As a teacher I understand how difficult it is to explain complex topics in a simple step by step way.
The site has some really impressive technical aspects, but the educational angle is the most rare and special! The simplicity of the language and explanations disguise how difficult this is to do.
This is the original use of the internet- giving away free knowledge to people, perfectly suited for the medium of a website.
While 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.
I love that there's not only the internals of a standard three-hand, but the automatic mechanism as well. If you're going pure mechanical, an automatic is the best way. As long as you actually move during the day the watch generally stays wound up (though a twist when you put it on is a good measure). There's a ton of great watches out there powered only by walking around, and it's fascinating to look at what they can do with that.
The mechanics of a six-hand are similar, using the mechanism that is described here for the date indicator.
Another fun device, though more from an EE POV, are the solar+radio/GPS versions of the same. Automatics can hold power for a few days and need walking around to wind. Solar needs light (any light, though sunlight is always best) and hold power for over a month. Many higher-end models can self-set over radio time or GPS signals as well.
When the world goes tits-up someday, both classes of watches will suddenly become essential, and are already essential for people who spend a good amount of time "unreachable" for work or pleasure.
I 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.
I'm in a similar boat and I find it really hard to talk watches with folks who are experienced in the way of the Rolex AD.
I really enjoy cheaper vintage watches that call back to when everyone had one of them on their wrist.
Something about a semi-autonomous machine ticking away on your wrist, whether you're looking at it or not, using no electricity, is just intrinsically satisfying to me.
I got into watch servicing pre-covid, but never got into actual fabrication of parts. I mention pre-covid because it really got popular when everyone was stuck inside and there was a sudden loss of cheap ebay parts watches to pick from.
Yeah, 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.
I've never owned a mechanical watch(did just recently buy an Orient solar watch after I lost my fitbit while traveling and after a couple weeks, realised the only feature I actually missed was having the time on my wrist), but I like watching the channel Wristwatch Revival on youtube. That guy will often repair old watches that most watchmakers won't touch, sent in by viewers, and make content out of it. And he especially loves taking taking on watches that have sentimental value for the owner.
He also recently started a watch repair shop specifically catering to cases most watchmakers won't accept, might be worth checking out.
Wear 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.
Yes, 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.
I recently bought the book 'Watch Repair for Beginners' for reference (a project I slightly unwisely agreed to do).
It has some great diagrams, but obviously nothing on these interactive animations (er, naturally, since it is a book).
However the author (Harold C. Kelley) has descriptions for the diagrams similar to a maths proof - like "Warning lever W is raised in position to engage the pin P ... The unlocking lever U lifts the drop lever D ..." - not easy to follow, but maybe if you have the mechanism in front of you!
As observed from a comment [1] in a previous discussion: in the first animation the time and date shown are actually correct (per your web browser) when it initially renders, though it does not increment as the seconds hand reaches 12.
My 8yo son plays with this any chance he gets. We've started building watches together as a result (simple "drop in movement mods", but aspirations of building our own movement). The author really made something special.
My wife finds yard sale watches and has me change the battery, but then I open one, a tiny thing and it's not battery powered but there are layers of tiny tiny gears. Mind boggling. (pro tip, a "bench knife" has a tiny blade that's optimized for plying open watch cases)
I also recommend this demonstration from 1949, in that excellent style they used back then with large scale physical models and stop-motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMW-QWPZEm0
What an outrageously cool and informative website. Love it.
I'm back to mostly wearing analog watches. Had an Apple Watch on my wrist for quite a long time, but something about analog appeals once more. No smartwatch beats an analog in the style department, and I see analog everywhere around me ('burbs of NYC)
This piece made me kind of fall in love with mechanical watches. The Orient Bambino I’m currently rocking on my wrist probably wouldn’t be there without it!
Ineffably magnificent... no words may express how simply ingenious and incredible both the website work and such the marvel the work is attributed to...
What if schools would provide children such marvel? Yes, that requires a sufficient time to achieve, but dear... it's just... a miracle...
Mechanical timepieces are endlessly fascinating. Six years into clock repair, I've learned that fixing them means making them—you have to fabricate every component. That's why we're called makers.
The author seems too humble to put a giant Patreon link in a popup (it's at the very bottom), but in case anyone wants to know how to support: https://www.patreon.com/ciechanowski/membership?vanity=ciech...
As a teacher I understand how difficult it is to explain complex topics in a simple step by step way.
The site has some really impressive technical aspects, but the educational angle is the most rare and special! The simplicity of the language and explanations disguise how difficult this is to do.
This is the original use of the internet- giving away free knowledge to people, perfectly suited for the medium of a website.
While 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.
Why is this getting to the top page every year?
https://www.youtube.com/wristwatchrevival if anyone loves stuff like this. He's great!
