The world of watches is a wide array of possibilities. On one hand, we've seen retro designs like this restored Soviet LED watch from the '70s using modern parts, and on the other we remember the Midnight Planétarium, basically a personal planetarium for our wrists. But how much do we know about their inner magic? How does a mechanical watch work, and what are its main characteristics? Bartosz Ciechanowski answers these questions with a fabulous interactive guide on the construction and behavior of each of its parts.
Most users see the watch as a tertiary function in other devices. Smartphones, tablets, computers and Smart TVs report the time accurately, and generally don't require much attention. However, the story is very different when we enter the world of mechanical watches.
Some designs are so complex and advanced that we feel a bit ashamed to simply call them "watches". In fact, they are true works of art and engineering, with hundreds of pieces working simultaneously, often under hostile conditions. But the underlying question remains: How exactly does a mechanical watch work? How is that almost impossible dance of rhythms and movements coordinated in such a compact space? Bartosz Ciechanowski explains it in an extraordinary interactive guide.
"How a Mechanical Watch Works": Interactive Guide to Parts and Movements
Bartosz warns us that the world of mechanical watches is also a maze of jargon, but his general explanation and demonstrations are so friendly that we can easily escape. The guide begins with energy, and the differences between a traditional spring and a spiral torsion spring, which also requires a very specific configuration for a mechanical watch. This spring is stored in the barrel (also called a barrel or cube), and to store more energy in it, an arbor is used, designed so that it rotates the entire barrel when released.
The guide continues with gears, the importance of the number of teeth on each, the difficulties in finding an appropriate ratio, and the adoption of the so-called gear train as a solution. This chain of gears and pinions allows the manufacturer to reduce the size of the mechanism, and use the intermediate wheels to control hours and minutes, but the question of speed remains: That's when the escapement wheel and the pallet anchor come into play, acting as a brake. With this "controlled leak" of energy, we get a basic functional mechanism.
Personally, I'd love to continue, but this text pales in comparison to the interactive factor of the guide. Not only will you receive a precise explanation of how a mechanical watch works, but you can also control the parts individually, alter their conditions and observe the effects in real time. At the same time, the guide is very long, but mechanical watches are not simple creatures, and Bartosz's work definitely deserves your attention.
Access the interactive guide: Click here
