Of course, you could have bought an acrylic crystal for the watch for around 4 UKP, but that would have spoiled your fun. so my advice is, why stop now? Go ahead an make your WHOLE watch case out of acrylic and move your movement into it. For that matter, make your dial out of acrylic too and you will have the perfect see through watch.

Back during the hippy days in the 1970s, these were popular and companies like the truly horrid but long remembered Sheffield use to make them with BFG pin levers. Some of these watches are still around. Acrylic is a pretty durable material for a watch case and will hold up surprisingly well.

If you want to make a true rough, tough case, albeit non transparent, you can make the case out o Delrin. This is a plastic which I think was invented for machining and is really tough and durable. I've seen watches with black cases made out of it and they make the hearts of those who like military watches go pitter pater.

so, go for it!

 

Of course, you could have bought an acrylic crystal for the watch for around 4 UKP, but that would have spoiled your fun.

Well exactly, there are many worse ways of spending a Saturday afternoon. :-!

...so my advice is, why stop now? Go ahead an make your WHOLE watch case out of acrylic and move your movement into it. For that matter, make your dial out of acrylic too and you will have the perfect see through watch.

Think I can do better than the movement in this thing. Got a Seiko 6309 which was bought with that in mind but it's too nice to be breaking up for a donor. Plenty of suitable/desirable movements around needing nowt more than a service.

Back during the hippy days in the 1970s, these were popular and companies like the truly horrid but long remembered Sheffield use to make them with BFG pin levers. Some of these watches are still around. Acrylic is a pretty durable material for a watch case and will hold up surprisingly well.

I've seen 'em, and even been tempted to go for a few of the more outlandish ones out of curiosity. In fact I'm looking at the Spaceman Audacieuse and its derivatives and clones by Omax and others at this very moment.

If you want to make a true rough, tough case, albeit non transparent, you can make the case out o Delrin. This is a plastic which I think was invented for machining and is really tough and durable.

I do use it and it does machine beautifully, in fact I've got a slab of it under the bench now you mention it, again purchased for prototyping this construction site beater prior to transferring it to raw un-anodized ally...

I've seen watches with black cases made out of it and they make the hearts of those who like military watches go pitter pater.

...and it's jet black! ;-) I like where you're going with that. Non-reflactive, totally non-magnetic etc.

so, go for it!

I think this is the route I'm going to take with this particular watch. It was bought with this end specifically in mind. Over the months, like King Harold's axe, it'll get re-dialled, re-sized, re-glazed and re-cased with a better movement (most likely a decent quartz jobby) and probably on a self built strap with a ratcheting clasp if I can figure one out or failing that a push button release 'conventional' buckle for which I've already started doing the CADs. If my old Zyto lathe can turn this out it'll get a well deserved pat on the chuck.

 

Got a long way to go to equal this chunk!

https://www.watchuseek.com/f77/making-my-own-watch-video-514769.html#post3793378

I'm just speechless that somebody found a place for 10 off 1/4" hex full nuts on a wristwatch even if it is practically 'weaponised'. Why do I like this?

 

Good job and great write up. I'll be following this thread to see what you do next to the lufty

 

Thanks Blanchy; well I googled for days trying to find instructables and such like concerning the making of an acrylic/lexan watch crystal but it just wasn't there to find. In those circumstances I try to make good the deficiency for the benefit of others who might like to have a crack at it. I do try to write this stuff up in an intelliglible and readable way and endeavour to remember to snap some decent pics along the way. Should have got some of the lathe doing its work and the implausible amount of swarf such a small block of acrylic produces!

As for what's next, I definitely want to address the total lack of lume on the dial but in a completely different way than lumed paint. I plan to turn up a thin ring of frosted acrylic and set it behind the dial. I'll inset a hyper-bright 2 or 3mm LED into the ring such that its frosted upper surface will glow as it catches the internally reflected light and diffuses it outward. Then I can spot drill 0.5mm holes through the dial at the minute marks or maybe mill out sectors at 3,6,9 and 12 o'clock. (most likely a combination of both) This will allow the LED light from the illuminated acrylic ring to shine through when the LED is activated (switching arrangement T.B.C.)

 

I 'bodged' together a radius turning rig for a job at work:
Improvisation of the Day...

Might give you some inspiration.

Dave

 

I 'bodged' together a radius turning rig for a job at work:
Improvisation of the Day...

Might give you some inspiration.

Dave

Thanks for that D. Not sure if the tool post on a Zyto would be rigid enough to try that trick though. You're turning a concave rad and I need to turn a convex one of circa 6"diameter. Since the fulcrum of the bit's arc has to be in front of the bit this puts it right under the chuck and like yours the clearance is tight which limits the size of stock the tool could be made from and therefore its rigidity.

That said I'm not turning a full ball or even a hemisphere, just maybe 30 degrees of arc if that. Also this is only acrylic, it's not like I'm turning chunks of cast here. It's about time I pulled my finger out on this rad cutting jig.

"...except we had a 2uM calibrated carbide one in the drawer..."

lol, hey don't we all, I'm tripping over the sodding things! :-d

 

I really like the idea if adding an led ring instead of lume.