I love that there's not only the internals of a standard three-hand, but the automatic mechanism as well. If you're going pure mechanical, an automatic is the best way. As long as you actually move during the day the watch generally stays wound up (though a twist when you put it on is a good measure). There's a ton of great watches out there powered only by walking around, and it's fascinating to look at what they can do with that.
The mechanics of a six-hand are similar, using the mechanism that is described here for the date indicator.
Another fun device, though more from an EE POV, are the solar+radio/GPS versions of the same. Automatics can hold power for a few days and need walking around to wind. Solar needs light (any light, though sunlight is always best) and hold power for over a month. Many higher-end models can self-set over radio time or GPS signals as well.
When the world goes tits-up someday, both classes of watches will suddenly become essential, and are already essential for people who spend a good amount of time "unreachable" for work or pleasure.
I 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.
Related: https://jacobandco.com/timepieces
Related I guess, but these celebrity "bling" watches are entirely the least interesting part of horology.
I'm in a similar boat and I find it really hard to talk watches with folks who are experienced in the way of the Rolex AD.
I really enjoy cheaper vintage watches that call back to when everyone had one of them on their wrist.
Something about a semi-autonomous machine ticking away on your wrist, whether you're looking at it or not, using no electricity, is just intrinsically satisfying to me.
I got into watch servicing pre-covid, but never got into actual fabrication of parts. I mention pre-covid because it really got popular when everyone was stuck inside and there was a sudden loss of cheap ebay parts watches to pick from.
Yeah, 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.
I've never owned a mechanical watch(did just recently buy an Orient solar watch after I lost my fitbit while traveling and after a couple weeks, realised the only feature I actually missed was having the time on my wrist), but I like watching the channel Wristwatch Revival on youtube. That guy will often repair old watches that most watchmakers won't touch, sent in by viewers, and make content out of it. And he especially loves taking taking on watches that have sentimental value for the owner.
He also recently started a watch repair shop specifically catering to cases most watchmakers won't accept, might be worth checking out.
https://www.youtube.com/c/WristwatchRevival/
https://restoration.sutcliffehansen.com/
Wear 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.
2022 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533
Are we allowed to see it again?
Yes, 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.
Yes, 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.
I got really excited thinking it was a new post for a second :(
I recently bought the book 'Watch Repair for Beginners' for reference (a project I slightly unwisely agreed to do).
It has some great diagrams, but obviously nothing on these interactive animations (er, naturally, since it is a book).
However the author (Harold C. Kelley) has descriptions for the diagrams similar to a maths proof - like "Warning lever W is raised in position to engage the pin P ... The unlocking lever U lifts the drop lever D ..." - not easy to follow, but maybe if you have the mechanism in front of you!
As observed from a comment [1] in a previous discussion: in the first animation the time and date shown are actually correct (per your web browser) when it initially renders, though it does not increment as the seconds hand reaches 12.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31261533#unv_31268444
My 8yo son plays with this any chance he gets. We've started building watches together as a result (simple "drop in movement mods", but aspirations of building our own movement). The author really made something special.
My wife finds yard sale watches and has me change the battery, but then I open one, a tiny thing and it's not battery powered but there are layers of tiny tiny gears. Mind boggling. (pro tip, a "bench knife" has a tiny blade that's optimized for plying open watch cases)
I also recommend this demonstration from 1949, in that excellent style they used back then with large scale physical models and stop-motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMW-QWPZEm0
It's been more than a year since his last post. Anyone know what's up?
Maybe the article is done. He did make a few blog posts since then including seven months ago.
What an outrageously cool and informative website. Love it.
I'm back to mostly wearing analog watches. Had an Apple Watch on my wrist for quite a long time, but something about analog appeals once more. No smartwatch beats an analog in the style department, and I see analog everywhere around me ('burbs of NYC)
On-demand ciechanow.ski caliber articles are a pretty good AGI indicator. All the work on that site is wonderful.
This piece made me kind of fall in love with mechanical watches. The Orient Bambino I’m currently rocking on my wrist probably wouldn’t be there without it!
Relevant YouTube channel for a deep dive:
https://www.youtube.com/@chronovaengineering
Ineffably magnificent... no words may express how simply ingenious and incredible both the website work and such the marvel the work is attributed to...
What if schools would provide children such marvel? Yes, that requires a sufficient time to achieve, but dear... it's just... a miracle...
Related: https://ciechanow.ski/archives (Bartosz Ciechanowski...)
(2022)
Mechanical timepieces are endlessly fascinating. Six years into clock repair, I've learned that fixing them means making them—you have to fabricate every component. That's why we're called makers.
What do people get out of this kind of spam? How does having AI regurgitate another post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48553975) benefit them?
I think typically it's karma farming? To what end I'm not sure but it's probably not great.