DETENT ESCAPEMENT

Detent escapement is one of the main free escapements found with the Swiss lever escapement.

It is an escapement that has the particularity to give only one release to the wheel per oscillation while almost all the escapements give two releases per oscillation or in other words one release per vibration. This particularity makes that one sees twice less impulse at the level of the second hand.

This type of escapement has almost always been present on marine chronometers. It is an escapement that in its early days always needed stability. This is probably also why marine chronometers have almost always been mounted on gimbals. This escapement was also sometimes seen on pocket watches.

It was at the beginning of the 21st century that this escapement was first introduced in a wristwatch. A watchmaker should always be careful to disarm the barrel before unscrewing the balance bridge and to rearrange the balance and its bridge, this will avoid major damage.