A glass shaping method capable of grinding and/or polishing a fine brittle material more stably than conventional methods is provided. The glass shaping method of the present invention comprises: a mold forming step of shaping a surface of a base material having a higher melting temperature than a glass softening point to form a mold 10; a glass molding step of sealing softened glass into a groove 15 formed in a surface of the mold 10 by the forming step to mold a glass substrate 17; a glass processing step of cutting, grinding and/or polishing the glass substrate 17, with the mold 10 being fixed, to form a glass shaped article 1; and a step of eliminating only the base material 16 of the mold 10 after the glass processing step to remove the glass shaped article 1 from the mold.

A spiral timepiece spring with a two-phase structure, made of a niobium and titanium alloy, and method for manufacturing this spring, including: producing a binary alloy containing niobium and titanium, with: niobium: the remainder to 100%; titanium: strictly greater than 60% and less than or equal to 85% by mass of the total, traces of components from among O, H, C, Fe, Ta, N, Ni, Si, Cu, Al; applying deformations alternated with heat treatments until a two-phase microstructure is obtained comprising a solid solution of niobium with -phase titanium and a solid solution of niobium with -phase titanium, the -phase titanium content being greater than 10% by volume, wire drawing to obtain wire able to be calendered; calendering or insertion into a ring to form a mainspring, in a double clef shape before it is wound for the first time, or winding to form a balance spring.

The present invention relates to a balance spring for a mechanical movement of a watch, wherein the balance spring is embodied as a spiral spring and has a winding cross section. It is provided according to the invention that the winding cross section of the spiral spring is in the shape of a rhombus, wherein the rhombus has four sides, two first corners with a first internal angle, two second corners with a second internal angle, a first diagonal, connecting the two first corners to one another, and a second diagonal, connecting the two second corners to one another, the first diagonal being shorter than the second diagonal, and the first internal angle being larger than the second internal angle.

A balance spring (1) intended to be fitted to a timepiece balance having fixed inertia, the balance spring (1) being formed of a core (10) having lateral faces (10c) connecting an upper face (10a) to a lower face (10b), the balance spring (1) including on one of the lateral faces (10) in one portion of the outer coil (5), a coating formed of one or more layers, the coating including two layers with a first electrically conductive layer (12) coated with a second outer layer (13) made of a ceramic, or a combined layer (13), made of an electrically conductive ceramic. Also a method of manufacturing this balance spring.

Disclosed is a method including the following steps: a) providing a substrate including a first silicon layer, a second silicon layer and an intermediate silicon oxide layer therebetween; b) etching the first silicon layer in order to form the timepiece components therein; c) releasing from the substrate a wafer formed by at least all or part of the etched, first silicon layer and including the timepiece components; d) thermally oxidizing and then deoxidizing the timepiece components; e) forming by thermal oxidation or deposition a silicon oxide layer on the timepiece components; f) detaching the timepiece components from the wafer.

The invention relates to a one-piece balance spring comprising a single strip wound on itself between an inner coil and an outer coil, the strip having a geometry such that when the angle of contraction of the balance spring has a value of 360 degrees, there is a constant distance between each coil from the inner coil to the penultimate coil.

The invention relates to a fabrication method for a part intended to be welded comprising a burnishing step for forming a perpendicular wall with respect to the surface undergoing burnishing intended to improve the flatness of the face to be welded.

A method for producing a thermocompensated and coloured coil spring including the steps of forming a first layer of silicon oxide on at least one face of the core and on at least one other face of the core, the first layer having a thickness equal to a fraction of the thickness required for achieving thermal compensation, removing the first layer from at least one face of the core, forming a second layer of silicon oxide on at least one face of the core and on at least one other face of the core, the second layer having a thickness equal to the remaining fraction of the thickness required for achieving thermal compensation which is lower than or equal to 1 m for giving at least one face of the core a colour as a result of the interference effect.

A method for manufacturing a micromechanical timepiece part starting from a silicon-based substrate, including, forming pores on the surface of at least one part of a surface of said silicon-based substrate of a determined depth, entirely filling the pores with a material chosen from diamond, diamond-like carbon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, ceramics, polymers and mixtures thereof, in order to form, in the pores, a layer of the material of a thickness at least equal to the depth of the pores. A micromechanical timepiece part including a silicon-based substrate which has, on the surface of at least one part of a surface of the silicon-based substrate, pores of a determined depth, the pores being filled entirely with a layer of a material chosen from diamond, diamond-like carbon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, ceramics, polymers and mixtures thereof, of a thickness at least equal to the depth of the pores.

A balance spring for an oscillator of a timepiece, wherein it comprises a component part, in particular at least a coil or a portion of a coil, provided with heavily doped silicon having an ion density greater than or equal to 10.sup.18 at/cm.sup.3, in order to permit the thermo-compensation of the oscillator.