8 ms·

Designing my own watch (2020)

225 points by handfuloflight 2y ago

snypher 2y ago
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 2y ago
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 2y ago
  Not cheap, but if you look at what other expensive watches cost, it's actually comparable.
  - irjustin 2y ago
    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 2y ago
  Probably closer to 10 - 15k usd. It's https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/watches/annual-calendar/ 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 2y ago
  Spending 20k to talk about "my own design" hipster watch. Must be nice to be that rich.
- _zoltan_ 2y ago
  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 2y ago
  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 https://ressencewatches.com
  - maeln 2y ago
    Reading the article, the unpolished finished is part of the aesthetic he seems to be going for.
  - hnlmorg 2y ago
    Those don’t conform to the authors requirements. The reason he landed on that design is pretty well detailed in the article too.
  - mrb 2y ago
    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 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
    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 2y ago
    I'd be a lot more worried about damaging it then theft, since I'm constantly running into furniture
    - Arainach 2y ago
      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 2y ago
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 https://youtube.com/watch?v=P0keUhMiZ44
- saurik 2y ago
  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 https://youtube.com/watch?v=NeopkvAP-ag
  - bux93 2y ago
    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 2y ago
  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.
userbinator 2y ago
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 2y ago
  It looks like the disks can rotate and still show the same day or month due to the stretched markings
- cpcallen 2y ago
  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 https://youtu.be/28LYcZJ6hHE
timonoko 2y ago
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 https://github.com/timonoko/Amazfit
- timonoko 2y ago
  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_ 2y ago
    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 2y ago
      Only problem is that the strap turned into spaghetti in 4 years. Battery life is still OK.
  - KTibow 2y ago
    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)
bijutoha 2y ago
[dead]
kijin 2y ago
> 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 2y ago
  You'd think the marker under the weekday could be a different colour when it shifts to pm
- matejn 2y ago
  If I understood the watch website correctly, the weekday marker shows 2 dots instead of 1 during AM.
zombot 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
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 2y ago
  Metal bands are a bitch if you ever need to type on a laptop though.
- bigstrat2003 2y ago
  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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
  One thing to keep in mind is that metal bands can sometimes be heavier and less flexible than leather or cloth
- alinoe_ 2y ago
  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 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
  For a digital-only lightweight alternative that does everything a watch should do, the Casio F-E10 is ideal.
  - flacebo 2y ago
    I wouldn't consider that an alternative to a solar radio watch.
- darkFunction 2y ago
  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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
  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.
mnot 2y ago
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 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
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 2y ago
> 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 2y ago
  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.
  - nvarsj 2y ago
    Why do you think luxury watches are fragile? Most of these watches are built to last decades and are easily repairable.
    - iamacyborg 2y ago
      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 2y ago
        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.
_zoltan_ 2y ago
Cool! I've never heard of this shop before, thanks for sharing your experience.
_giorgio_ 2y ago
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 2y ago
> 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 2y ago
  Yes. Of course it is. Whether the item is luxury or not is a property of the product itself.
  - thih9 2y ago
    But luxury is superfluous; perhaps even by definition. Why lack of superfluous boxes is good when the product itself is superfluous?
    - hnlmorg 2y ago
      The product isn’t superfluous. He needed a watch. The superfluous part was the craftsmanship that went into the watch vs buying a cheap mass produced piece. Hence why I said it’s a property of the piece itself.
      - thih9 2y ago
        Then why choose a product with superfluous craftsmanship and praise the lack of superfluous boxes?
        hnlmorg 2y ago
        I can only assume he’s praising it because he cannot wear the boxes. But I’m not the author so you’ll have to ask him that question.
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
gorgoiler 2y ago
