The
125West Ruby is one of the world's largest known ruby crystal weighing
in at 8.2lbs and amounting to 18,696 Carats. The Ruby crystal is
semi-translucent to opaque and contains rutile. If cut en cabochon, this
may create a six ray star. When exposed to long-wave ultraviolet light,
the ruby displays a strong red fluorescence. It measures 122.4mm x
112.3mm x 133.9mm.
If you have doubts, this
gem is certified by the Gemology Institute of America Report 15171991
dated May 24th, 2006. If carved this Ruby would be the largest ruby
curvature in the world. If cut en cabochon, the 125West Ruby would be
the largest cut and polished ruby gemstone in the world.
Rubies
have a long history within the mechanism of a watch.In 1702, Nicolas Fatio (Facio) de Duillier, a Swiss mathematician who was born in Basel, Switzerland, and Pierre and Jacob Debaufre introduced Jewel Bearings into a watch movement to reduce friction; however, the jewels were not widely used until the middle of the 19th century. Until the 20th Century these jewels were ground from tiny pieces of natural gems. The watches had garnet and quartz, but it was the luxury top quality watches that used sapphire, ruby and even diamonds.
In
1902, a process to grow artificial sapphire crystals was invented,
thereby making the jewels cheaper. In most modern watches, synthetic
rubies (left image) are used between the moving parts, especially in the
escapement and have a major effect on the timekeeping accuracy. It was
discovered the harder the material used as bearings, the lessor the
friction. Thus the ultra hard slick surface has a lower coefficient of
friction with metal. In addition Rubies increase the life of the
bearings. Rubies is the second hardest material after diamond and seven
times harder than topaz. The Ruby belongs to the Coronado group of
minerals, its name stemming from the red color (Latin: Rubeus). Red
corundum is always called by the name Ruby whereas any other colors of
corundum are known as Sapphires. The only difference between synthetic
sapphire and ruby is as a result of the different impurities that have
been added to change the color. There is absolutely no difference in
their properties as bearings. Rubies can be opaque, translucent or
transparent.
The
very best watches have a 21 jewel movement; some have slightly more and
some less. Some ETA movements use a 25 jewel movement which is a
question of style rather than functionality.
