[HN Gopher] Designing my own watch (2020)
___________________________________________________________________
Designing my own watch (2020)
Author : handfuloflight
Score : 200 points
Date : 2024-08-22 03:41 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (willem.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (willem.com)
| snypher wrote:
| A great point made by saying a watch is such a personal
| preference. This watch is very well constructed from the best
| materials but I would never want to wear it myself. I'm happy the
| author likes it!
| egypturnash wrote:
| If you are wondering how much this thing cost, a quick look at
| the watch company's site suggests that this was at least us$20k.
| userbinator wrote:
| Not cheap, but if you look at what other expensive watches
| cost, it's actually comparable.
| irjustin wrote:
| And that comes with a custom watch w/ a design cycle. I guess
| instead of paying for a store-front, sales people,
| advertising - this is where the cost would live.
| er4hn wrote:
| Probably closer to 10 - 15k usd. It's
| https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/watches/annual-calendar/ which
| starts at CHF 8'800 / 10.3k USD.
|
| It's not completely custom, i.e. ochs und junior is using their
| own design, but the blog post is a lovely showcase of why he
| loves the watch, and watches in general.
| system2 wrote:
| Spending 20k to talk about "my own design" hipster watch. Must
| be nice to be that rich.
| _zoltan_ wrote:
| I know a fair amount of people with watches in this range or
| above, none of them custom. For a custom one this is fairly OK,
| I'd even say cheap...
|
| (I live in .ch, where people love watched a bit more than I've
| experienced elsewhere)
| eps wrote:
| Ouch, that watch does _not_ have a $20k polish to it. Nowhere
| close. Neither the dial, nor the hands, nor the case.
|
| $20k is in a ballpark of a Ressence watch [1], which, given a
| choice, I would choose without any hesitation.
|
| [1] https://ressencewatches.com
| maeln wrote:
| Reading the article, the unpolished finished is part of the
| aesthetic he seems to be going for.
| hnlmorg wrote:
| Those don't conform to the authors requirements.
|
| The reason he landed on that design is pretty well detailed
| in the article too.
| mrb wrote:
| If you value polish, go with your Ressence. If you value a
| custom watch that matches exactly your specifications, OP's
| choice is perfectly fine. It's obvious he will get more
| enjoyment that way of his money spent. Nothing wrong here.
| eternityforest wrote:
| I'm a big fan of modern tech and I don't think I'd enjoy wearing
| anything that expensive!
|
| But it's a really cool piece of art and I thought the depth of
| the dial was especially interesting. From afar or in pictures, a
| watch looks like a 2D display, and since we mostly only see them
| in pictures, it's easy to forget that a lot of analog tech was
| subtlety 3D.
|
| With most natural objects, when you see a picture it's obvious
| it's just a picture and there's a third dimension, but with
| mechanical devices it sort of feels like you're looking at a
| picture of an old fashioned screen, and you never notice that
| there's depth you don't see.
|
| Highlighting that aspect is a really cool design choice.
| timr wrote:
| The weird thing about a watch like this is that nobody is going
| to know enough to steal it unless you tell them what it is
| (or...put it on the internet, I guess). It's also small and
| super low-key, and therefore, not at all hip in today's watch
| market.
|
| You're more likely to have your phone stolen. Thieves are all
| about risk/reward: they want your Rolex Sub or your (gaudy,
| ugly, huge) Royal Oak, which they know they can flip for a huge
| profit.
| willemlaurentz wrote:
| author (from 2020) here:
|
| This is exactly true: the watch offers a kind of "security by
| obscurity" most better known watches lack.
|
| It is a "if you known you know" thing. At the same time it is
| a very hard sell (for any potential thief looking for quick
| money) as the watch is unique in its configuration and mostly
| "meaningless" for other people (rather than me).
| eternityforest wrote:
| I'd be a lot more worried about damaging it then theft, since
| I'm constantly running into furniture
| Arainach wrote:
| Anything you own will eventually get scratched. Past
| bracelet scratches, mechanical watches are rather hardy -
| unless you're buying something particularly rare and
| complicated the standard ETA and Seiko movements you'll get
| in most brands (as well as the house movements of major
| brands such as Omega and Rolex) will handle physical shocks
| just fine. I don't exercise wearing a mechanical watch, but
| that's as much due to sweat and weight and tracking heart
| rate as any risk of damage.
|
| You can get comparatively affordable mechanical watches
| that are sufficiently shock, magnetism, and water resistant
| to do anything normal people will do in their lives. If
| you're an underwater welder, astronaut, EE professor, or
| other career with esoteric risks, obviously do your own
| research and maybe just buy a GShock.
| dools wrote:
| Some tangentially related trivia: in The Hitchhiker's Guide to
| the Galaxy Douglas Adams writes:
|
| "Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles
| is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-
| descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still
| think digital watches are a pretty neat idea."
|
| My interpretation of this was that digital watches are such
| simple technology that the fact we like them means we are easily
| impressed.