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/ https://www.casio.com/us/watches/casio/product.A158WA-1/ Movement $40 https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-watch 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 2y ago
  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-watch-pro https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-wa...
- greesil 2y ago
  I want this but also with a RF modem so I can send Morse code to nearby nerd friends.
  - gorgoiler 2y ago
    The Casio watches have a little buzzer and the standard SensorWatch codebase has a modem that uses it to send data: https://github.com/joeycastillo/Sensor-Watch/blob/0ad5fa473313b1f0e1c8125b232d91961f5c06ae/movement/watch_faces/demo/chirpy_demo_face.h#L29 https://github.com/joeycastillo/Sensor-Watch/blob/0ad5fa4733...
    - greesil 2y ago
      Lol that's cool. It would be hard to do secret messages but maybe I could do an audio remote control with this.
Mistletoe 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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-watches-exported-worldwide-by-price-category/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/303755/number-of-swiss-w...
  - eleveriven 2y ago
    This has created a new niche in the watch market
  - Kon-Peki 2y ago
    > Apple Watches/Smart watches/fitness trackers/wearables have really hurt. Sales in the most expensive category have grown, in the second most expensive category is fairly flat. It's only the cheaper price brackets that have seen large declines. But even then, I'm not so sure how much smart watches have hurt the overall market. I prefer to wear an inexpensive analog watch and recently purchased a new one (for just the 3rd time in about 30 years). The available variety was absolutely huge; companies like Casio are releasing lots of vintage-inspired watches in the sub-$100 price point.
- eleveriven 2y ago
  Watches remain popular for their practicality, style, and status
- bigstrat2003 2y ago
  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 2y ago
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=112&customizer_page=278&size=42mm&case=Grade%205%20titanium&dial=Rhodium%20plated&markers=Patina&hour-hand=Patina&minute-hand=Patina&second-hand=Rhodium%20plated&date-disk=Rhodium%20plated&date-dot=Patina&weekday-disk=Rhodium%20plated&weekday-dot=Patina&month-disk=Rhodium%20plated&month-dot=Patina&strap=Sturgeon 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.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- jcmfernandes 2y ago
  There's a Portuguese watch company using this same style since 2016: https://isotopewatches.com/products/isotope-gmt-zero-degrees https://isotopewatches.com/products/isotope-gmt-zero-degrees I love their timepieces.
- wodenokoto 2y ago
  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&customizer_page=278&watch-name=Test&size=42mm&case=Grade%205%20titanium&dial=Rhodium%20plated&markers=Pink&hour-hand=Blue%20patina&minute-hand=Malibu&second-hand=Yellow&date-disk=Orange&date-dot=Green%20smoke&weekday-disk=Malibu&weekday-dot=Pink&month-disk=Pink&month-dot=Malibu&strap=Khaki%20%2F%20leather https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/customizer-1-1/?watch=112&cu...
- zipy124 2y ago
  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!
willemlaurentz 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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.
  - floxy 2y ago
    I recently went into my local Ford dealer, and they had a Bronco in the showroom with a sticker price of $98,000.
- michaelt 2y ago
  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 2y ago
    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
eleveriven 2y ago
Such watches can become something like a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation
kingkongjaffa 2y ago
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 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 2y ago
  > 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 2y ago
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 https://www.makervoyage.com/raspberry-pi-pico-smartwatch
BOOTRACER 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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/ https://ackro.org/~mit/stuff/myClaw/
dilippkumar 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
We need a Raspberry Pi hardware and community, but for wrist watches.
- piltdownman 2y ago
  You basically do with the NH35 Movement. https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/comments/11w3c22/nh35_customfirst_watch_build_i_love_this_hobby/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/comments/11w3c22/nh35_cus...
archagon 2y ago
Fun fact: a collab with ochs und junior eventually led to photographer Ming Thein spinning up his own watch brand, now quite popular with collectors. https://quillandpad.com/2015/11/09/design-your-own-watch-a-collector-explains-the-pros-and-cons-with-ochs-und-junior/ https://quillandpad.com/2015/11/09/design-your-own-watch-a-c... (The brand: https://www.ming.watch https://www.ming.watch)
dasKrokodil 2y ago
I can appreciate the looks and the engineering, but it would drive me crazy to figure out the current date on that watch. I think readability is super important for watches, and at least for the date, this one isn't really that readable at all. It's less of a problem, but the low contrast between the hands and the face is also not that great for readability.
tonijn 2y ago
The straps look cheap

