This man is marvelous. Even though I know how top-notch he is at writing interactive blog posts, he surprises me with his quality every time I open his new blog posts. Bartosz is a huge inspiration for me.
He’s elevated technical explanations to a delicious art form
Mechanical Watch
141–150 of 425 posts
Re: Mechanical Watch
#142I couldn't quite figure it out from the (excellent) writeup but when you wind up the watch, you wind up the barrel AND the balance wheel, right?
Re: Mechanical Watch
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want absurd accuracy in a watch powered by mechanical energy (without just resorting to a battery-powered quartz), look into Grand Seiko's spring drive. It's super interesting technology, and the result is a smoothly sweeping second hand (as in it's actually continuous, not merely a higher number of beats per second).
yep, i've considered that one; insane engineering for sure. but the watch's aesthetics don't do it for me. also, it does feel a bit like cheating ;), if an EMP were to go off, i dont think the Spring Drive would come out okay like a purely mechanical watch would. another crazy one is Zenith's all-silicon oscillator: https://masterhorologer.com/2017/09/14/zenith-defy-lab-the-w... https://monochrome-watches.com/zenith-…
Re: Mechanical Watch
#144Re: Mechanical Watch
#145whoa, is this the origin of the word "hacking" in the "throw something into the wheels to make it work" sense? very interesting.
Re: Mechanical Watch
#146This may not be the most valuable comment, but my goodness, the quality of this writeup and it's interactive descriptions of complex mechanical components AND their interactions is radically impressive. The treatment of complex topics in deeply visual and partially interactive ways, for me at least, is a remarkably helpful way to learn.
True multimedia is a lost art. We had it back in the 90s when software came on discs and it was a high-density, polished product that combined text, audio, video, and interactive elements on the same page. The internet taking over turned everything back into text, and then as bandwidth grew the only thing we thought to use it on was higher and higher bitrate video. When I was a kid I thought the future was going to b…
I remember the cable companies promising this when everything went "digital."
I also remember when the movie studios promised us one of the big advantages of DVDs over VHS was that we could watch the scenes of a movie from any angle?
Yeah, that never happened.
Re: Mechanical Watch
#147Wow very comprehensive & well done. If mechanical watches tickle your fancy, there is a ton of watch repair video on YT. I particularly enjoy wristwatch revival ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD80T1s2Za4K682CQDGwEKQ ). A warning though, if you consider to get into that hobby. I tried, it's really hard, expensive (I spend close to €1k and that is with b-quality stuff. Good stuff is 5-10x more expensive.) and can b…
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0...
Re: Mechanical Watch
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
True multimedia is a lost art. We had it back in the 90s when software came on discs and it was a high-density, polished product that combined text, audio, video, and interactive elements on the same page. The internet taking over turned everything back into text, and then as bandwidth grew the only thing we thought to use it on was higher and higher bitrate video. When I was a kid I thought the future was going to b…
Last time I used Amazon Prime Video, around 2017, it would show info that Amazon deemed relevant for that bit of the show (apparently it's called X-Ray). Back then at least, it wasn't on the same level as what you described but still something. The danger was it made me want to pause all the time in case I missed something interesting, but by putting the user in control of what they get info on, you could avoid that.
X-Ray still exists, but the only way I've ever seen it used is to tell you what the background music is, and the names of all the actors in a scene. But even then, it is often incomplete.
Re: Mechanical Watch
#149I couldn't quite figure it out from the (excellent) writeup but when you wind up the watch, you wind up the barrel AND the balance wheel, right?
Same question. The balance wheel/hairspring has to be losing energy overtime to friction (however miniscule). Otherwise we have ourselves a perpetual motion machine
Re: Mechanical Watch
#150This may not be the most valuable comment, but my goodness, the quality of this writeup and it's interactive descriptions of complex mechanical components AND their interactions is radically impressive. The treatment of complex topics in deeply visual and partially interactive ways, for me at least, is a remarkably helpful way to learn.
True multimedia is a lost art. We had it back in the 90s when software came on discs and it was a high-density, polished product that combined text, audio, video, and interactive elements on the same page. The internet taking over turned everything back into text, and then as bandwidth grew the only thing we thought to use it on was higher and higher bitrate video. When I was a kid I thought the future was going to b…
I want to say it was google play, but not completely sure.