|
| His thesis was much deeper though and I have since found multiple
| accounts of his explaining that, at the same time as everyone was
| excited about the fact that pie charts could be produced to
| easily visualise data on a personal computer, we were also
| removing what is essentially a pie chart from our wrists and
| replacing it with something numerical. Here it is straight from
| the horses mouth:
|
| https://youtube.com/watch?v=P0keUhMiZ44
| saurik wrote:
| I rather enjoyed the video essay Technology Connections did
| about the seemingly different mental models of tracking time
| that come from analog and digital clocks, and how a lot of
| people now have barely ever experienced analog clocks.
|
| https://youtube.com/watch?v=NeopkvAP-ag
| bux93 wrote:
| After a decade or two of not wearing watches, and always
| looking at my laptop or phone for the time, analogue stopped
| making sense to me. I recently got a gorgeous casio lineage
| radio controlled (and solar powered) analogue watch, so I had
| to relearn telling the time!
|
| Like Technology Connections says, the minute hand is a
| progress bar, but I found I got confused about the hour hand.
| It points at, apparently, 5 o'clock, but it's actually 4:55,
| because the hand just doesn't line up so precisely in the
| visual field. A watch with just the hour hand would be less
| accurate, but less confusing.
|
| I since found out about jump hour watches, that display the
| current hour as a digit (in a little window like you see for
| the date) and have a minute hand. That makes more sense to
| me.
| necovek wrote:
| That's wonderful, thanks for sharing: Adams is extremely
| cunning in his satirical look at the humanity.
|
| Not that I agree: "pie charts" for tracking time (and
| otherwise) are useful when you need to roughly and quickly
| compare how much time is left in a day.
|
| But we have since moved to it being important if something
| happens in 14:37 or 14:42, which is hard and slow to decipher
| on a pie chart.
|
| Now, one could argue we are primitive if we have moved in that
| direction instead of being more lax with time instead.
| namanyayg wrote:
| I've been a ardent fan since I first read H2G2 ~15 years ago,
| and this is the first time I've seen and heard Adams speak.
| Thanks for sharing.
| namdnay wrote:
| I was convinced that it was because at the time h2g2 was
| written, "digital watches" were actually LED watches, which
| required that the user press a button to see the time displayed
| for a few seconds! (also the case for some of the first LCD
| models)
|
| low power LCD watches were popularised in the early 80s
| userbinator wrote:
| _The watch is a so-called "annual calendar", which means it can
| show the correct date with only one manual adjustment per year
| (during February). An annual calendar "knows" the difference
| between short and longer months._
|
| I could see how one could create a simple mechanism for that (the
| expression is basically 30+(m+(m&8)&1)-(m==2)* 2, a sort of odd-
| even sequence with a discontinuity), but staring at the diagram
| it doesn't seem to make sense - the month disk rotates a little
| bit each hour, and the date ring is driven off the month disk?
| wezdog1 wrote:
| It looks like the disks can rotate and still show the same day
| or month due to the stretched markings
| cpcallen wrote:
| As I understand it:
|
| - The base movement turns the date wheel every day at (or,
| typically, just before) midnight via the 31 teeth on that
| wheel.
|
| - The single tooth on the date wheel drives the five-pointed
| cog. I gather that this must turn the month wheel two teeth--
| probably one tooth when changing from 30th to 31st and a second
| tooth when changing from 31st to 1st, though I do not see
| exactly how this works. (It looks like the date wheel finger
| would only turn the small cog one tooth per month, and the
| small teeth on that cog look like they would only interact with
| the longer teeth on the month cog.) On short months the long
| teeth on the month wheel are in turn are nudged by the second,
| shorter finger on the hour collar at about 3am on the 1st
| (while the date wheel is still showing 31), which causes the
| month wheel to advance the second tooth almost a day early, and
| this must cause the five-pointed cog to nudge the date wheel to
| advance from the 31st to the 1st (though again I am not sure
| exactly how that works).
|
| - The long finger on the hour collar turns the day-of-week disk
| 1/14th turn at 6am and 6pm, resulting in that wheel making a
| complete turn every 7 days. Thanks to the long dash of colour
| on this wheel, one dot is shown 6am-6pm while two dots are
| shown 6pm-6am.
|
| Watchfinder made a pretty good video about it, though slightly
| hampered by the owner of this particular watch having chosen
| just about the lowest-possible contrast colours for the
| indicator dots: https://youtu.be/28LYcZJ6hHE
| timonoko wrote:
| I re-redesigned my own watchface. The result is that the hour-
| indicator grew bigger and bigger, because that is the main need
| when the sun is not shining. https://github.com/timonoko/Amazfit
| timonoko wrote:
| That was the last watch with "trans-reflective" display. If I
| turn the seconds-indicator off, it runs for a MONTH aka 700
| hours.
|
| _Our goal for battery life is 18 hours after an overnight
| charge_ -- Apple Watch
| sam_lowry_ wrote:
| Amazfit watches and their custom faces were amazing!
|
| Not very durable, though. I bought one for each family member
| once and loaded a custom face.
|
| That is more fun that commissioning a 20000$ watch from a
| Swiss watchmaker.
| timonoko wrote:
| Only problem is that the strap turned into spaghetti in 4
| years. Battery life is still OK.
| KTibow wrote:
| Do you mean the last watch under that brand? There are
| definitely others (eg my Bangle.js could go for a week
| without a charge)
| kijin wrote:
| > day and night: with a young kid, the distinction between night
| and day becomes fuzzy every now and then.., any bearing the watch
| can provide in total darkness is welcome!
