Hello and thanks for swinging by to check out our Sunday feature, Watch Video Rewind, where we look for cool watch related videos from around the web, and bring them to your attention. Today I have the marriage of centuries old watch making technology and the latest tool for rapid prototyping, a 3D printed tourbillon. An article at Hodinkee tipped me off to this, and the Swiss engineer’s YouTube page has these videos and more.
Everyone needs to start somewhere, and Mr. Laimer printed a mechanical clock before he took on the challenge of the tourbillon. The clock runs for 2 hours when wound, which is pretty good when you realize that these are all plastic parts, and it is accurate to about a 1/4 second per hour.
This short animation is a good introduction to the watch, with all the parts sliding into place.
Next up is a time-lapse of the assembly of the watch. Now, anyone who isn’t Flava Flave may have a hard time really calling this a wrist watch, but I am not going to split hairs here.
In this last video, Chirstoph Laimer takes us through his project, explaining the parts and process that went into making the final project. OK, it does not have the greatest power reserve, but it is running off a 3D printed plastic spring.
That’s it for this week’s watch video rewind. If you stumble across any interesting watch (or time) related videos out there, drop us a line. If we end up using in the watch video rewind from your suggestion, we’ll be sure to tip our hats (electronically, if not literally) in your general direction.