I was thinking about trying to add weight to my one so maybe replacing the crystal could be an option

 

I really like the idea if adding an led ring instead of lume.

I was thinking about trying to add weight to my one so maybe replacing the crystal could be an option

For the record I've just weighed mine as is with the OEM strap on and it comes in at bang on 2oz or 56.6 grammes. I've no idea what the weight was before but it definitely feels more substantial although still a bit 'lightweight' compared to my usual rotation of divers. Got any scales Blanchy? For comparison my Seiko 6309 diver on the standard strap weighs in at 98g, an old school Aqualand is around 97g and my Citizen Orca starts getting properly hefty at 118 on its bracelet. Good job its titanium! I think the target weight for my horological "King Harold's axe" will be around 100g.

 

I have access to some digital scales but it'll be a few days before I can use it

 

I asked on the other thread and its 53.8g standard.
What else could be done to increase the weight.
I was thinking some sort of weight inside the case although that might not be very effective due to the limited space

 

I asked on the other thread and its 53.8g standard.

OK, a few gramsme heavier; that plus the fact that the weight is a few mm further from the wrist's centre of rotation amplifies those few grammes a little but the biggest effect is probably subjective.

What else could be done to increase the weight.
I was thinking some sort of weight inside the case although that might not be very effective due to the limited space

Plenty of ways spring to mind. You could use a radial distribution of no4 lead shot affixed with a suitable adhesive. Perhaps crop a length of non flux-cored solder and inset it into the case back? There's A LOT of room inside that case and the movement's tiny, I don't seem to have a pic of the innards for some reason but pop the back and have a look for yourself.

 

Thanks I didn't realise that there was that much space in the case I'll take the back off and have a look.

 

Again great work. I think this version looks much better than the first attempt.

Have you thought about how to turn on the LEDs?

 

Again great work. I think this version looks much better than the first attempt.

Without a doubt; to my eye that's because it puts a very interesting frame of refracted light around the dial as the minute marks flash in and out of eveshot as you rotate the wrist. before it was an unremittingly planar surface which was not "a bad thing" in itself but this rounded high relief edge really harmonises well. I will do a few more and play with the width of the torus i.e. make it bigger but maybe not cut it in to half depth as I did here. This created a prominent semicircular 'bead' which creates a tight focus of the magnified image and isn't wide enough to pick up the tip of the second hand which was the intention.

Also open to revision is whether I carry the outer edge of the torus up to the edge of the glass and radius it down into the case recess or leave a small 'land' between it and the inner edge of the casing? Hmmm... time to knock up a few CAD sketches perhaps.

Have you thought about how to turn on the LEDs?

Constantly.... o|

Instinct says install a chrono type pusher to operate a leaf spring switch made from a bit of beryllium copper scavenged from a micro-switch or something. Positioned at 10 o'clock looks favourite. The 'Gucci' fantasy solution would be to use the two strap fixing rivets on the 6 o'clock side as touch sensors to trigger a little MOSFET switch. o|o|o|o|o|

It might however be feasible to inset some contacts into the acrylic. I say "might"...

 

A thought occurrs; has this ever been done before? I've not seen this before. Anyone know of an example?

 

"I will continue to work on solving world hunger, global warming and providing universal justice but in the interim I'm going to mount a piezo crystal behind the roller jewel, swap the brass collet for my new polymer unit with integral microprocessor and accelerometer, replace the blue hairspring with my new special sauce variable rate composite elastomer and use a sapphire lensed light emitting diode for a stud.

Can anyone else say it? E X H I B I T I O N - B A C K "

 

Here's a vostok with leds built in. I think the flick to activate would be good but would the leds not keep turning on when you move your hand?

 

Ooh nice find Blanchy! Not too keen on the two colours of LED dotted round the dial though, to my eye it'd have been better to stick to green all the way with maybe 12 o'clock picked out with yellow but it wouldn't stop me wearing that.

Here's a vostok with leds built in. I think the flick to activate would be good but would the leds not keep turning on when you move your hand?

No mate. It'd be a question of tuning the sensitivity of the switch to respond to a sharp acceleration rather than the slow changes in rate of acceleration that results from daily wrist movement.

Had another session at the lathe this morning and here's rev3...

...filed and lapped a new tool (old drill bit) this time with a 5mm diameter and carried the lens all the way to the edge. Here it is in situ but could still do with a few more thou on the diameter to get a real 'press' fit but better than the first one

...and on the wrist...

Yeah that's more like it. :think:

 

Yeh the two colours is a bit much it would look good with just the one.

Ah yes I hadnt thought about changing the sensitivity.

Your making great progress with this project, will you be making any of the final version for sale?

 

Phew that's a question and a half but... why not eh? I've been working on disparate but converging elements for a good while now such as this lens and the movement and the case arrangements and gasketing right down to sourcing good looking M2 Torx screws. I can see a form emerging from the mists.

 

Is there anything new under the sun?

:roll: Just when y'think you've come up with an original idea...

the Phillipe Starck "Torus"... what else?

...OK Phil... if that's the way you want to play, I'll see your torus and raise you... 12 individual cyclops'... there, how'd ya like them onions?

Don't know whether to be peeved or self-congratulatory in that we've both had the same idea? b-)