Independents

hnsdoc
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An artificial heart

Maybe because I'm a surgical resident (one-track mind? ), this watch reminds me of an artificial heart, especially the Abiocor artificial heart (the first fully implantable artificial heart).

The first similarity that struck me was from the watch's two "portholes". They look like the external view of the heart - at most angles, you'll see two valves/vessels facing you.

Then several more things about the the two devices reminded me of each other.

One is the exterior of the watch: very high-tech but simple, just the like the heart; both are hiding really interesting technology inside. That internal technology performs a deceptively "simple" function (keeping time or pumping blood) that is actually complex and subtle.

Another similarity is between the rectangular form of the Horological Machine 2 and some older, external cardiac pumps, but the fact that you can wear the MBF-2 and take it with you is more like the fully implantable Abiocor, which travels everywhere inside the patient.

The next common theme between the watch and artificial hearts is brought up by the picture of the MBF-2 movement. The black part between the two round parts (apologies for not knowing more watch anatomy terms!) looks just like the mechanical devices that turn to pump fluid through some old artificial hearts, cardiac bypass pumps, and IV pumps.

Another is in the actual functioning of the movement. Beyond the fact that rotation lies at the heart of both mechanisms, the MBF-2's linking of the flyback minute snail to the jumping hour mechanism uses the energy of the "flying-back" efficiently to link two separate mechanisms. Similarly, the heart uses a single hydraulic pump with a rotating valve to power both sides of the heart - on one side of the pumping cycle, it pumps blood to the lungs, and on the other side of the same cycle, it pumps blood to the body. In each case, a single motion produces two different results.

Finally, lots of us think of the movement as the "heart: of the watch. From what I've read about it, the MBF-2 has an amazing "heart", just as an artificial heart is for a patient.

(Picture borrowed from the internet.)

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