Let’s start with a needed statement: we are talking about two of the best watch manufacturers of the planet, so there isn’t a clear-cut winner in this competition!
From a technical point of view, Rolex has developed lots of excellent innovations in watchmaking, but I dare to say, they are quite “conservative”. That is, they never dared doing something like Omega did. And most probably, Omega bought the coaxial escapement because it had to compete with Rolex.
The coaxial escapement was developed by George Daniels in 1976 and patented in 1980. I used the term “developed” and not “invented” because the coaxial has lots in common with another traditional escapement, the duplex, which was instead developed around 1750, thanks to Pierre Le Roy. And it is useful to see how it is.
The duplex takes its name from the double profile of its escape wheel, which features two distinct sets of teeth, and it achieved a better precision than the cylinder escapement, as its elements had less friction in their operations. However, it was complex to craft, and ultimately, less performing vs detached escapements like the lever escapement.
Daniels had the intuition of combining the good aspects of the duplex with the lever, obtaining a result that is touted as being almost frictionless.
As you can see, the two escape wheels look remarkably similar, given the 200 years between them. The difference mainly lies in the complex shape of the three-pronged anchor used to transform impulse from rotating to oscillating, making the movement detached (so, self-starting) and much more resilient to shocks.
Given this, how the two systems - traditional lever and coaxial - compare?
They work similarly and ensure an excellent mechanical precision and performance. Both can be - and are - calibrated to reach Superlative Chronometer performance (that is, +/- 2 seconds per day), and both mechanisms, due to their construction, use of synthetic oils and quality, can work consistently for five years between service intervals, comfortably reaching the 10-year milestone.
This is because, while the coaxial develops less friction than the lever, the rest of the wheel train is still traditional, so it must be cleaned and oiled every five/ten years or so to preserve its timekeeping performance - so the “frictionless” claim by Omega is a sort of little white lie.
So, which to choose?
They are both excellent systems. The Rolex uses tried-and-true tech that has been refined to almost perfection during its 200 years of history (the level escapement was invented by Thomas Mudge in the 1750s), while the Omega uses a more “risqué” approach with a newer (but still 50-year old) development that offers some marginal improvements over the plain-vanilla lever.
If you ask me, I’d wear both with equal pleasure, but having grown with the levers and dabbled with cylinders, having at least one coaxial would satisfy one of my nerd horologist pet craves.
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