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Topic: Need a Watch Winder! DIY (Read 12962 times) previous topic - next topic


Welp it is time for a new project and I need some help getting started!

I have a friend that has a rather expensive watch. These watches are self winding, but that requires that you actually do stuff all day. His never gets fully wound (sp?) then he takes it off for the night and it stops in the middle of the night. It is not good for a"good watch" to be stopping and starting all the time.
Hence the watch winder. They sell them. They are expensive.
Here is a link to a few just for those of us (myself included) that may never own a $10,000 watch


My friend bought a watch winder and it simply was not powerful enough to turn his watch. The watch is heavy (1LBS)

Simply put Im going to build him a watch winder. I know this will require little more then a motor and some arduino logic. The problem lies in the fact that while I do have some exp with the ardunio (search for my RFID door) I do not have any exp with motors. The other part of the puzzle is that the motor needs to have a jerking motion (E.G. 1/4 turn then a jerk 1/8 back)
Based on my limit knowledge on the subject im thinking a stepper motor would do the trick, but im calling on the pros (all of you guys) to help me out with any ideas, brainstorms and motor suggestions.

Im not sure if this is the correct forum to post this in, but I couldnt think of any better.


I would think a hobby servo would be easier than a stepper for this application. Something like this: http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34&products_id=155
You can find the Servo Library on the playground page.


I thought of a servo, but one consideration is that this winder could very well end up in a bed room; isn't a servo gonna be loud?


The watch is heavy (1LBS)

That's not a time-piece - that's exercise equipment!!

I concur with the servo suggestion - but you don't want the one linked above - you want  continuous rotation one. I guess you could hack a standard one if you wanted to - pretty simple mod.

Is life really that serious...??!


Yeah man. I had him weigh it before I made the post. Its really heavy for a watch, hence the reason cheap winders cant even turn it.

yes I would need something that can turn 360 degrees.

....and be rather quite. Whenever I think of servos I think of loud :/


Unfortunately steppers can be a bit noisy also although you can mitigate it somewhat with microstepping. If you go that route the Easydriver board from Sparkfun is a good, inexpensive and very compact solution.


You don't really need an Arduino or anything complex in all of this; the watch just needs some rocking motion of some sort. A cheap gearmotor, and some handywork, maybe a wall-wart sized for the motor, and a switch.


Jan 14, 2011, 03:08 am Last Edit: Jan 14, 2011, 03:08 am by Imahilus Reason: 1
I agree with cr0sh.
A continuous rotation servo would be rather whacky though... might aswell use a proper motor in that case. But really, this application has extremely simple logic: rock the watch while a switch is flipped. No need to use any kind of controller.. just put the switch on the power supply (if that, you could also simply leave it as a 'unplug the power to turn it off' device).


Thanks for the input guys. its actually not as simply as a motor and a switch. Some watches need to be turned clockwise some anticlockwise. they each have a preferred set of "turns per a day"

I have ordered a stepper and an easy stepper to see what I can make happen. wanna make this the most feature rich watch turner ever ....for less then $100!

...anyone wanna contrib some code? :)


...anyone wanna contrib some code?

wanna make this the most feature rich watch turner ever

Once you define the features you want, the code will be easy. Just to get you started though:
Code: [Select]
// include files go here

// global variables go here

void setup()
  // one time stuff goes here

void loop()
  // stuff that happens over and over goes here

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