Okay, here is my blog post about my recent project, I hope you enjoy it!
So, I’ve been messing around with watches lately, you know, just for fun. And I stumbled upon this crazy complicated watch, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon 3. It’s insane! It’s got this thing called a Gyrotourbillon, which is like a spinning cage that makes the watch more accurate. And it also has a chronograph, which is basically a stopwatch. But this one’s different. It’s got a digital display, like an old-school digital watch, but it’s all mechanical. Wild, right?
Anyway, I thought, “I gotta try to make one of these!” I mean, not a real one, obviously. I’m not a watchmaker. But I wanted to see if I could at least get the basic idea down. So, I started by gathering some materials. I found some old clock parts, some gears, and some random bits of metal from my garage. I also used a 3D printer to make some custom parts, like the spinning cage for the Gyrotourbillon.
The first thing I did was try to figure out how the Gyrotourbillon works. I watched a bunch of videos online and read some articles, but it was still pretty confusing. Basically, it’s a tourbillon, which is a mechanism that rotates the balance wheel and escapement to counteract the effects of gravity on accuracy, but it rotates on multiple axes, also the outer cage rotates on one axis while the inner cage rotates on another axis. I tried to replicate this by creating a simple cage out of some thin metal strips and mounting it on a small motor. I then mounted the balance wheel and escapement inside the cage. It was rough, but it kinda worked!
Next, I moved on to the digital chronograph. This was even trickier. The real one uses a bunch of cams and levers to move the digital display, but I had no idea how to make that. So, I decided to cheat a little. I used a small microcontroller to control some tiny motors that would move the display. It wasn’t as cool as the real thing, but it got the job done.
After weeks of tinkering, I finally got something that vaguely resembled the Jaeger-LeCoultre watch. It was big, clunky, and didn’t really keep time very well, but it was mine! And the Gyrotourbillon part kinda spun, and the digital display kinda worked. I was pretty proud of myself, to be honest.
Here’s what I learned from this little experiment:
- Watchmaking is hard. Like, really hard. I have a whole new respect for watchmakers now.
- You can make anything if you put your mind to it. Even if it’s a bit janky.
- It’s okay to cheat sometimes. Especially when you’re just doing it for fun.
So, that’s my story. I hope you enjoyed it. Maybe it’ll inspire you to try making something crazy yourself. Just don’t expect it to be easy! It was a fun project, and I learned a lot. But I’m definitely not quitting my day job to become a watchmaker anytime soon!