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Mechanical Watch

ciechanow.ski

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Re: Mechanical Watch

#151

Post by JayStavis »

soheil wrote: post #91
ThePhysicist wrote: post #31

I was curious how he did those visualizations so I looked at the source code. Turns out he codes everything by hand in WebGL [1]. Absolutely impressive stuff. Source code is non-minified so you can have a look and understand everything as well. [1]: https://ciechanow.ski/js/watch.js

Can you point to what libraries he could have used that would have made it simpler? I doubt anything like would benefit from any type of abstraction that currently exists, unless it was a more interactive application that would incorporate user input etc.

Depending on one's skillset, you could use a dcc tool like Blender + three.js to make creation of these visuals and interactions much simpler. Have a look at gltfjsx + react-three-fiber [1] combination, which themselves are abstractions over vanilla three.js.

With that said, the raw webGL approach here is arguably more educational, so goal achieved I think!

[1] https://docs.pmnd.rs/react-three-fiber/getting-started/examp...

Edit: there's actually a 50 LOC watch example with r3f: https://codesandbox.io/s/bouncy-watch-qyz5r

Re: Mechanical Watch

#152

Post by ramtatatam »

If I was born 20 years before I was born I would be able to enroll in clock-making faculty in University of Technology I graduated. They discontinued this faculty, and the only remaining part was a course of precise mechanics I received..

This article is pure gold. It makes me thinking how much of know-how is already lost and how much can we find in some old book stores... I'd buy a book about clock making.

Re: Mechanical Watch

#153

Post by praash »

barbazoo wrote: post #138

I 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?

The balance wheel gets a small energy push through the escapement on each tick. The barrel's mainspring has enough force to just kickstart a stopped balance wheel. The balance wheel doesn't really need much "winding" - it's equivalent to the pendulum of a grandfather clock.

It's really fascinating seeing this mechanism alive, even in a simple mechanical kitchen timer with plastic gears. When wound up, the balance wheel starts to swing a little and quickly accelerates on each tick.

Re: Mechanical Watch

#154

Post by newaccount74 »

digisign wrote: post #150
causi wrote: post #21

Earlier 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…

There is a movie player that would highlight the character/actor on screen at the moment you hit pause. There is a link to find out more that would take you to the appropriate web page with the info. I want to say it was google play, but not completely sure.

Amazon Prime Video

Re: Mechanical Watch

#155

Post by onosendai »

kijin wrote: post #50
snemvalts wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A solar quartz fits this more. Those don't even require movement or correcting as often as with mechanical watches. Just light

The solar Casio I bought as a teenager stopped holding a usable charge after a few winters. Maybe it was just bad luck. I'll see if the new Citizen Eco-Drive in my collection lives up to the 40 years claim I saw elsewhere. :)

The first Eco-Drives came out in the mid 90s. If you look around you'll find quite a few reports from people who bought the very first ones, and which are still ticking away virtually maintenance-free for 25+ years and counting. My own, a dive watch with around 10 years, which has actually been used for its stated purpose, is also still problem-free and with zero maintenance so far.

The only thing you need to be mindful of with Eco-Drives is that you can't let it lose all charge. It can keep functioning in complete darkness for around 6 months, according to the specs, but if you do this enough times the battery will lose the ability to hold charge and will need to be replaced, and there are plenty of reports to this effect. If you're not planning on wearing it, just leave it somewhere that it can get natural light, instead of a drawer, and you should be good.

While mechanical watches are undoubtedly cool and elegant, they're not perfect timekeepers, and when they do need maintenance it's not something trivial which you can perform yourself. For my day-to-day watch I'll take an accurate quartz movement with virtually zero maintenance any day. In other words an Eco-Drive, or something similar.

Re: Mechanical Watch

#158

Post by room505 »

kijin wrote: post #35
criddell wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A mechanical watch needs regular service which is usually just cleaning, lubricating, replacing seals and springs. Eventually it will need replacement parts and that is probably the end of life for the watch. There are a some brands that will service every watch they've ever made, fabricating new parts as needed. Few of us can afford one of those.

The parts last quite some time if properly maintained. If you're worried about replacement parts availability, stick with the most popular movements such as the ETA2824/SW200 series or Seiko's NH35 series.

Don't forget Citizen's Miyota 9000 series!

Re: Mechanical Watch

#159

Post by TMWNN »

kijin wrote: post #50
snemvalts wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A solar quartz fits this more. Those don't even require movement or correcting as often as with mechanical watches. Just light

The solar Casio I bought as a teenager stopped holding a usable charge after a few winters. Maybe it was just bad luck. I'll see if the new Citizen Eco-Drive in my collection lives up to the 40 years claim I saw elsewhere. :)

My experience with a very high-end solar Casio was akin to yours, with the battery needing replacing after about five years. Perhaps gambiting is correct about the common nature of the battery, but multiple watch repair shops (both in a department store, and the "old man in a tiny room in an office building" type) refused to deal with it. I always had to mail it to an authorized Casio repair outlet.

I do not know whether this also applies to Eco-Drive.

Re: Mechanical Watch

#160

Post by leeoniya »

CydeWeys wrote: post #143
leeoniya wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-…

To be clear, there are literally hundreds of different models of Grand Seiko watches that are powered by spring drive that have been produced over the past two decades plus, with wildly varying looks across the range. It's not just one watch I'm talking about here.

i probably would not get a watch model from two decades ago, let's limit it to maybe past 5yrs.

most (all?) that i've seen have a power reserve gauge. if it's a daily wearer, that needle will be pegged to max and basically useless clutter. complications for their own sake are not my cup of tea.

most (all?) that have a date function have the extra-wide single digits, which i'm not a fan of.

(i could go on)

i know it's not one model, but there's certainly similar design language to them (as there should be, perhaps), likely due to the geometry of the movement itself. i havent seen anything wildly varying, as you say.

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