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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/
Movement $40 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!
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-wa...
WOW! I didn't know! I love my oldsql casio watch, and also wished for a hackable version of it. This looks perfect!
Thank you so much for sharing.
I want this but also with a RF modem so I can send Morse code to nearby nerd friends.
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=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.
OP’s watch appears to be a customized variant of the annual calendar LIGHT, which was introduced in 2016. The 36mm case is unusual, not one of the standard sizes, but O&J has been willing to do 36mm cases on request since ~2010 with certain models. So—like all O&J watches prior to 2020 or so¹—the cosmetics are fully customized, but the mechanism is shared with other O&J watches².
¹ since then they also have a collection of non-customizable watches
² this undersells it a bit; most O&J watches (like mine!) are "just" customized realizations of a set of basic designs (which is a good thing, IMO, because those designs work better than what most buyers would come up with). But many of those designs were developed collaboratively in response to specific customer requests. I was in the workshop in 2018 and saw an early prototype of what became the day/night watch (https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/watches/day-night/) in development for the customer who had proposed it. If you skim through their blog, you'll find lots of interesting projects done for customers with varying degrees of customization (I really love this day/night done with no conventional face: https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/dirks-day-night/)
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&cu...
There's a Portuguese watch company using this same style since 2016: https://isotopewatches.com/products/isotope-gmt-zero-degrees
I love their timepieces.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For a digital-only lightweight alternative that does everything a watch should do, the Casio F-E10 is ideal.
The rather mild water resistance on that model always has me doubting..
The Casio LCW-M100TSE-1AER is a solid choice!
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.
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 :)
There is no point in trying to justify the cost in counting the BOM, taking your watch for example, it uses a generic ETA caliber 2892-A2 (the "engine" in the watch) which is used in watches that cost 10% up to x10 of yours while it cost only $300-500.
I look at watches as a piece of jewelry more than an engineering item, they might or might nor keep their value but I like how they look, make me look and make me feel especially if there is a nice story behind the watch.
> 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.
> 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?
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.
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 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.
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
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?
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.
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!
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:
> 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?
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).
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.
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
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-c...
(The brand: https://www.ming.watch)
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.
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.
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.
Such watches can become something like a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation
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.
We need a Raspberry Pi hardware and community, but for wrist watches.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cool! I've never heard of this shop before, thanks for sharing your experience.
The straps look cheap