Independent Horology Institute · Est. 1974
We certify movements
by measurement,
not by myth.
HEXANOX accepts no advertising, holds no equity in any manufacture, and grants no certificate that its own instruments did not earn. A movement enters our vault as a claim. It leaves — if it leaves — as a fact.
52 h reserve · 23 jewels
Specimen imaged with Higgsfield nano-banana; mesh reconstructed with Meshy image-to-3D. Reconstruction pending — archival still displayed.
Dossier — Specimen 001HX/CERT/2026/0001
Five stations of the calibre are indexed below. Select a callout in the vitrine — or a row in the dossier — and the instrument will answer. Every figure was taken at 23.0 ±0.5 °C on our own bench, twice, by two different hands.
« Le doute est notre métier. »| Nº | Station | Measured finding |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Balance & hairspring | Amplitude 297° dial-up; beat error 0.1 ms; Nivarox-class alloy, free-sprung, 4 gold masselottes |
| 02 | Mainspring barrel | Torque 6.8 N·mm at full wind; slip within 1.2%; 52 h 14 min measured reserve against 52 h claimed |
| 03 | Ratchet & crown wheels | Black-polished steel; tooth pitch error ≤2 μm; winding effort 41 g·cm, uniform through 34 turns |
| 04 | Going train (gilt) | Depthing verified at ×40; pinion leaves burnished; total train friction loss 4.1% — exceptional |
| 05 | Jewelled bearings | 23 synthetic rubies; olive-domed holes; endshake 12–18 μm across all arbors, within house tolerance |
Certification Standards§ 01 — Tolerances
A HEXANOX certificate is a list of numbers with a signature under it. These are the numbers a movement must survive. They are stricter than ISO 3159, and they are non-negotiable — a miss of one micron in one position on one day is a miss.
Clause 1.1 — Mean daily rate
−1 / +3 s/day
Averaged over 21 days in five positions. The chronometer norm allows −4/+6; we consider that a rounding error with a diploma.
Clause 1.2 — Positional variance
≤ 2.0 s/day
Maximum spread between dial-up, dial-down, crown-left, crown-right and crown-down. Gravity is not an excuse; it is a constant.
Clause 2.1 — Beat error
≤ 0.2 ms
Measured acoustically at 21,600 vph and confirmed optically at 2,000 frames per second. The tick and the tock must be twins.
Clause 2.2 — Amplitude, full wind
270°–315°
Below 270° the escapement starves; above 315° it knocks. After 24 h of run-down the balance must still carry 230° or the file closes.
Clause 3.1 — Pivot geometry
±1.5 μm
Arbor pivots gauged against master cylinders. Endshake between 10 and 20 μm; sideshake never above 8. We measure, we do not admire.
Clause 3.2 — Thermal drift
≤ 0.35 s/day/°C
Rate recorded at 8 °C, 23 °C and 38 °C. A watch lives on a wrist, not in a vault — although ours will pass in the vault too.
The Six Tests§ 02 — Procedure
Every candidate movement undergoes six ordeals in fixed order over 21 days. No stage may be repeated. A failure at any stage returns the movement to its maker with our findings — and our condolences.
The Silence
48 hours untouched at 23 °C while acoustic sensors listen for anything the maker did not intend: a loose screw sings, a dry pivot whispers.
Noise floor ≤ −74 dBT+0 → T+2 dThe Five Positions
Ten days of rate-taking in five orientations, wound to 100% each morning at 08:00 institute time. Every reading enters the register in ink.
Δ ≤ 2.0 s/d across positionsT+2 → T+12 dThe Furnace & The Frost
Cycled 8 °C → 38 °C in four-hour ramps. Hairspring alloys reveal their true composition here; so, occasionally, do suppliers.
≤ 0.35 s/d/°CT+12 → T+15 dThe Starvation
Wound once, then abandoned. We record amplitude decay minute by minute until the balance surrenders, and compare death against the reserve claimed.
