Silicon Skeptic

I remain quite skeptical about the use of silicon in a watch's mechanism. I agree that the use of such high tech materials might bring improvements to the measurement of time, but I feel, perhaps with technology like silicon, the art of watchmaking is somewhat lost.

Perhaps I am a romantic, who believes that the soul of high horology is in combination of art and hand skill of the experts who make the watch come alive. So for me, the material is not particularly exciting.

What it promises to do, somewhat excites me. But I do feel it takes away a bit from the romance of horology. The silicon parts are grown in a laboratory, under controlled, repeatable, scientific conditions. Not a piece of material like Elnivar, though made in a factory, is bent, pulled, pushed, cajoled, into shape by a watchmaker's expertise.