6 ms·
Mechanical Watch (2022)
- alxgsv 3mo ago2022 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533
- wateralien 3mo agoAre we allowed to see it again?
- geerlingguy 3mo agoYes, I remember the GPS post, but somehow missed this one the first go-round. I love how HN can resurface an old post deserving of a few re-posts.
- alxgsv 3mo agoYes, why not. When I posted my comment, year wasn't in the title. I was very excited to see this, sent to my friend and he said to me that it's an old one. So I posted my comment to make people aware of that.
- dang 3mo agoOh yes! Reposts are welcome after a year or so. This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html. We particularly want new cohorts of users to get acquainted with the classics :) When users (or mods) link to previous threads, the intention is simply to share other troves of comments for curiosity gratification purposes.
- StrLght 3mo agoI got really excited thinking it was a new post for a second :(
- dang 3mo agoThanks! Macroexpanded: Mechanical Watch (2022) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38591084 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38591084 - Dec 2023 (163 comments) Mechanical Watch - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533 - May 2022 (413 comments)
- redbell 3mo agoAnother one from Dec, 2023: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38591084 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38591084
- timdiggerm 3mo agoIt's been more than a year since his last post. Anyone know what's up?
- assimpleaspossi 3mo agoMaybe the article is done. He did make a few blog posts since then including seven months ago.
- technothrasher 3mo agoI 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.
- serious_angel 3mo agoRelated: https://jacobandco.com/timepieces https://jacobandco.com/timepieces
- technothrasher 3mo agoRelated I guess, but these celebrity "bling" watches are entirely the least interesting part of horology.
- WillAdams 3mo agoYeah, it's always interesting when I run into watch guys --- my father's 27-jewel Seiko is too large for my wrist, and the date wheel is broken (and I can't find anyone willing to fix it w/o a donor watch), so I wear quite modest watches such as a Timex Indiglo, or a Seiko Solar --- folks are understanding and sympathetic and almost always have stories about repairs, or watches which they are hoping to have the chance to buy.
- technothrasher 3mo agoWear whatever makes you happy without apology. Rolex, Timex, Apple Watch. Whatever. I find a large inverse relation between people who care about the cost of the watch you wear and people who are actually interested in the mechanical function of a watch.
- serious_angel 3mo agoIneffably 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 https://ciechanow.ski/archives (Bartosz Ciechanowski...)
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- WillAdams 3mo agoRelevant YouTube channel for a deep dive: https://www.youtube.com/@chronovaengineering https://www.youtube.com/@chronovaengineering
- gilleain 3mo agoI 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!
- rvz 3mo ago(2022)
- kqr 3mo agoI 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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMW-QWPZEm0
- NiloCK 3mo agoOn-demand ciechanow.ski caliber articles are a pretty good AGI indicator. All the work on that site is wonderful.
- awongh 3mo agoAs 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.
- aquova 3mo agoWhile I do agree, if the author is reading the comments one piece of feedback I have is the overuse of the phrase "In this article I will...". It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine, and they use a version of the phrase three times in the first four paragraphs.
- rainbowDolphin 3mo agoI find the convention whereby authors 'explicitly tell readers what they're going to do' a hallmark of good explanatory writing, so long as the writing is supposed to be explanatory and the author follows through. So your comment got me to take a closer look, and yeah, the author could certainly cut "in this article" and "in this blog post" from the third and fourth paragraphs. Otherwise, yeah, this is an excellent piece of work. Reminds of that ancient, short, black and white film from General Motors that artfully demonstrates how differentials work. If the HN commentariat knows of similarly excellent educational work that uses intuitive visual to explain software concepts, please do share.
- salviati 3mo agoIf the HN commentariat knows of similarly excellent educational work that uses intuitive visual to explain software concepts, please do share. I have not gone through it yet, but this explanation of how transformers work is in the same class as Ciechanowski's work IMO: https://poloclub.github.io/transformer-explainer/ https://poloclub.github.io/transformer-explainer/
- 3mo ago
- josh-sematic 3mo agoThis 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!
- ahmdnassir1 3mo ago[flagged]
- minton 3mo agoWhat do people get out of this kind of spam? How does having AI regurgitate another post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48553975 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48553975) benefit them?
- turzmo 3mo agoThe 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=ciechanowski https://www.patreon.com/ciechanowski/membership?vanity=ciech...
- grvdrm 3mo agoWhat 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)
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- throw0101c 3mo agoAs 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533#unv_31268444
- llcoolv 3mo ago[dead]
- sammyo 3mo agoMy 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)
- NoSalt 3mo agoI just want to make sure that this is what you are talking about: https://www.google.com/search?q=bench+knife https://www.google.com/search?q=bench+knife https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ihwnd7z21q/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/771/7977/king-arthur-bench-knife-1__15285_2097__73229.1724079448.jpg https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ihwnd7z21q/images/stencil/12...