Reserve ≥ claim − 2%T+15 → T+18 dThe Shock
Calibrated impacts of 5,000 g on three axes, then a full re-rating. Anti-shock settings must return every pivot to within 1.5 μm of its recorded seat.
Post-shock drift ≤ 1.0 s/dT+18 → T+19 dThe Examination
Full disassembly under ×40 magnification. Finishing is graded — anglage, black polish, gilt sinks — because a movement that lies about its beauty lies about everything.
132-point inspectionT+19 → T+21 dRegister of Certified Movements§ 03 — Extract, 2026
The public register lists every calibre certified this year, its measured performance, and the grade earned. HC — Haute Chronométrie — has been awarded eleven times in fifty-two years.
| Certificate | Calibre | Manufacture | Beat rate | Mean rate | Pos. Δ | Amplitude | Reserve | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HX/2026/0001 | HX-01 «Meridian» | Atelier Vesely, Praha | 21,600 vph | +0.4 s/d | 1.1 s/d | 297° | 52 h 14 | HC |
| HX/2026/0002 | Cal. 117 «Aubier» | Maison Ferrand, Besançon | 28,800 vph | +1.2 s/d | 1.8 s/d | 281° | 41 h 02 | CERTIFIÉ |
| HX/2026/0003 | K-9 «Shirakaba» | Kobayashi Tokei, Nagano | 18,000 vph | −0.3 s/d | 0.9 s/d | 305° | 60 h 47 | HC |
| HX/2026/0004 | Cal. 8 «Ostara» | Uhrenbau Wieland, Glashütte | 21,600 vph | +2.1 s/d | 1.9 s/d | 274° | 46 h 30 | CERTIFIÉ |
| HX/2026/0005 | V.72 «Ligure» | Officine Sanmarco, Torino | 28,800 vph | +1.7 s/d | 1.4 s/d | 288° | 44 h 11 | CERTIFIÉ |
| HX/2026/0006 | Cal. 21 «Brume» | Manufacture Delorme, Le Locle | 21,600 vph | +0.8 s/d | 1.2 s/d | 293° | 55 h 58 | CERTIFIÉ |
| HX/2026/0007 | HD-3 «Polaris» | Hedström Urverk, Malmö | 36,000 vph | +1.9 s/d | 2.0 s/d | 276° | 38 h 21 | CERTIFIÉ |
Extract of 7 from 41 certificates issued Jan–Jun 2026. Rejection rate this period: 74.6%. Full register available for consultation at the institute, by appointment, in person.
Glossary of the Escapement§ 04 — Terms
The vocabulary we use in every certificate, defined the way we use it — precisely, and without romance.
- Amplitude
- The arc, in degrees, through which the balance swings from rest. A healthy movement at full wind runs 270°–315°. Amplitude is the pulse we take first and trust most.
- Beat error
- The asymmetry between the two halves of the balance's oscillation, in milliseconds. We tolerate ≤ 0.2 ms. Beyond that, the escapement limps.
- Escapement
- The mechanism — pallet fork and escape wheel — that releases the train one tooth at a time and returns impulse to the balance. It is where energy becomes time.
- Endshake
- The deliberate axial play of an arbor between its jewels. We specify 10–20 μm: enough to breathe, never enough to wander.
- Hairspring
- The spiral spring, thinner than a human hair, whose elasticity gives the balance its beat. Its breathing must be concentric; we film it to be sure.
- Isochronism
- The ideal that oscillations of different amplitudes take equal time. No real balance achieves it; a certified one comes within 1.5 s/d from full wind to +24 h.
- Luminova
- The photoluminescent compound on hands and indices — the only light a movement is permitted to emit, and the only colour this institute permits itself.
- Vibrations per hour
- The count of balance half-swings per hour. Common rates: 18,000 (2.5 Hz classical), 21,600, 28,800, 36,000. Faster is not finer; finer is finer.