinion, it’s great to see such relatively large advances still possible and brands still pursue them. It’s easy to think of the halt of mechanical watch development. Inventions such as Dynapulse prove that the field is very alive.

What do you think about the Rolex Dynapulse escape? Let us know in the comments below!