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Ancient mechanism
brought to life
Jean-Philippe Arm
Hublot has achieved a tour de force – with great
humility, to be sure – by replicating, on the scale of
a wristwatch movement, the most amazing
machine that has survived from antiquity. The
Antikythera mechanism, made in Greece more
than 2,000 years ago, upends everything we knew
of the Ancient Greeks: they were able to indicate
astronomical information on dials through an
unsuspected mastery of complex bronze gear
trains.
The mechanism was found in 1901 at the bottom
of the sea, near the small island of Antikythera
north of Crete, in the wreck of a Roman ship that
sank in the 1st century BC. Carrying invaluable
masterpieces of Greek art, the ship probably
departed from Rhodes or Asia Minor for Rome. The
unusual instrument was part of the sunken treasure.
The researchers who examined the device initially
believed that it was some kind of astrolabe,
based on the 82 corroded fragments covered with
figures and inscriptions. This strange discovery
remained a mystery for years, before its secrets
were finally revealed by 21st century X-ray imaging
technology.
The tomographic analyses provided images of the
inner workings of the machine, layer by layer.
Fortunately, thanks to high-resolution pictures
taken under varying lighting patterns, portions of a
user’s manual, engraved on the walls of the
machine, were discovered and analysed by
epigraphists and science historians, providing
information critical to the reconstitution of the
mechanism. The metal alloys, the Greek script of a
particular period and other correlations, give us
conclusive evidence that it actually dates from the
2nd century BC.
The machine reflects the astronomical knowledge
of the time, mechanically reproducing several
cycles up to 940 lunar months. On one side of the
casing (33 x 18 cm), the 365 days of the Egyptian
solar calendar were displayed on a large dial,
within which a second circle listed the 12 signs of
the zodiac. A handwheel drove the gears controlling
the hands, which showed the exact position of
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| watch around no 012 autumn 2011 – winter 2012

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the sun and the moon on each day, with a small
sphere to indicate the phases of the moon.
On the back face, the handwheel could advance a
pointer to predict the next eclipse, using a combination
of several cycles. And the day was shown
on the other side, because all the operations were
synchronised. The device also displayed the cities
where upcoming games were to be held, based on
the four-year cycle of the Olympiads. We have no
evidence, to date, of similar antique machines that
used comparable technology in other fields. What
was it really for Could it have been a prototype or
a demonstration model made by a disciple of
Archimedes
The Greeks did not have the same perception of
time as we do, and the Antikythera mechanism did
not tell the time. It was the fruit of the knowledge
and compilations of observations inherited from
Babylon and Egypt, as well as the mathematics of
Magna Graecia, which made it possible to calculate
accurately the irregularities of the moon’s orbit
around the Earth. This is one of the finer aspects
of the machine. “The Antikythera mechanism
reveals solutions that are unknown in watchmaking
today,” says Mathias Buttet, director of research
and development at Hublot. “By replicating it in
miniature form in a watch movement, we wanted to
pay tribute to the engineers of antiquity.” For this
meeting between contemporary watchmaking and
ancient culture, the watchmakers added a time
indication and a tourbillon. Only three pieces will be
produced, and they will not be sold, but will be on
permanent exhibit in museums in Athens, Paris
and at Hublot. •
The Antikythera Mechanism is the subject of a 3D
film directed by Philippe Nicolet and NVP3D.
Presented at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in
Paris, the film will be shown as part of an exhibition
dedicated to this amazing machine, which also features
the movement made by Hublot.
See our website at www.watch-around.com
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| watch around no 012 autumn 2011 – winter 2012