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 2y ago

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 2y ago
Not cheap, but if you look at what other expensive watches cost, it's actually comparable.
- irjustin 2y ago
  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 2y ago
Probably closer to 10 - 15k usd. It's https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/watches/annual-calendar/ 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 2y ago
Spending 20k to talk about "my own design" hipster watch. Must be nice to be that rich.
_zoltan_ 2y ago
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 2y ago
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 https://ressencewatches.com
- maeln 2y ago
  Reading the article, the unpolished finished is part of the aesthetic he seems to be going for.
- hnlmorg 2y ago
  Those don’t conform to the authors requirements. The reason he landed on that design is pretty well detailed in the article too.
- mrb 2y ago
  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 2y ago

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 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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 2y ago
  I'd be a lot more worried about damaging it then theft, since I'm constantly running into furniture
  - Arainach 2y ago
    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 2y ago

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 https://youtube.com/watch?v=P0keUhMiZ44

saurik 2y ago
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 https://youtube.com/watch?v=NeopkvAP-ag
- bux93 2y ago
  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 2y ago
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.

userbinator 2y ago

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 2y ago
It looks like the disks can rotate and still show the same day or month due to the stretched markings
cpcallen 2y ago
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 https://youtu.be/28LYcZJ6hHE

timonoko 2y ago

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 https://github.com/timonoko/Amazfit

timonoko 2y ago
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_ 2y ago
  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 2y ago
    Only problem is that the strap turned into spaghetti in 4 years. Battery life is still OK.
- KTibow 2y ago
  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)

bijutoha 2y ago

[dead]

kijin 2y ago

> 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 2y ago
You'd think the marker under the weekday could be a different colour when it shifts to pm
matejn 2y ago
If I understood the watch website correctly, the weekday marker shows 2 dots instead of 1 during AM.

zombot 2y ago

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 2y ago
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 2y ago

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 2y ago
Metal bands are a bitch if you ever need to type on a laptop though.
bigstrat2003 2y ago
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 2y ago
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 2y ago
One thing to keep in mind is that metal bands can sometimes be heavier and less flexible than leather or cloth
alinoe_ 2y ago
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 2y ago

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 2y ago
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 2y ago
For a digital-only lightweight alternative that does everything a watch should do, the Casio F-E10 is ideal.
- flacebo 2y ago
  I wouldn't consider that an alternative to a solar radio watch.
darkFunction 2y ago
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 2y ago
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 2y ago
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.

mnot 2y ago

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 2y ago

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 2y ago
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 2y ago

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 2y ago
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 2y ago
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 2y ago

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 2y ago

> 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 2y ago
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.
- nvarsj 2y ago
  Why do you think luxury watches are fragile? Most of these watches are built to last decades and are easily repairable.
  - iamacyborg 2y ago
    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 2y ago
      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.

_zoltan_ 2y ago

Cool! I've never heard of this shop before, thanks for sharing your experience.

_giorgio_ 2y ago

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 2y ago

> 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 2y ago
Yes. Of course it is. Whether the item is luxury or not is a property of the product itself.
- thih9 2y ago
  But luxury is superfluous; perhaps even by definition. Why lack of superfluous boxes is good when the product itself is superfluous?
  - hnlmorg 2y ago
    The product isn’t superfluous. He needed a watch. The superfluous part was the craftsmanship that went into the watch vs buying a cheap mass produced piece. Hence why I said it’s a property of the piece itself.
    - thih9 2y ago
      Then why choose a product with superfluous craftsmanship and praise the lack of superfluous boxes?
      - hnlmorg 2y ago
        I can only assume he’s praising it because he cannot wear the boxes. But I’m not the author so you’ll have to ask him that question.
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]

gorgoiler 2y ago

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/ https://www.casio.com/us/watches/casio/product.A158WA-1/ Movement $40 https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-watch 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 2y ago
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-watch-pro https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-wa...
greesil 2y ago
I want this but also with a RF modem so I can send Morse code to nearby nerd friends.
- gorgoiler 2y ago
  The Casio watches have a little buzzer and the standard SensorWatch codebase has a modem that uses it to send data: https://github.com/joeycastillo/Sensor-Watch/blob/0ad5fa473313b1f0e1c8125b232d91961f5c06ae/movement/watch_faces/demo/chirpy_demo_face.h#L29 https://github.com/joeycastillo/Sensor-Watch/blob/0ad5fa4733...
  - greesil 2y ago
    Lol that's cool. It would be hard to do secret messages but maybe I could do an audio remote control with this.