|
| Hmm, I don't see any feature on the watch that would help OP tell
| whether it's 7 am or 7 pm under a cloudy sky. Am I missing a
| subtle 24-hour indicator, or is he just referring to the super-
| luminova on the hands and dial?
| wezdog1 wrote:
| You'd think the marker under the weekday could be a different
| colour when it shifts to pm
| matejn wrote:
| If I understood the watch website correctly, the weekday marker
| shows 2 dots instead of 1 during AM.
| zombot wrote:
| I am pleased to see a Junghans Max Bill watch smack at the center
| of the top display. The other ones are way too busy for my taste,
| except maybe the digital Seiko.
|
| The self-designed watch camouflages its functionality with
| minimalism, and the day and month displays proceed in
| mathematically positive direction. I like it.
| stevekemp wrote:
| For my money the Milgauss is the standout of that montage. I've
| always loved the "quirky" colours, and the lightning-bolt hand
| stands out a little.
|
| But watches are pretty personal, and it's okay to have
| different tastes. I like that the author knew what was
| important to them - for me I avoid Roman Numerals, and subdials
| as both look too busy. I try to avoid date-complications for
| the same reason, and if I must have them I abhor the cyclops.
|
| My watches range from the casio terrorist, through mass-
| produced soviet pieces that were made before I was born, all
| the way to high end Swiss pieces. I still wake up and change my
| watch based on what kinda mood I'm in, or what I'm doing.
| tonetegeatinst wrote:
| Side note on watches, every time I consider buying a watch I
| always am drawn to the metal strap/band. I don't mind leather or
| cloth but personally metal seems like it would be smoother on the
| skin....and if I need to clean the band I just throw it in an
| ultrasonic cleaner
| Hamuko wrote:
| Metal bands are a bitch if you ever need to type on a laptop
| though.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| I actually found the opposite - metal bands tend to pinch me
| due to the segmented design. Other materials where the strap is
| all one piece are much more comfortable to wear.
| weinzierl wrote:
| Not sure if it is because I had bad quality metal bands or I am
| just too hairy. The ones I had were far from _Swiss Watch_
| level but I wouldn 't call them cheap. I always had the problem
| that they hurt because they ripped out small hairs.
|
| It's nice that you can shake off any water from them and they
| are instantly dry and also that you can thoroughly clean them.
| eleveriven wrote:
| One thing to keep in mind is that metal bands can sometimes be
| heavier and less flexible than leather or cloth
| alinoe_ wrote:
| It's almost always better and cheaper to get the bracelet with
| the watch and buy the strap later. Good quality/branded
| bracelets are expensive.
| f1shy wrote:
| With pretty much same requirements, I settled in the Casio
| LCW-M100TSE-1AER. Very simple, totally autonomous, no need to
| adjust time even...
|
| Better would be a Seiko with GPS, but too expensive.
| rayxi271828 wrote:
| Exactly... add to that the requirement that I want to have the
| peace of mind of being able to accidentally bang the watch
| against the metal poles of the subway, etc., without damaging
| it in some ways, and I always end up with a G-Shock.
| RachelF wrote:
| For a digital-only lightweight alternative that does everything
| a watch should do, the Casio F-E10 is ideal.
| flacebo wrote:
| I wouldn't consider that an alternative to a solar radio
| watch.
| darkFunction wrote:
| I also wear this watch every day and have done for a couple of
| years now. It's the perfect watch- completely autonomous time,
| solar powered, classic look while still having digital
| functions. I love not having to worry about ever setting the
| time or changing the battery. And it's waterproof!
|
| The sapphire glass means I don't treat it especially well and
| it looks brand new.
| mhandley wrote:
| I have exactly the same watch for exactly the same reasons.
| With saphire glass and a titanium case and strap, it's very
| light and after two years of being worn constantly, it's still
| completely unmarked. It's also nicely inconspicuous - it's
| "just a casio", but those who know, know.
| bux93 wrote:
| It also has a more complicated (chronograph) brother, the
| LIW-M610. It's fun to see the hands in the subdials spin around
| as you change functions and timezones.
| epse wrote:
| The rather mild water resistance on that model always has me
| doubting..
| eleveriven wrote:
| The Casio LCW-M100TSE-1AER is a solid choice!
| mnot wrote:
| I've been lusting after an Ochs und Junior for a while now --
| very clever and great design. Implementing complications like
| perpetual calendars off of workhorse calibres is just amazing.
| ein0p wrote:
| This strikes me as a better compromise than a high end mass
| produced watch. If you wanted to stand out and wear a
| conversation piece, this seems like a better choice.
| willemlaurentz wrote:
| Original author here (from 2020):
|
| Thanks! A watch (like any apparel) indeed functions as a
| communication piece (other than its function of time keeping).
|
| Over the years of wearing it I have had only some folks
| inquiring about what it exactly is I am wearing. People ask out
| of honest curiosity, not because they suspect some value
| (because of a shiny logo or precious metal).
|
| For what it is worth, in addition to the having the actual
| watch it is also nice to know the people who created it. It is
| a very small brand, you really have a chance of getting to know
| the "artists behind the creation". I like that as it adds to
| the (personal satisfaction) of the story of my watch.
