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Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

instructables.com

81–90 of 183 posts

Re: Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

#81

I absolutely love this. I think a lot of techie types might not realize what an engineering marvel a mechanical watch movement is. I'm sure you all realize there are a lot of teeny tiny gears. But does the HN crowd realize there are 24 precious gems (lab-grown rubies and sapphires!!!!) inside the NH38 movement, serving as bearings and such? While the Apple Watch is in some ways orders of magnitude more advanced than…

Excellent points! I'd like to add that while your Apple watch might last you 5-10 years, a mechanical watch well looked-after can last several lifetimes. I'm currently daily-driving an automatic watch from the mid-60s that still somehow looks pristine and keeps excellent time (for a mechanical, that is). I expect this watch to outlive me.

I kinda screwed it up taking it apart. Didnt have any oil to add back and rusted one of the gears a bit. Goal is still longer than 5 years and probably an easy 10-20

Re: Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

#82
post #73

I absolutely love this. I think a lot of techie types might not realize what an engineering marvel a mechanical watch movement is. I'm sure you all realize there are a lot of teeny tiny gears. But does the HN crowd realize there are 24 precious gems (lab-grown rubies and sapphires!!!!) inside the NH38 movement, serving as bearings and such? While the Apple Watch is in some ways orders of magnitude more advanced than…

I wear an automatic Tag Heuer. I have been asked by many people why I still wear a mechanical watch. My answer is, battery powered watches (including smart watches and quartz movements) might have a life, but a mechanical watch ticking incessantly has a soul.

Also: an Apple watch lacks elegance and is literally sexless.

Re: Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

#83
Fantastic hack, I love repurposing junked stuff. Question (which I don't doubt has crossed your mind but I can't figure it out): why not rotate the movement, rotate the dial back (it has no complications so that shouldn't be a real issue) and then use a flex shaft for the crown?

Re: Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

#84
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here’s the direct link to the video: https://youtu.be/B2h5WwrkJFg I enjoyed it immensely.

I thought people would find it really boring, hence the 800% speed up on most clips. Very glad to hear at least some people enjoyed it

This is the opposite of boring :) Thank you and well done!

Re: Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent points! I'd like to add that while your Apple watch might last you 5-10 years, a mechanical watch well looked-after can last several lifetimes. I'm currently daily-driving an automatic watch from the mid-60s that still somehow looks pristine and keeps excellent time (for a mechanical, that is). I expect this watch to outlive me.

I kinda screwed it up taking it apart. Didnt have any oil to add back and rusted one of the gears a bit. Goal is still longer than 5 years and probably an easy 10-20

I take it you didn't want to fall into the rabbit hole that is watch servicing, cleaning and lubrication? That's a deep and expensive one, especially for automatics...

Might I suggest you reach out to Marshall @WristwatchRevival and ask if he wants to give it a proper service? I'm sure he'd be delighted by this project.

Edit: you say "I glued the movement to the dial". That sounds like the dial will never come off, making servicing night impossible, or am I misunderstanding this? Also: "in a normal watch the dial would get sandwiched between the glass and the case somehow" no, typically there are holes drilled through the mainplate with screws that grab or hold the dial feet. The movement complete with dial and hands normally floats in the case, held in place with a couple screws.

Re: Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

#87
post #7

Unrelated to the article, but hijacking the history and making it impossible to navigate back is the new cancer in the internet I guess.

Another dark pattern is hijacking back to move you to the 'front page' of the site. Like twitter, get linked to a tweet and then the back button takes you to your feed, which absolutely nobody requested.

Re: Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

#88
post #7

Unrelated to the article, but hijacking the history and making it impossible to navigate back is the new cancer in the internet I guess.

I'm surprised to see this from Instructables (Autodesk). If you right-click the back button you'll see that it did four redirects and you can click the 5th to get back. I highly doubt this is effective at anything.

Instructables went down the pan years ago when they tried to paywall the allsteps view.

Autodesk as a company are known for shitty behaviour, so it doesn't surprise me they made it worse.

Re: Mechanical Apple Watch from real e-waste Apple Watch

#90

I absolutely love this. I think a lot of techie types might not realize what an engineering marvel a mechanical watch movement is. I'm sure you all realize there are a lot of teeny tiny gears. But does the HN crowd realize there are 24 precious gems (lab-grown rubies and sapphires!!!!) inside the NH38 movement, serving as bearings and such? While the Apple Watch is in some ways orders of magnitude more advanced than…

Excellent points! I'd like to add that while your Apple watch might last you 5-10 years, a mechanical watch well looked-after can last several lifetimes. I'm currently daily-driving an automatic watch from the mid-60s that still somehow looks pristine and keeps excellent time (for a mechanical, that is). I expect this watch to outlive me.

> Apple watch might last you 5-10 years

Tiny ass battery + daily full charge discharge = toast well before 10 years

If they actually cared about sustainability the screen and battery would be user replaceable

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