Mistletoe 2y ago

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 2y ago
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-watches-exported-worldwide-by-price-category/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/303755/number-of-swiss-w...
- eleveriven 2y ago
  This has created a new niche in the watch market
- Kon-Peki 2y ago
  > Apple Watches/Smart watches/fitness trackers/wearables have really hurt. Sales in the most expensive category have grown, in the second most expensive category is fairly flat. It's only the cheaper price brackets that have seen large declines. But even then, I'm not so sure how much smart watches have hurt the overall market. I prefer to wear an inexpensive analog watch and recently purchased a new one (for just the 3rd time in about 30 years). The available variety was absolutely huge; companies like Casio are releasing lots of vintage-inspired watches in the sub-$100 price point.
eleveriven 2y ago
Watches remain popular for their practicality, style, and status
bigstrat2003 2y ago
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 2y ago

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=112&customizer_page=278&size=42mm&case=Grade%205%20titanium&dial=Rhodium%20plated&markers=Patina&hour-hand=Patina&minute-hand=Patina&second-hand=Rhodium%20plated&date-disk=Rhodium%20plated&date-dot=Patina&weekday-disk=Rhodium%20plated&weekday-dot=Patina&month-disk=Rhodium%20plated&month-dot=Patina&strap=Sturgeon 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.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jcmfernandes 2y ago
There's a Portuguese watch company using this same style since 2016: https://isotopewatches.com/products/isotope-gmt-zero-degrees https://isotopewatches.com/products/isotope-gmt-zero-degrees I love their timepieces.
wodenokoto 2y ago
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&customizer_page=278&watch-name=Test&size=42mm&case=Grade%205%20titanium&dial=Rhodium%20plated&markers=Pink&hour-hand=Blue%20patina&minute-hand=Malibu&second-hand=Yellow&date-disk=Orange&date-dot=Green%20smoke&weekday-disk=Malibu&weekday-dot=Pink&month-disk=Pink&month-dot=Malibu&strap=Khaki%20%2F%20leather https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/customizer-1-1/?watch=112&cu...
zipy124 2y ago
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!

willemlaurentz 2y ago

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 2y ago
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.
- floxy 2y ago
  I recently went into my local Ford dealer, and they had a Bronco in the showroom with a sticker price of $98,000.
michaelt 2y ago
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 2y ago
  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

eleveriven 2y ago

Such watches can become something like a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation

kingkongjaffa 2y ago

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 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 2y ago
> 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 2y ago

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 https://www.makervoyage.com/raspberry-pi-pico-smartwatch

BOOTRACER 2y ago

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 2y ago
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/ https://ackro.org/~mit/stuff/myClaw/

dilippkumar 2y ago

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 2y ago
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 2y ago

We need a Raspberry Pi hardware and community, but for wrist watches.

piltdownman 2y ago
You basically do with the NH35 Movement. https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/comments/11w3c22/nh35_customfirst_watch_build_i_love_this_hobby/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SeikoMods/comments/11w3c22/nh35_cus...

archagon 2y ago

Fun fact: a collab with ochs und junior eventually led to photographer Ming Thein spinning up his own watch brand, now quite popular with collectors. https://quillandpad.com/2015/11/09/design-your-own-watch-a-collector-explains-the-pros-and-cons-with-ochs-und-junior/ https://quillandpad.com/2015/11/09/design-your-own-watch-a-c... (The brand: https://www.ming.watch https://www.ming.watch)

dasKrokodil 2y ago

I can appreciate the looks and the engineering, but it would drive me crazy to figure out the current date on that watch. I think readability is super important for watches, and at least for the date, this one isn't really that readable at all. It's less of a problem, but the low contrast between the hands and the face is also not that great for readability.

tonijn 2y ago

The straps look cheap