| tetris11 wrote:
| I've been looking for a decent watch of my own, albeit it much
| cheaper.
|
| My requirements are simple: eink/epaper display, a splash of
| color (red would be fine), circular display, light/visible at
| night, programmable watch face.
|
| Closest thing I've seen is watchy, wearPico, bangle.js, but they
| all seem slightly wrong somehow.
| dpoljak wrote:
| Can't guarantee for the splash of color but I've had my eye on
| Fossil Hybrid smartwatch gen 6 for everything else you
| mentioned. It's maybe worth a look?
| eps wrote:
| Look at Garmin MIP (memory in pixel) watches?
|
| You can make your own watch face in a half of weekend, which
| will include, as a bonus, learning their own dialect of C :)
| echelon_musk wrote:
| Last night I watched The 'Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of
| the Baboon Heart'. If it wasn't for the dialogue below I would
| have been very confused by the use of 'complications' in TFA!
|
| Ben: Hey kid, I wanna give you something. Your grand-pap gave me
| this before your dad was born.
|
| Hank: Is it more dumb news? You gonna tell me who my mom isn't?
|
| Ben: Nah. Just a watch. GMT Master. Venture Blue Dial. Tells the
| time in two time zones.
|
| Hank: It's heavy.
|
| Ben: That fourth hand there, the little date window, those are
| called complications. Complications make a watch special. More
| complications the more valuable. Read the engraving Jonas put on
| there.
|
| Hank: [reads] "Elige Tua."
|
| Ben: Eh. Close enough. It's latin for "Choose your family." Blood
| doesn't make a family. Love does. Your grandpap knew that. Choose
| your family, and remember, the complications make it special.
| zokier wrote:
| > Don't be afraid to make decisions for yourself. Wear the watch
| you want to wear. If it doesn't exists, don't panic. Thanks to
| the wonders of our connected world, you can find people that will
| help you!
|
| Good advice for people that have money to commission custom
| pieces from lauded swiss companies.
|
| Meanwhile I'm wearing the watch I got for "free" (ended up still
| costing for maint/repairs), and trying to get my mortage paid.
| InsideOutSanta wrote:
| They're not that expensive (in the world of luxury watches,
| anyway), and they _are_ really cool, but the mere thought of
| paying thousands of dollars for a fragile thing that I wear on
| my wrist that I will probably bang against a door handle or
| something within a week is making me sweat.
|
| The alternative option is to order some parts from AliExpress
| and make your own custom watch. Elliot Coll has some videos on
| how to do that on YT.
| danieldk wrote:
| I looked at their website and it seemed like it was the price
| of a modest car? (20,000 Euro).
| InsideOutSanta wrote:
| Their regular watches start at around 2k, and custom
| watches at 7k. Which is a lot of money, but it's at the
| lower end for luxury watches.
| hnlmorg wrote:
| And here's me thinking I paid a lot for my watch which
| was around PS400.
|
| It's funny how the word "luxury" and "expensive" means
| different things for different people.
| felixr wrote:
| If you look at https://www.watchrecon.com/ good get an
| idea what people spend on watches if they are into
| (collecting) watches
| immibis wrote:
| "Luxury" primarily means conspicuous consumption. You
| don't pay $20k because _the watch_ is worth $20k - you
| pay $20k because being able to show other elite
| socialites that you paid $20k is worth $20k. Needless to
| say, the watchmakers make out like bandits.
| Xen9 wrote:
| I think it's "you pay 20k because you don't care how much
| you pay as long you get a good product, unless the cost
| is at least in hundred thousands." Elite showing off
| behaviour seems to be either about cool unusual things
| that others "couldnt do" or elite women dominating poor
| women.
| nvarsj wrote:
| Why do you think luxury watches are fragile? Most of these
| watches are built to last decades and are easily repairable.
| iamacyborg wrote:
| Materials used in more luxury watches tend to be more
| fragile than something you might use in a cheaper watch. ie
| a gold case is going to be more susceptible to scratches
| than a steel case, etc.
| nvarsj wrote:
| What's wrong with scratches? Even gold watches are not
| using soft gold... they are very durable. Stainless steel
| watches are pretty much bombproof. Also everything is
| typically replaceable/repairable (e.g. surface can be
| polished). After a service, it comes back looking like
| new.
| InsideOutSanta wrote:
| I just don't want to baby it. My uncle has a Rolex, he
| wears it only on special occasions and sends it in for
| service every few years. Which is fine, he loves his
| watch, it's a point of pride for him to treat it with
| care, but that's not what I want from a watch. That's
| all. No disrespect to expensive watches, it's just not
| for me :-)
|
| I want a watch that I can wear everywhere and anytime,
| bump against walls and stuff, and if it breaks, I don't
| feel bad.
| nvarsj wrote:
| I'd say that's how you're supposed to wear a watch, even
| a luxury watch. Babying it defeats the point completely.
| I wear my Rolex or Omega every day :). Scratches add
| character and history! I'll be giving my watches to my
| kids when I die, scratches and all.
| owenmarshall wrote:
| Agreed entirely. My grandfather's 5513 desk diver was
| passed down to me. It had scuffs and scratches and the
| lume had long since stopped glowing and turned to a
| mustard color.
