alt Hacker NewsMechanical Watch (2022)
Comments
The author seems too humble to put a giant Patreon link in a popup (it's at the very bottom), but in case anyone wants to know how to support: https://www.patreon.com/ciechanowski/membership?vanity=ciech...
As a teacher I understand how difficult it is to explain complex topics in a simple step by step way.
The site has some really impressive technical aspects, but the educational angle is the most rare and special! The simplicity of the language and explanations disguise how difficult this is to do.
This is the original use of the internet- giving away free knowledge to people, perfectly suited for the medium of a website.
I find there is something indescribably fascinating with mechanical timepieces. I'm more of a clock guy than a watch guy, though I've had plenty of watches apart, and the two disciplines merge in many places. I've learned so many new mechanical skills in my now six year journey to be able to repair these things, and to learn to repair them is to learn to make them, as you need to know how to fabricate every single piece in order to be able to repair any movement, thus why clock and watch repairers are called clockmakers and watchmakers.
Probably my favorite thing about the author's posts is that it's all handwritten, vanilla code - as far as I can tell. It seems like all the HTML, CSS, and JS are just plain, standard, universal code. It's one of the few "advanced" sites that just works on an old iPhone 7, for example. So many modern sites that use modern frameworks just don't work anymore.
Also just a huge fan of using the existing infrastructure of browsers - even older ones - in effective ways. Browsers have been quite capable for awhile now.
I recently bought the book 'Watch Repair for Beginners' for reference (a project I slightly unwisely agreed to do).
It has some great diagrams, but obviously nothing on these interactive animations (er, naturally, since it is a book).
However the author (Harold C. Kelley) has descriptions for the diagrams similar to a maths proof - like "Warning lever W is raised in position to engage the pin P ... The unlocking lever U lifts the drop lever D ..." - not easy to follow, but maybe if you have the mechanism in front of you!
I think one of my favourite things about an automatic is that its design calls for it to be worn and not collected. If you collect them, then you'd either be wnding or shaking them when you actually want to wear them, so they aren't automatic. It forces you to wear, and therefore own, just the one, which is how it should be. I have a seiko 5 which i always wear except in the shower.
I love that there's not only the internals of a standard three-hand, but the automatic mechanism as well. If you're going pure mechanical, an automatic is the best way. As long as you actually move during the day the watch generally stays wound up (though a twist when you put it on is a good measure). There's a ton of great watches out there powered only by walking around, and it's fascinating to look at what they can do with that.
The mechanics of a six-hand are similar, using the mechanism that is described here for the date indicator.
Another fun device, though more from an EE POV, are the solar+radio/GPS versions of the same. Automatics can hold power for a few days and need walking around to wind. Solar needs light (any light, though sunlight is always best) and hold power for over a month. Many higher-end models can self-set over radio time or GPS signals as well.
When the world goes tits-up someday, both classes of watches will suddenly become essential, and are already essential for people who spend a good amount of time "unreachable" for work or pleasure.
I have LOVED the beauty of mechanical watches my entire life. About 15 years ago, I started a little savings account to purchase an Omega Speedmaster. I have long since past the amount needed to purchase that beautiful timepiece, but I now have a wife, child, and house. The money is still there, but I cannot seem to pull the trigger. My wife says she is entirely Ok with me doing this as we are comfortable money-wise, but the "dad" in me keeps saying "You might need that money for a rainy day."
As observed from a comment [1] in a previous discussion: in the first animation the time and date shown are actually correct (per your web browser) when it initially renders, though it does not increment as the seconds hand reaches 12.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533#unv_31268444
I have a mechanical watch. I absolutely love it. Much more stylish than a smart watch.
I bought it over 10 years ago now for around £400. So not super expensive but it works perfectly for me and is a great accessory.
I also recommend this demonstration from 1949, in that excellent style they used back then with large scale physical models and stop-motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMW-QWPZEm0
My 8yo son plays with this any chance he gets. We've started building watches together as a result (simple "drop in movement mods", but aspirations of building our own movement). The author really made something special.
What an outrageously cool and informative website. Love it.
