NewTech. The 51 Parts in Swatch’s New Watch Are Secured by a Single Screw.
Watch. August 11, 2014. To mark its 30th birthday, Swatch has produced an automatic mechanical watch movement with exactly 51 parts, the same number of components used in the company’s first quartz timepiece. That’s a real feat—self-winding watches are far more complex than quartz ones, often containing upwards of 500 parts. But the Sistem51 is radically simple: A single screw holds its stripped-down guts together. The case is hermetically sealed, so the gears never need cleaning or oiling. And since the 51 is assembled entirely by robots, not human hands, it sells for only $150 in a market where prices often reach the thousands. That’s one impressive piece of wearable tech. (Wired)