|
| And while I never planned to have any of that changed
| because I thought it added to the cool factor, the
| appraisal guaranteed that decision. I was recommended a
| local watchmaker who could service the movement only and
| ensure the seals were all intact. Or I could send it back
| to Rolex for servicing where they'd polish the case,
| relume the numbers, and swap the acrylic dome for
| sapphire - and by doing so chop ~50% off the value of the
| watch.
|
| It turns out collectors love patinas and scratches and
| for a 60 year old watch to look its age.
| iamacyborg wrote:
| Plenty of folks don't want a scratched watch and I
| imagine it would devalue one on the secondary market.
| nvarsj wrote:
| It doesn't devalue much at all. In fact most Rolex bought
| 20 years ago are now worth 200-300% their purchase price,
| scratches and all. After a service, they look practically
| new as almost everything can be replaced/brought back to
| like-new quality (and gets replaced in a service).
|
| This isn't like your expensive Apple item that becomes
| disposable/worthless after 4 years :).
| zipy124 wrote:
| The gold used in luxury watches is usually a lower-gold
| alloy than jewelry, 14 or 18 carat (example [1]) and thus
| have a hardness of anywhere from 85-165, or up to 230 if
| annealed [2], which is comparable, or harder than common
| stainless steels at 140-180[3].
|
| [1]:https://www.rolex.com/watches/new-watches/sky-dweller
| [2]:https://24carat.co.uk/frame.php?url=hardnessofgoldall
| oys.htm...
| [3]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_hardness_test
| stephencanon wrote:
| FWIW, I've worn my O&J every day for seven years, banged it
| against all sorts of things, and never had any issue (and
| mine is 42mm and silver, so both less durable than OP's
| titanium and much larger and more likely to get banged on
| stuff). It's really not a big concern.
| terryf wrote:
| How does this comment contribute to the discussion?
|
| The guy is happy about his watch and goes into great detail
| explaining how it works and how it's made and why.
|
| Why comment in such a negative way? I can't afford a 20k watch
| either, but so what? Why such jealousy?
|
| You have contributed nothing, yet made the internet ever so
| slightly worse.
| bravetraveler wrote:
| Their comment was fine. An honest take. Yours manages to be
| worse, policing. It brought me here. Now look where we are.
|
| This doesn't work. Use the vote button.
| terryf wrote:
| Fair.
|
| It's just interesting to me that lower in the thread with
| less votes there are actually insightful comments that have
| real content and the most upvoted comment is the one that
| says "this sucks because I can't afford it".
|
| This seems to me to be an issue in a number of other places
| as well - the website previously known as twitter is
| probably a good example where someone posts something and a
| lot of the replies are just random hate and nitpicking
| about a single, irrelevant word in the comment.
|
| I guess I just don't get why people bother to do that. And
| it is kind of interesting to think about - is there some
| way to encourage more thoughtful responses?
| zokier wrote:
| The post for most parts was neat, not disagreeing there. But
| wrapping it up as some sort of empowering life lesson feels
| so utterly out of touch that I felt like reminding that it is
| huge privilege to be able to do this sort of thing. Someone
| not wearing custom luxury watch is most likely not due being
| afraid to make decisions for themselves. Attributing the
| ability to do this sort of thing to "connected world" and
| "people willing to help" is just distasteful to me.
|
| It doesn't help that the whole post is titled "Designing my
| own watch" while the actual design work was seemingly mostly
| done by ochs; mixing up doing something and commissioning
| something done is another of those things that has echoes of
| ages past, and not in a good way.
|
| For the authors defence I do say that 5 years ago was
| slightly different time and back then these sort of things
| could pass more easily.
| willemlaurentz wrote:
| Thanks Zokier for your comments, original author here:
|
| _The post for most parts was neat, not disagreeing there.
| But wrapping it up as some sort of empowering life lesson
| feels so utterly out of touch that I felt like reminding
| that it is huge privilege to be able to do this sort of
| thing._
|
| Never was it my intention to provide one with "overarching
| life lessons". Your reaction points out that I still have a
| lot to learn in refining the tone of my English use. As
| non-native English language user, I use my blog to "hone my
| skills". You helped me learn, for which I am grateful.
|
| For what it is worth, I use the knowledge and expertise
| that enable my "privileges" in my work as volunteer. You
| can find some posts on this here:
| https://willem.com/blog/2016-11-21_being-a-volunteer-in-
| amst... TLDR: I am very grateful.
|
| _Someone not wearing custom luxury watch is most likely
| not due being afraid to make decisions for themselves.
| Attributing the ability to do this sort of thing to
| "connected world" and "people willing to help" is just
| distasteful to me._
|
| I do not entirely follow your reasoning here as I never
| have intended to "judge" or "rank" other people's choices
| and decisions. The post (on _my_ blog) is about _my_ watch,
| not much more than that.
|
| _It doesn 't help that the whole post is titled "Designing
| my own watch" while the actual design work was seemingly
| mostly done by ochs; mixing up doing something and
| commissioning something done is another of those things
| that has echoes of ages past, and not in a good way._
|
| Naturally I agree with you that a large part of the
| mechanical design is done by ochs und junior; however I do
| think that if you take the concept a little broader it
| might make a little more sense: given _all_ the options out
| there, I set out to have a watch created that would fit my
| specific wishes. When I look at the result, I very
| deliberately know why I made certain choices in style,
| size, colour, material, function, capability and weight. In
| that sense I did take part in the design process.