I'm back to mostly wearing analog watches. Had an Apple Watch on my wrist for quite a long time, but something about analog appeals once more. No smartwatch beats an analog in the style department, and I see analog everywhere around me ('burbs of NYC)
I've been fascinated by mechanical watches for years. It can become a deep rabbit hole (like most hobbies). I frequently have watch restoration videos playing in the background as I'm doing things and love the process of taking apart, cleaning, and reassembling these watch movements. Wristwatch Revival is probably my favorite. I has encouraged me to tear apart a few watches of my own to give them a good service. As complex as they look, most follow a very similar process to rebuild.
https://www.youtube.com/wristwatchrevival if anyone loves stuff like this. He's great!
It's been more than a year since his last post. Anyone know what's up?
When studying distributed systems you have to convince yourself that clocks cannot be relied on. It is hard to do so because all the clocks around me are always working just fine.
When this article was posted here earlier I got an idea that maybe wearing a mechanical watch for a while might help.
I bought a cheap mechanical watch. It needs manual winding daily. If you take it off your wrist it gets out of sync with the other clocks or just stops.
Few weeks with that clock convinced me.
Coincidentally for the last week or so I've revived my Glycine automatic as my daily wearer and I'm gauging my level of dependence on my Apple watch. So far -- hey, I wasn't all that dependent on it, and I guess, I was feeling a bit too digital. I'm going to keep going for a while this way.
Relevant YouTube channel for a deep dive:
I've been hyper fixated on mechanical watches this year, and I'm so happy to have this resource, it's clarified my gaps, and corrected multiple misunderstandings.
Very excited to get home and rebuild my keyless!
This piece made me kind of fall in love with mechanical watches. The Orient Bambino I’m currently rocking on my wrist probably wouldn’t be there without it!
I'm given pause every time I come across an article from this site; the detail and "playful" nature of the content is so good.
My wife finds yard sale watches and has me change the battery, but then I open one, a tiny thing and it's not battery powered but there are layers of tiny tiny gears. Mind boggling. (pro tip, a "bench knife" has a tiny blade that's optimized for plying open watch cases)
One of the best presentations I have ever seen. This article should be made standard for learning about mechanical watches.
I'm wearing a Seiko SBSA225; the Japanese one with the bilingual day wheel. :)
Does anyone have recommendations for cheapish mechanical watches that don't cost a fortune to service? (UK based) Secondhand or new.
Absolutely beautiful explanation.
This (re-)triggered a huge (dormant?) mechanical watch special interest for me when it was first posted.
Neurospiceys tread carefully.
<3
What a brilliant resource.
I think this should be used in schools.
Really easy to understand and instantly captivating.
Please do more topics!!! :)
Best HN article ever!
On-demand ciechanow.ski caliber articles are a pretty good AGI indicator. All the work on that site is wonderful.
Ineffably magnificent... no words may express how simply ingenious and incredible both the website work and such the marvel the work is attributed to...
What if schools would provide children such marvel? Yes, that requires a sufficient time to achieve, but dear... it's just... a miracle...
Related: https://ciechanow.ski/archives (Bartosz Ciechanowski...)
How many animations does that page have? And how did they make them?
See also: “Clockmaking”, a 24-part series wherein a brass clock is fabricated by hand - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsETq9h35dgQq80R...
This YouTube video shows (silently!) the assembly of a watch very similar to the one drawn in this blog. I found it quite informative.
i would love to see a version of this for the antikythera
Be warned, once you get into mechanical watches it can be a debilitating addiction. :-). I started out with a Tag Heuer Aquaracer Professional and then sold that to buy an Omega Seamaster Diver which I love. I’m lusting for a Audemars Piguet Royal Oak but that’s a ways off.
Incredible!
" it may be hard to believe that merely a few decades ago the most convenient way to keep track of time was a mechanical watch." I guess quartz is more convenient if you often take the watch off for more than a day. But my swiss automatics dont need a regular battery change, just a servicing every decade (or longer). I guess there are solar powered quartz watches though.
(2022)
[dead]
[dead]
Paging Elias Thorne! /s
In all seriousness I should read the cameras and lenses one again; it'll be useful to me now
There are not many watch-enthusiasts on boomer generation methinks. The misery of unreliable super-expensive timekeeping raises no fond memories.
I can literally taste bile, when somebody is boasting about their ugly watch, whose only value is that some slave in China worked hundreds of hours to make it.
This article inspired me to build an exploded view of a mechanical watch movement in real-life (2025): https://fellerts.no/projects/epoch.html