- dabluecaboose 3mo agoThe term GP was looking for is "Caseback Knife": https://diplomatwinders.com/cdn/shop/products/55035knife_1024x1024@2x.jpg https://diplomatwinders.com/cdn/shop/products/55035knife_102...
- NoSalt 3mo agoAh, yes ... that seems more reasonable. Thank you.
- scosman 3mo agoMy 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.
- ahknight 3mo agoI 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.
- maratc 3mo agoCasio Oceanus S100 is made of titanium, adjusts itself over the radio[0], understands 29th of February, sets itself on/off DST, never needs tinkering or battery change, and sells for a whooping $350. It's the watch you can set all your other watches to. [0] Don't have radio coverage where you live? "There's an app for that" -- or several -- that simulate radio control signals.
- GordonS 3mo agoOoh, that is a nice quartz watch! Really good review here: https://www.peterferenczi.com/blog/2023/3/19/the-casio-oceanus-s100-review-resolving-my-personal-quartz-crisis https://www.peterferenczi.com/blog/2023/3/19/the-casio-ocean...
- matheusmoreira 3mo agoSensor Watch has a temperature sensor and compensation software. It's a Casio F-91W replacement and right up there with the best temperature compensated quartz watches. Less than $100, open source software and hardware.
- 3mo ago
- kordlessagain 3mo agohttps://www.youtube.com/wristwatchrevival https://www.youtube.com/wristwatchrevival if anyone loves stuff like this. He's great!
- selfawareMammal 3mo agoWhy is this getting to the top page every year?
- jmye 3mo agoBecause new people see it, find it fascinating, and upvote it. As it turns out, in a feed like HN's, it's easy to miss things if you don't happen to see them within a day or so of them being posted. I'm not sure why this is a mystery.
- NoSalt 3mo agoBecause watches and watch mechanics are AWESOME!
- throwpoaster 3mo agoThis (re-)triggered a huge (dormant?) mechanical watch special interest for me when it was first posted. Neurospiceys tread carefully. <3
- cacozen 3mo agoI hope nobody tells the neurodivergent about rotatewatches.com or diywatch.club, because it's been a money sink...
- throwpoaster 3mo agoNNNOOO000ooo...…
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- zkmon 3mo agoHow many animations does that page have? And how did they make them?
- throwaway152321 3mo agoHigh level, it's all done on iPad with Shapr3D. For the details subscribe to his Patreon. Completely worth it.
- NoSalt 3mo agoI 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."
- dnemmers 3mo agoIt might be worth purchasing one second hand, then most of the depreciation is already gone. If you need the money, you're likely to recoup most of it by re-selling.
- dionian 3mo agoOr buy a nice Swiss automatic in the 1-2000 range.
- maratc 3mo agoOr a $300 Seagull 1963 (the Chinese bought the rights, the design, and the machines.)
- GordonS 3mo agoThose look really nice (love the moon phase indicator that some of them have too!), but the "red star" motif on the watch face does put me off.
- NoSalt 3mo agoDo you have any good recommendations for me?
- maratc 3mo agoGood starting points for first Swiss mechanical are Tissot, Hamilton, Mido, or Certina. They all belong to the same conglomerate (the Swatch Group). The "gateway drug" these days seems to be Tissot PRX. Their quartz models are about half the price of their mechanical ones.
- Kaibeezy 3mo agoSee also: “Clockmaking”, a 24-part series wherein a brass clock is fabricated by hand - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsETq9h35dgQq80Ryx-beOli&si=_NutDBbgpm8ruNxb https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsETq9h35dgQq80R...
- dionian 3mo ago" 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.
- haritha-j 3mo agoI 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.
- piltdownman 3mo agoAnyone with a few auto mechanicals will tend to be a 'luxury' watch collector and almost certainly have an auto-winder watchbox or similar solution. It gets way too finnicky to constantly reset crown based Chronos, nevermind something with wheel based control like an AirKing. Those who collect manual-winders tend towards trench watches, marriage watches converted from pocket or 1950-69 era vintage Omegas and the like - as the Timex/Hamilton/Seagull re-issues hold little cachet to a collector. The glaring recent exception being the appalling SwatchxAP collab with the hand-wound version the SISTEM51 movement, bringing the worst aspects of both manual wind movements and the unservicable and ultimately disposable nature of contemporary swatch movements.
- Esophagus4 3mo agoAny reason for not wearing yours in the shower? I wear mine pretty much all the time except sleep.