|
| _For the authors defence I do say that 5 years ago was
| slightly different time and back then these sort of things
| could pass more easily._
|
| Thank you sincerely, reactions like those of yourself
| enable me to learn. That is very much one of the reasons
| why I like the blog. Have a nice day!
| roshankhan28 wrote:
| can the watch turn me into different aliens?
| PostOnce wrote:
| No need to pay someone, you can make one. What do you need? A
| secondhand manual pantograph mill someone is getting rid of for
| a few hundred dollars and a little jewellers lathe?
|
| And of course a book on watchmaking.
|
| We've been making watches for about _half a millennium_ now,
| and if a craftsman in the 1500s could do it, surely a curious
| man with semi-modern secondhand tools from the 70s can too.
|
| I'm going to do exactly this eventually and it's going to
| "cost" me maybe as much as a flagship phone all up, time and
| effort not included.
| acureau wrote:
| When you do this I'd love to read about it.
| gwynn_ap_nudd wrote:
| You're right if you're aiming to make a 16th century pocket
| watch. Anything approaching a modern wristwatch calibre is
| much more time and money intensive.
|
| The majority of the cost will be time and effort. I think
| George Daniels estimates it to be 3000 hours for a skilled
| amateur to make the tourbillion pocket watch described in his
| book. This number will be decreased if you forego the
| tourbillion. But even so, other equipment costs: jewelling
| press, staking set, poising tools, depthing tool, all kinds
| of abrasives, oils and greases. The largest tool cost will be
| lathe attachments like collets, cross slide, milling
| attachment, wheel and pinion cutters. You may be able to cut
| wheels and pinions on the pantograph but probably not to the
| precision needed for a wristwatch, maybe for a large pocket
| watch or clock. Maybe you could put the lathe on the milling
| table to index the stock and use the mill to cut?
|
| That's not counting all the theory needed to design and build
| a movement from scratch.
|
| My advice would be to steal the going train, escapement and
| balance from an existing movement and fabricate the remaining
| parts
| AlanYx wrote:
| A good starting point is to try to build a pin-pallet
| escapement design, like Timex used in the 60s and 70s. This
| is largely doable at home with a 3D printer and basic
| tools, e.g.: https://incoherency.co.uk/blog/stories/the-
| watch-project.htm... Getting to modern accuracy is hard
| though.
| jajko wrote:
| Well, you have a mortgage, meaning you at one point had waaay
| more disposable income than even more luxurious variant of
| those discussed would cost.
|
| Some folks put money into ferraris or porsches and then race
| them, or watch them appreciate (if smart & lucky). Or boats.
| Some folks spend money otherwise. Half of this forum spent
| similar amount on just non-mandatory technical gadgets in past
| few years.
|
| This watch making is actually an investment that can bring nice
| returns in the future, barring damage/theft/loss happens. Also
| an interesting skill learned, plus skill explained to others. I
| can't do anything but appreciate such folks.
| Xen9 wrote:
| Exchange the mortage for a watch loan.
| _zoltan_ wrote:
| Cool! I've never heard of this shop before, thanks for sharing
| your experience.
| _giorgio_ wrote:
| I find these watches super boring.
|
| Ok, there is a philosophy behind the choices, but aesthetic is
| about risk and about making choices. If you need to remind
| yourself why something is nice, it isn't.
| thih9 wrote:
| > It's all about the product, no money or energy is wasted on
| superflous boxes or booklets - I love this
|
| Is it still all about the product when the product is a luxury
| item itself?
| hnlmorg wrote:
| Yes. Of course it is. Whether the item is luxury or not is a
| property of the product itself.
| gorgoiler wrote:
| Totally in love with the idea of building a custom watch. I've
| done it too and it only cost $80!
|
| Body $30 https://www.casio.com/us/watches/casio/product.A158WA-1/
|
| Movement $40 https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-
| objects/sensor-wa...
|
| I've added a new astronomical face and rejigged the world clock
| for my rellies (showing AW for Australian Western time.) Dirt
| simple changes but it's thrilling to have something that's partly
| _mine_. Because it is based on the Casio body it's also an iconic
| design classic too.
|
| I believe a version with tzdata in it is in the works by the
| author. My thanks to everyone involved in the project and
| everyone on HN who got me into this hobby!
| thrtythreeforty wrote:
| The author also recently designed a custom LCD as a drop in
| replacement [1] and I can't wait to get one. I've decided
| smartwatches are too expensive and short lived for me, but I
| think this version, with just a little bit of programmability,
| is gonna be perfect.
|
| [1]: https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-
| wa...
| greesil wrote:
| I want this but also with a RF modem so I can send Morse code
| to nearby nerd friends.
| Mistletoe wrote:
| Did cell phones cannibalize watch sales like they did camera
| sales? I always wonder who needs a watch now when it is extremely
| rare you don't have a cell phone.
| WillPostForFood wrote:
| Phones, not really. But Apple Watches/Smart watches/fitness
| trackers/wearables have really hurt. There has been a big drop
| in Swiss watch unit sales since 2015.
|
| https://www.statista.com/statistics/303755/number-of-swiss-w...
