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Mechanical Watch

ciechanow.ski

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Re: Mechanical Watch

#181

Post by rapind »

reaperducer wrote: post #146
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…

Like I would be able to pause a movie and click on anything I was seeing to get more information 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.

And the director / talent commentary tracks, which were sometimes really great (Vanilla Sky comes to mind). I think that was only common for a really brief period unfortunately. To be honest I think it just failed from a market perspective (cost vs revenue). I could be wrong and maybe it still happens a lot?

Suspect the angles thing was the same. Sounded cool but no one wanted it (or to pay extra for it).

Re: Mechanical Watch

#182

Post by bmj »

JohnBooty wrote: post #88
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.

They last longer if you wear them, say, several times a month - i.e. if you have a rotation with several quartz watches and several mechanical ones. They definitely will last decades that way. As others have noted, if you own a well-known brand like a Seiko you can easily purchase an entirely new movement for $50-$75 and this should take a watchmaker no more than one hour of labor or you can DIY. (Many non-Seiko bran…

Will Seiko provide parts for older watches? I just got stuck with a bricked Swiss Army quartz watch because no one can get parts for it (it's 20 years old). I'm very tempted by some of the more affordable Seiko mechanical/automatic models, but I'd like the watch to last at least a decade or so.

Re: Mechanical Watch

#184

Post by digisign »

newaccount74 wrote: post #154
digisign wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I've never used that, so there must be another one.

Re: Mechanical Watch

#185

Post by zozbot234 »

skyfaller wrote: post #134
gman83 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't the Wikimedia Foundation raise some money to produce these kinds of videos? I wonder why they don't.

I think one problem is that it's difficult to make videos easy for anyone to edit, the way a wiki text page is. - The skills to edit video are more difficult to acquire, in part because - The hardware and software requirements can be expensive, and are not universally available - Once you've made a video, not everyone has the bandwidth to view it in high quality (certainly the first step to editing it) Wikimedia coul…

You can already put instructional videos on Wikiversity.

You're right that the editing workflow for raw video is a challenge, but I expect that support for editable animations, interactive simulation, etc. will also be added at some point. It requires some infrastructure for editing securely sandboxed code in-wiki, which is in the works anyway for the upcoming project Wikifunctions.

Re: Mechanical Watch

#186

Post by phailhaus »

panzerboiler wrote: post #40
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

He does it "the right way™". Use the platform. Don't use any framework or generic library. Go straight to the point and code what you need, when you need it. Don't minify or bundle anything, and let the people who are learning and courious a straightforward way to connect the dots, without forcing them into a github repository with 90% of the code unrelated to the thing and existing just to glue 1000 pieces written b…

The tradeoff is that there is basically nobody else that has the expertise or time to do the same thing at a similar level of polish. We're not going to see more Ciechanowski-level posts unless new libraries and frameworks make it more accessible.

Re: Mechanical Watch

#187

Post by leeoniya »

vmurthy wrote: post #175
leeoniya wrote: post #33

i'm continuously astounded by how accurate the Omega Aqua Terra is. it will be within 90s over a 30 day period after 4 years of daily use with no servicing. the fact that something mechanical and so tiny operating at 3.5hz can do this is mind blowing to me. it has a cool [8800] co-axial escapement: https://www.kapoorwatch.com/blogs/through-the-scope-the-omeg...

Ha! I followed a rabbit hole and found this gem : Listen to how 3Hz sounds like. It's hypnotic https://www.omegawatches.com/en-au/watch-omega-speedmaster-m... (Search for 3 Hz and click the Audio icon)

i put on some decent headphones to listen to this and can tell you that at least on my 8800 movement (and the common ETA 2824-2 in another watch i have), this clip misses some important nuance.

both movements have an audible "twang" of the hairspring at each tick -- you can hear it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNYCujza8JU. the sound is somewhat different for each watch, since the 8800 has a Si14 hairspring and the cheaper 2824-2 is metal. if you want another rabbit hole: [1]

what's interesting is that if you leave the watches on a hard flat surface, like a table or nightstand, the entire surface amplifies this twang, so you can hear it from several feet away.

[1] https://watch-insider.com/reportages/omega-defeats-mechanica...

Re: Mechanical Watch

#188

Post by jIyajbe »

Wow. I had no idea how intricate and CLEVER the mechanism of a mechanical watch is. Being no engineer, I cannot imagine how someone could think of all these clever designs. (Yes, of course the mechanism evolved over time. Even so.)

I have been wanting to buy an old mechanical watch. When I do, I will never again complain about how much a watch repair shop charges.

Also, the explanation, presentation, and animations are top-notch. Amazing work by the author!!

Re: Mechanical Watch

#189

Post by moritonal »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #139

Does anyone know how the author supports themselves? They have a patreon, but it’s not enough to make a living: https://www.patreon.com/ciechanowski The hardest part for me when doing open source work full time was giving it up and getting a day job. I was fortunate that my wife was the breadwinner, and that I got to see what it was like to be a stay at home husband. I’ve often wished to go back to it. Did the author…

They made anywhere from £470 to (using a rough sharp-tail model) £1666 per article.

Whilst I agree that the amount of time required do this doesn't professionally cover that, it's a very nice hobby which makes somewhat real money (very much depending on how many sharp the tail of £54's are) and garners some serious traffic whilst building a very solid credability in the industry.

Plus I signed up, so now they make £2.50 more!

Re: Mechanical Watch

#190

Post by throwaway2214 »

10000truths wrote: post #47
panzerboiler wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He does it "the right way™". Use the platform. Don't use any framework or generic library. Go straight to the point and code what you need, when you need it. Don't minify or bundle anything, and let the people who are learning and courious a straightforward way to connect the dots, without forcing them into a github repository with 90% of the code unrelated to the thing and existing just to glue 1000 pieces written b…

I mostly agree with you, but I don’t mind minification when appropriate, as it can serve a functional purpose with tangible end-user-friendly benefits (less downloaded over the network = faster response times). But if you want to be friendly to the tinkerers, you could always host both the *.js and *.min.js versions, and have the webpage just pull the latter - anyone who wants the unminified source can remove the “mi…

minified js is not greatly smaller than gzipped js, I think the whole minification thing is a swing and a miss and now we have to deal with source maps and shit, and build pipelines and etc

    $ ls -la
    -rw-r--r-- 1 jack 197609 330905 May  4 22:56 watch.js
    -rw-r--r-- 1 jack 197609 152172 May  4 22:55 watch.min.js

    $ gzip watch.js
    $ gzip watch.min.js
    $ ls -la
    -rw-r--r-- 1 jack 197609 43690 May  4 22:56 watch.js.gz
    -rw-r--r-- 1 jack 197609 32507 May  4 22:55 watch.min.js.gz
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