4 ms·

Funny to see a fairly technical article on mechanical watches rank so high on HN. Yes, quartz watches are simpler and more accurate yadayada, but there is an i

by aredox 3y ago

Funny to see a fairly technical article on mechanical watches rank so high on HN. Yes, quartz watches are simpler and more accurate yadayada, but there is an interesting engineering challenge in trying to improve accuracy (1 second/day = 10 ppm!) through purely mechanical means. Constraints foster creativity.

yodon 3y ago
Long ago my dad (an experimental physicist) had a self-winding mechanical watch. At the end of the day, he would check if the watch had gained or lost time during the day (compared to the broadcast bell chimes radio stations used to broadcast on the hour). Based on the observation he would set the watch on its right side or left for the night, causing the spring in the self winding mechanism to be slightly more or less tensioned, leading to a slight gain or loss of time by morning to tune the watch to the precise broadcast signal.
- hasoleju 3y ago
  Thanks for that story. While reading the article I always wondered what the value of the inaccuracy they where talking about really is. I guess it varies for different manufacturers. But seeing this shows me that even in the past it was only a matter of a few seconds.
- bacheaul 3y ago
  Yes! On average, my Orient watch runs about 15-20s fast per week when I lay it flat on its back at night. But when I position it crown down at night, it runs about 4s slow per week. I usually check it every Sunday morning, and if it's running a bit slow, then I'll put it on it's back for a couple of night to let it catch up. Haven't had to pull the crown out and adjust it for about 2 months now with this system.
  - superhuzza 3y ago
    Haven't pulled the crown in 2 months? No daylight savings where you live? :)
TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
There's more room for creativity with digital technology. The most accurate quartz movements drift by around 5 secs a year. Chip scale atomic clocks are accurate to around 37ms a year. Current chip scale atomic clocks are still a little too big for watches, but some applied creativity might change that. Personally I don't care about clockwork, but I think having an atomic clock on your wrist would be quite cool.
- dgacmu 3y ago
  An interesting race will be improvements to the local oscillator versus continued size and power reductions for grabbing a GPS signal every hour to correct your clock. No predictions here, though, of course, an increasing number of watches do have GPS for other reasons. (And the GPS solution doesn't help you if you live on a submarine)
  - 15457345234 3y ago
    > grabbing a GPS signal every hour RFID-style sync to some device with accurate time (probably a phone) would be the best way to keep an electronic watch mechanism accurate on a day-by-day basis.
- throw0101a 3y ago
  > The most accurate quartz movements drift by around 5 secs a year. See: * https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/the-citizen/lineup/5sec/01.html https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/the-citizen/lineup/5sec/... * https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-citizen-eco-drive-the-citizen-chronomaster-ab9000-61e https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-citizen-eco-drive-the-... They've gone to ±1 second per year: * https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/citizen-caliber-0100-eco-drive-movement-introducing https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/citizen-caliber-0100-eco-d... * https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/caliber0100/index.html https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/caliber0100/index.html
s0rce 3y ago
Are quartz watches really simpler? They require significant technological advancement to create.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  Well, both things are true. The technological advancement required to make them was immense. Now that we can stand on the shoulders of those giants, they are ~1 order of magnitude simpler to make.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Lio 3y ago
Something that really blew my mind is how far mechanical accuracy can be taken when money is no object. It's said that George Daniels could make mechanical watches that were more accurate than the quartz watches of his day[1], 0.4 seconds per year. Of course that doesn't really matter if the thing is a priceless work of art that no one can afford to wear day to day but it's still really interesting to know how he did it. Quartz watches' real advantage is just their accuracy but that they are accurate and cheap to make. There's something rather wonderful about a practically disposable Casio like a Bic Biro. 1. https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/george-daniels-the-worlds-greatest-watchmaker https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/george-daniels-the-worl... 2. https://www.danielslondon.com/daniels-watches/the-space-traveller/ https://www.danielslondon.com/daniels-watches/the-space-trav...

by aredox 3y ago

yodon 3y ago

Long ago my dad (an experimental physicist) had a self-winding mechanical watch. At the end of the day, he would check if the watch had gained or lost time during the day (compared to the broadcast bell chimes radio stations used to broadcast on the hour). Based on the observation he would set the watch on its right side or left for the night, causing the spring in the self winding mechanism to be slightly more or less tensioned, leading to a slight gain or loss of time by morning to tune the watch to the precise broadcast signal.

hasoleju 3y ago
Thanks for that story. While reading the article I always wondered what the value of the inaccuracy they where talking about really is. I guess it varies for different manufacturers. But seeing this shows me that even in the past it was only a matter of a few seconds.
bacheaul 3y ago
Yes! On average, my Orient watch runs about 15-20s fast per week when I lay it flat on its back at night. But when I position it crown down at night, it runs about 4s slow per week. I usually check it every Sunday morning, and if it's running a bit slow, then I'll put it on it's back for a couple of night to let it catch up. Haven't had to pull the crown out and adjust it for about 2 months now with this system.
- superhuzza 3y ago
  Haven't pulled the crown in 2 months? No daylight savings where you live? :)

TheOtherHobbes 3y ago

There's more room for creativity with digital technology. The most accurate quartz movements drift by around 5 secs a year. Chip scale atomic clocks are accurate to around 37ms a year. Current chip scale atomic clocks are still a little too big for watches, but some applied creativity might change that. Personally I don't care about clockwork, but I think having an atomic clock on your wrist would be quite cool.

dgacmu 3y ago
An interesting race will be improvements to the local oscillator versus continued size and power reductions for grabbing a GPS signal every hour to correct your clock. No predictions here, though, of course, an increasing number of watches do have GPS for other reasons. (And the GPS solution doesn't help you if you live on a submarine)
- 15457345234 3y ago
  > grabbing a GPS signal every hour RFID-style sync to some device with accurate time (probably a phone) would be the best way to keep an electronic watch mechanism accurate on a day-by-day basis.
throw0101a 3y ago
> The most accurate quartz movements drift by around 5 secs a year. See: * https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/the-citizen/lineup/5sec/01.html https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/the-citizen/lineup/5sec/... * https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-citizen-eco-drive-the-citizen-chronomaster-ab9000-61e https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-citizen-eco-drive-the-... They've gone to ±1 second per year: * https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/citizen-caliber-0100-eco-drive-movement-introducing https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/citizen-caliber-0100-eco-d... * https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/caliber0100/index.html https://www.citizenwatch-global.com/caliber0100/index.html

s0rce 3y ago

Are quartz watches really simpler? They require significant technological advancement to create.

JohnBooty 3y ago
Well, both things are true. The technological advancement required to make them was immense. Now that we can stand on the shoulders of those giants, they are ~1 order of magnitude simpler to make.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Lio 3y ago

Something that really blew my mind is how far mechanical accuracy can be taken when money is no object. It's said that George Daniels could make mechanical watches that were more accurate than the quartz watches of his day[1], 0.4 seconds per year. Of course that doesn't really matter if the thing is a priceless work of art that no one can afford to wear day to day but it's still really interesting to know how he did it. Quartz watches' real advantage is just their accuracy but that they are accurate and cheap to make. There's something rather wonderful about a practically disposable Casio like a Bic Biro. 1. https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/george-daniels-the-worlds-greatest-watchmaker https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/george-daniels-the-worl... 2. https://www.danielslondon.com/daniels-watches/the-space-traveller/ https://www.danielslondon.com/daniels-watches/the-space-trav...