| eleveriven wrote:
| This has created a new niche in the watch market
| eleveriven wrote:
| Watches remain popular for their practicality, style, and
| status
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| Watches are superior to phones imo. It's way more convenient to
| simply look at your wrist than it is to dig your phone out of
| your pocket.
| eps wrote:
| Not sure if the watchmaker's line-up changed in 4 years passed,
| but here's a nearly identical watch, the first hit in their
| "customized" category - https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/my-ochs-
| und-junior/?watch=11...
|
| At the very least this makes author's watch rather less unique
| and custom than described. Perhaps it was an one of a kind back
| in 2020, but it's not anymore.
|
| The cost is around $9K.
| jcmfernandes wrote:
| There's a Portuguese watch company using this same style since
| 2016: https://isotopewatches.com/products/isotope-gmt-zero-
| degrees
|
| I love their timepieces.
| wodenokoto wrote:
| It isn't super clear from first read, but that design is not by
| the author, but by the company. He gave them specs for what he
| wished for in a design, and they came up with a design.
|
| I guess they now own and can continue to sell that design.
| They've gone all in on online customization at least:
| https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/customizer-1-1/?watch=112&cu...
| zipy124 wrote:
| This company is the one he mentioned he worked with to create
| the watch. He gave them the specifications and they made the
| watch.
|
| This is not a hand-made watch. It's just bespoke made to his
| specification and he never states its unique and limited
| edition 1 of 1.
|
| This does however make it incredibly custom as stated as he
| gave the specifications, and the company made it for him,
| literally customisation I'd say!
| stephencanon wrote:
| OP's watch appears to be a customized variant of the annual
| calendar LIGHT, which was introduced in 2016. The 36mm case is
| unusual, not one of the standard sizes, but O&J has been
| willing to do 36mm cases on request since ~2010 with certain
| models. So--like all O&J watches prior to 2020 or so1--the
| cosmetics are fully customized, but the mechanism is shared
| with other O&J watches2.
|
| 1 since then they also have a collection of non-customizable
| watches
|
| 2 this undersells it a bit; most O&J watches (like mine!) are
| "just" customized realizations of a set of basic designs (which
| is a good thing, IMO, because those designs work better than
| what most buyers would come up with). But many of those designs
| were developed collaboratively in response to specific customer
| requests. I was in the workshop in 2018 and saw an early
| prototype of what became the day/night watch
| (https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/watches/day-night/) in
| development for the customer who had proposed it. If you skim
| through their blog, you'll find lots of interesting projects
| done for customers with varying degrees of customization (I
| really love this day/night done with no conventional face:
| https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/dirks-day-night/)
| willemlaurentz wrote:
| Original author here from 2020:
|
| With regard to value and cost I would like to add the factor
| 'time' to the discussion. A watch like this can easily last for
| decades, possibly longer (and it will retain some value, possibly
| even appreciate in value, over time).
|
| This is a sharp contrast with 'consumables' like most
| smartwatches and smartphones, that (given enough time) will add
| up in costs, too. I am not saying one should "do this or that" -
| but value/cost is a funny thing when you think of it in more than
| one dimension.
| jen729w wrote:
| Don't feel like you should apologise for the expense.
|
| I see people driving round in cars that cost $100k+. I think
| this is _insane_ , but it's relatively normal.
|
| Spend your money on things that make you happy.
| michaelt wrote:
| You've got the money, you wanted to buy something nice for
| yourself, and you like luxury watches. Nothing wrong with that
| - plenty of people buy a $50,000 car when a $40,000 car has the
| same number of wheels.
|
| But for my $200 Garmin to "add up in costs" to your $10,000
| watch would require some extremely creative accounting.
|
| Although I suppose time does factor into every discussion of
| watches, in a way :)
| jajko wrote:
| Those Garmins will be worth 0 in 10 years, or 30. These ones
| will keep working and could be worn by his grandchildren
| easily, if basic care is taken and they are not stolen or
| lost.Their value could be low or also very, very high.
|
| Passions should not be primarily measured in TCO or returns,
| then no vacation ever makes any sense since you just spend
| money, no expensive clothing, no expensive car, no
| restaurants just eating cheap salads whole life and so on.
| Also one should live in tiniest cheapest shed to maximize
| earnings. You see where this goes
| michaelt wrote:
| _> Those Garmins will be worth 0 in 10 years, or 30._
|
| Sure, but even if I replace my Garmin every 5 years for the
| next 100 years, I'll only have spent $4000, so I'll _still
| be $6000 better off_.
|
| Or if I put that $10,000 into an investment that returns 2%
| above inflation? I can have a new Garmin _every year_ and
| 100 years later, _I 'll also still have $10,000_
|
| And if I'm needing a new Garmin every year I'm either very
| careless or very passionate about having the latest
| gadgets. So will that $10k watch _really_ be my last ever
| watch? Almost certainly not.
|
| _> Passions should not be primarily measured in TCO or
| returns_
|
| Yes, I agree - as I said in the first paragraph of my post.
| If you're buying a luxury watch because you like luxury
| watches, there's nothing wrong with that.
|
| But pretending a $10k watch saves you money is just wishful
| thinking.
