Maciej Misznick from Poland wins the Young Talents Competition in 2022

The Young Talents Competition supports the development and independence of young watchmakers around the world. In 2022, the winner was Maciej Misznick from Poland. We introduce his winning work, quoting his words.

The winning entry was a pocket watch equipped with a tourbillon and detent escapement

　Since 2015, the Young Talents Competition has rewarded the world's most talented young watchmakers and supported their path to independence. It has been led by FP Journe in collaboration with luxury watch retailer The Hour Glass. François-Paul Journe of FP Journe and Michael Tay of The Hour Glass share the same goal: to share the art of fine watchmaking and promote the craftsmanship of the art.

　The selection criteria are technical ability, complexity of reproduction, design sense, aesthetic sense, and quality of craftsmanship.

　The winner will receive a certificate and a prize of 2 Swiss francs to use towards purchasing watchmaking tools and funding their own watch project.

　The jury for the 2022 Young Talents Competition is made up of leading figures from the international watch industry: Philippe Dufour, Andreas Strehler, Giulio Papi, Marc Jeni, Michael Tay, Elisabeth Doerr and François-Paul Journe.

　Before we introduce the work of the 2022 winner, Maciej Misznick, let's get a little bit about him. Originally from Poland, Maciej Misznick is self-taught in watchmaking and earned his watchmaking master's degree in Warsaw in June 2018. In September 2021, he earned a bachelor's degree in physics from the Gdańsk University of Technology in Poland.

　The winning design is a pocket watch equipped with a tourbillon and detent escapement. Below we introduce the design, quoting Maciej's words:

A pocket watch inspired by the marine chronometer

"Marine chronometers are the inspiration for my pocket watches, so the case is made of brass, but for a strong contrast, the chain and suspender are made of silver.

　Most of the parts are designed in my workshop without the use of numerically inputted machines. I have made the clocks using basic potter's wheels, milling lathes and manual machines.

　For visibility, the stainless steel hands have been blued through a heat oxidation process. In my opinion, the tempered blue hands complement the black indexes on the silver dial well. What makes it even more complicated is that the hour hand is a jumping hour hand, which jumps once every hour, unlike a regular watch.

Technical characteristics of the movement

"Like a stationary marine chronometer, the escapement is a detent type with a pivot. The balance wheel has a frequency of 2 Hz. A detent escapement is resistant to friction, but is not shock resistant.

　For this reason, I choose pocket watches over wristwatches, plus a tourbillon to reduce balance issues.

　The main problem with a tourbillon watch is the moment of inertia of the cage, so the parts of the tourbillon cage are very delicate and fragile.

　The cage is very heavy, about 2g, but this reduces the moment of inertia problem. The balance, pinion and wheels are separated and connected by a bronze mainspring. The escapement gear rotates around the stainless steel axis of the pinion in a tube with two rubies. The mainspring is shaped to keep the gear on the pinion, so the gear cannot fall off.

"When the cage stops, the escapement is released. The escapement moves and the cage starts to rotate. When the escapement stops on the ruby, the cage continues to move, losing kinetic energy and returning slightly. The cage's return is due to the force of the cage's moment of inertia and the reaction force of the mainspring.

　In many tourbillon watches, the cage stops along with the escapement, temporarily placing large loads on the escapement components and generating unwanted vibrations. In this solution, the mainspring absorbs the vibrations, similar to solutions proposed by Derek Pratt, Carol Roman, and others.

　The balance uses a Breguet balance spring. Two screws on the balance adjust the oscillation rate. The other screws balance the balance, and the tourbillon cage is also balanced with silver weights. We chose silver because of its density.

Most of the parts are made by hand

"This watch uses the metal material as is. It is not painted or plated, and only the hands and three screws have been blued using an oxidation process. The silver parts have been sulfurized, giving the dial and small plates a darker hue.

　I made most of the parts myself and finished everything by hand. However, the watch chain, crystal, 18 rubies, balance spring, two main springs, and 28 of the 40 screws were not made in my workshop. I also had a professional engraver do the engraving of the signature.

Numerical information:
Diameter: 4.9cm excluding hinges and lock, 5.2cm including hinges and lock
Height: 7.1cm, Thickness: 1.55cm without screws, 1.67cm with screws
Weight: 112.2g with lock and chain, 100.2g without lock and chain