Mechanical watches are great in that they never need batteries, but they are simultaneously less than great in that they will lose time if not worn or otherwise regularly agitated. The ridiculous solution to this is the watch winder, which automatically rotates your mechanical watches for you, while you’re not wearing them. This is probably the item you’ll miss the least once the apocalypse hits. [Kristopher] wanted a nice quiet watch winder for his bedside table, but existing solutions were either too loud or too expensive. As is often the case, hacking ensued.
[Kristopher] had decided that starting from scratch was too much hassle. The cheaper watch winders on the market had acceptable quality enclosures, but were simply too loud. [Kristopher] sourced a $40 unit from Amazon, and proceeded to gut the drivetrain. This was replaced with a Sparkfun stepper motor and a Trinamic SilentStepStick – an advanced stepper motor driver that uses several techniques to reduce noise during operation.
An Arduino Nano was substituted as the brains of the operation, communicating with the stepper driver and allowing the winder to be configured for different wind rates. [Kristopher] reports that the device operates near-silently, and the total cost came in well below that of a high-end luxury winder.
Mechanical watches don’t always get a lot of attention these days, but we’ve seen one built from the ground up before. As always, with tips – send ’em if you got ’em.
One interesting thing about wristwatches is the amount of drift that occurs when the watch is taken off at night. This is as a result of temperature changes. When worn, the human body tends to keep the temperature pretty constant. This is particularly noticeable in electronic units that are very stable when kept at a near constant temperature. Mechanical units should also display a discrepancy, but the general inaccuracy may mask this effect.
Fortunately my watch has a radio control receiver and adjusts itself every few days. And it does not contain moving parts – except the crystal and the buttons :-)
Add a small heater to keep it warm in the winder.
Or strap it to your dog.
Such techniques might be useful for 3D printers. Reduce vibrations, shop noise..
You do know that 3D-printers already use these stepper-drivers? My Original Prusa i3 MK3 is super silent because of this.
Was about to buy a pile of these for my CNC and then remembered that the noisy bit is the router… anyone found a silent router??
If you’re looking for a small spindle, dental lab handpieces are quiet, high torque, and run 30-50k rpm. The brushless ones are nicest for low maintenance, but cost a bit more. They all use a standard size collet that works well, and there are various carbide cutters, grind stones, cut-off wheels, and polishers available cheaply.
Or get a hybrid like https://ressencewatches.com/
They have internal rtcs and hidden electronics to negate the mechanical issues.
Pretty cool, but out of my budget :(
Wrong link? Those are purely mechanical.
… oops… I stand corrected… https://ressencewatches.com/innovation
As a watchmaker, I feel the need to correct this- there are 2 types of all mechanical watches. Self winding automatics (that can wind when in motion, and slso usually hand wind as well), and manual wind watches.
Watch winding machines like this only work on automatics that have an oscillating weight in them that winds on motion.
This will not wind manual wind watches.