| markovs_gun wrote:
| This. I have never bought a watch for more than $300 and I
| would have to buy 33 $300 watches to get to $10,000. If I
| live 60 more years, that's one watch every 22 months for the
| rest of my life.
| 2rsf wrote:
| There is no point in trying to justify the cost in counting the
| BOM, taking your watch for example, it uses a generic ETA
| caliber 2892-A2 (the "engine" in the watch) which is used in
| watches that cost 10% up to x10 of yours while it cost only
| $300-500.
|
| I look at watches as a piece of jewelry more than an
| engineering item, they might or might nor keep their value but
| I like how they look, make me look and make me feel especially
| if there is a nice story behind the watch.
| eleveriven wrote:
| Such watches can become something like a family heirloom, passed
| down from generation to generation
| kingkongjaffa wrote:
| I collect luxury watches and understand movements and case
| construction... I'm not trying to be overly negative, rather if
| someone is interested in this, how to not waste your money.
| People who don't know watches see "Swiss" and equate that with
| good and luxury.
|
| If you want to make a custom watch, design the case and dial
| yourself, and buy an off the shelf swiss or japanese movement
| like a ETA / miyota or a sellita movement,
| https://sellita.ch/index.php/en/movements these are used in top
| luxury watches and have great accuracy and reliability.
|
| >Base Movement
|
| > ETA 2824-2 with 38 hours of power reserve. Manufacturer: ETA SA
| / Grenchen / Switzerland.
|
| it's literally an off the shelf movement.
|
| > Although ETA movements are now unavailable for purchase from
| ETA, you can still find watch parts suppliers offering
| replacement movements for sale. The gold tone version (see
| example below) appears to cost less than the silver (nickel
| plated) version. Prices generally range from $200-$300 USD, but
| at the time of this post, the gold tone 2824-2 can be purchased
| for $236.20 USD here, and the nickel plated for $262.42 USD here.
|
| The main thing that drives the cost in something like this is the
| movement, and this doesn't have a custom movement at all, there's
| no way the rest of this is worth around 10k.
|
| Without a nice dial I don't really see the point.
|
| It's like putting a ferrari engine in a mini. Sure it's
| incredibly cool how it works, but I couldn't imagine buying one
| of the watches, and I am a watch collector.
|
| The dial and hands design and quality looks just so so poor. The
| huge lines in the case pieces don't inspire much confidence in
| the craftsmanship either.
|
| Obviously the article mentions they want the case to be
| unpolished which is fine if the machining wasn't so poor.
|
| The buyer obviously thought they were getting something custom
| because they showed him a few CAD screenshots, but the watchmaker
| is selling this on their website still.
|
| From the image where the caption reads:
|
| > The curved case design is very comfortable on the wrist, as
| there are no sharp edges sticking in your arm
|
| This isn't even correct, it's literally got flat lugs which do
| not curve on the wrist.
| lmz wrote:
| > this doesn't have a custom movement at all, there's no way
| the rest of this is worth around 10k.
|
| It has an annual calendar module added on. Surely that's semi
| custom and worth something, considering how expensive the
| calendar watches usually are.
|
| (edit): actually there's a secondhand annual calendar longines
| on chrono24 for less than $2000 so maybe not worth that much.
| Probably still quite novel though.
| codazoda wrote:
| I've just started down the path of designing a smartwatch using a
| Pi Pico. Mine will probably not be super smart (at first) and it
| will have a very large case (something I like).
|
| https://www.makervoyage.com/raspberry-pi-pico-smartwatch
| BOOTRACER wrote:
| I've been wearing a Yeswatch daily since V1. Newest V7 world
| watch has wireless recharging. Titanium case is light and strong.
| Not for everyone (it's chunky) but I'm a big fan.
| entropie wrote:
| Oh there are actual watches with analog 24h display.
|
| I felt very smart when I wrote my watchface for my galaxy s2
| tizen/vue watch with 24 hour display years ago.
|
| I also managed to build in timer/stopwatch functions to save
| battery (webworker) and it has a cucumber counter (I ate over
| 400 cucumbers a year back then).
|
| After some tizen update on the watch, the certificates didn't
| work anymore and I couldn't install it on my watch. I gave the
| watch away straight away.
|
| https://ackro.org/~mit/stuff/myClaw/
| dilippkumar wrote:
| This looks gorgeous.
|
| Here is my wishlist for my ideal watch:
|
| 1. Automatically adjusts to the timezone I'm in, including
| accounting for daylight saving time
|
| 2. Analog watch face with zero visible electronic displays
|
| 3. Connects to google calendar and has a haptic signal when
| something is about to start or end on my calendar
|
| 4. 2 hours of charging lasts for 1 year
|
| 5. Precise enough to act as a PTP grandmaster source.
| MostlyEmre wrote:
| I settled on a Seiko Astron GPS Solar on my last Japan trip and
| am very happy. It is missing the number 3 and 5 as it is not a
| smart/connected watch but its tech excites me every time I
| think about it. So if you're willing to sacrifice or want to
| have an alternative watch to your smart watch, I highly
| recommend looking into it.
| supportengineer wrote:
| We need a Raspberry Pi hardware and community, but for wrist
| watches.
| piltdownman wrote:
| You basically do with the NH35 Movement.
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/comments/11w3c22/nh35_cus...
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