- stilldavid 3mo agoI wear mine to sleep and that's where I get tremendous value out of it! I have small kids who are up one or more times overnight, and it's the first thing I check - is it midnight? Closer to 4am? Helps me make immediate decisions about how to handle the situation.
- Esophagus4 3mo agoOh that makes sense. I just don’t like the discomfort of wearing one in bed.
- vmilner 3mo agoDoes anyone have recommendations for cheapish mechanical watches that don't cost a fortune to service? (UK based) Secondhand or new.
- buzzy_hacker 3mo agoSeiko 5 is the go-to recommendation for inexpensive mechanical watches
- artsandsci 3mo agoIf you get any cheapish mechanical watch with a widely available movement (EG an NH35 or NH36), it makes more sense not to service it, and just replace it when (if) it wears out. That's what I do with my Seikos.
- maratc 3mo agoSeiko 5 and Seiko 5 GMTs are great, but Orient is also a worthy contender.
- annagio_ 3mo agoCheck microbrand atlas. A map with many microbrands(almost), including UK. https://microbrandatlas.com/ https://microbrandatlas.com/
- quickthrowman 3mo agoA watch service costs more than a cheap watch, if you define cheap as under $300-500. If you get a Seiko or Citizen with a common movement, you can just have the movement replaced if something goes wrong. I’m not a fan of low end Swiss watches, Japan does them better.
- grugdev42 3mo agoWhat a brilliant resource. I think this should be used in schools. Really easy to understand and instantly captivating. Please do more topics!!! :)
- fellerts 3mo agoThis article inspired me to build an exploded view of a mechanical watch movement in real-life (2025): https://fellerts.no/projects/epoch.html https://fellerts.no/projects/epoch.html
- sdoering 3mo agoWere my father still alive I would pay you nearly anything for such a model. Or would totally be inspired to work on this for his next year's birthday (he would have had his 80th bd next year). This made me smile and in remembering cry. Thanks a ton kind stranger. It was a lovely stroll down memroy lane. I still have a few pieces from his collection that are near and dear to my heart.
- Teynah 3mo agoThis is one of the nicest things about objects like watches
- Quizzical4230 3mo agoThank you for your post! It's only through yours I got to know about the posted article. Your efforts on the exploded view are mind blowing!
- FergusArgyll 3mo ago> Bartosz, if you are reading this, contact me and I'll send you the final casting. This project would never have happened without your blog post. Did he ever contact you?
- Teynah 3mo agoThis is wonderful
- rohitsriram 3mo ago[dead]
- pratikdeoghare 3mo agoWhen 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.
- THansenite 3mo agoI'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.
- dofm 3mo agoPaging Elias Thorne! /s In all seriousness I should read the cameras and lenses one again; it'll be useful to me now
- hughw 3mo agoCoincidentally 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.
- Kaibeezy 3mo agoWhich Glycine? I’ve got a 2007 Airman Special II, 42mm, with the 12 at the top - hour hand points at the sun.
- bqc 3mo agoOne of the best presentations I have ever seen. This article should be made standard for learning about mechanical watches.
- BowBun 3mo agoIncredible!
- harrisi 3mo agoProbably 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.
- arwineap 3mo agoI'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!
- undershirt 3mo agoi would love to see a version of this for the antikythera
- jeffbee 3mo agoThis YouTube video shows (silently!) the assembly of a watch very similar to the one drawn in this blog. I found it quite informative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kILYJ0qFhHM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kILYJ0qFhHM
- permalaise 3mo agoAbsolutely beautiful explanation.
- kazinator 3mo agoI'm wearing a Seiko SBSA225; the Japanese one with the bilingual day wheel. :)
- jessyco 3mo agoI'm given pause every time I come across an article from this site; the detail and "playful" nature of the content is so good.
- nodesocket 3mo agoBe 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.
- timonoko 3mo agoThere 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.
- cednore 3mo agoBest HN article ever!
- tom_808 3mo agoI 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.
- trey-jones 3mo agoI saw this years and years ago, and it's actually one of my favorite things I've ever seen on the web. I recommend reading from start to finish.
- xpct 3mo agoThis blog remains one of the most inspirational interactive websites for me. It really nails both clarity and remains interactable, fun. When (if ever) LLMs are able to generate interactables like these, is when I will hang up my coat.
- l337h4x0rz 3mo agoalways loved myself a mechanical timepiece.
- Teynah 3mo agoBartosz has this rare ability to make a mechanism feel obvious without making it feel simple
- rffffcf 3mo agoPhysical time-keeping signatures, and hash values that inscibe verifications to deny service.