A watch for a dead beat...

Deadbeat seconds – where the second hand advances in full steps of one second instead of an apparently smooth sweeping action – was a very
respected complication until the 1980s; however, its popularity died with the dominance of quartz movements, which also stepped in full seconds. A smooth sweeping second hand came to differentiate mechanical from quartz.



History of the Deadbeat Seconds
With the introduction of the pendulum in the 17th century, clocks finally became accurate enough to measure seconds. It was then not long before a hand indicating seconds on a long clock's dial signified a precision timepiece. A pendulum with a period – the time to swing forward and back – of two seconds (the most common) resulted in a single tick per second.

The invention of the balance spring, which replaced the pendulum, enabled miniaturization. As portable pocket watches became more accurate, watchmakers naturally thought to copy the one-second steps of the second hand, which signified a precision timepiece; however, the rapidly oscillating balance meant that it could not be directly driven from the oscillator as with the pendulum, so it either necessitated a new mechanism if independent, or it had to be driven from another complication e.g., a constant force device. While pocket watches have featured independent deadbeat seconds in the past, the Grönefeld One Hertz is the first wristwatch featuring independent deadbeat seconds.

thanks for posting the history of the deadbeat hand concept! Of course now the trend is reversed....
Mechanical sweeping hands is the flavor of the times! I wonder how long this will continue?...or until the watch companies find another idea to sell to the generations of the day?
For instance, Seiko in 1992 brought out the SUS line analogue watch for the then generation weaned on digitals. The idea was to show the youth of the time what analogue dials looked like! haha!

I'm learning alot today about different movements !
Have heard of Deadbeats Seconds, but honestly never
knew 100% of what it actually was. THIS explains it
REALLY well, and the way it's used in this Gronefeld
is TREMENDOUSLY cool !!! ..What a FANTASTIC
looking watch by the way ! Yowza !!!..Could have alot
of fun staring into this dial, along with those sub-dials.
I wonder if they will begin using this movement more,
and more in the watch industry once again !..Thanks
for this information, as well as showing the watch !

cool read. I like the deadbeat tick as long as it's mechanical

Thanks, learn something every day. Not something I'd want but interesting to know. I have a 0 Hertz watch and its great, so do you - you're Panerai