[time-nuts] Chronometer contest sponsored by IEEE Spectrum

SAIDJACK at aol.com SAIDJACK at aol.com
Sat Dec 1 13:28:14 EST 2007


 
In a message dated 12/1/2007 07:23:05 Pacific Standard Time,  
cfharris at erols.com writes:

>Twiddling the trimmer on those watches that do have one (really old  watches)
>is not the right way to do the job.  You will waste an  incredible amount of 
time
>moving the trimmer, and waiting only to find  that you overshot your mark.  
Here
>is the correct way to do  it:




Hi guys,
 
no one should have to open their $xxx expensive writswatch without the  
proper equipment. I have a watch that I gave to a less than exemplary  watchmaker, 
and he actually managed to scratch the back significantly trying to  open it.
 
Us time-nuts should have better ways to do this!
 
Here is my proposal:
 
How about designing a thermal enclosure with Peltiers that can both heat  the 
inside and cool it. It could look like one of those automatic high-end  
watch-movers for mechanical watches.
 
Then design an electronic camera system that reads the face of the watch,  
determines the time-offset, and adjusts the temperature inside the oven to  pull 
or push the watches' crystal as needed to compensate for any drift that  
happened on the previous day.
 
Every night when the watch is placed into the unit, it get's calibrated by  
having the oven raise or lower the temperature as appropriate. The software  
could even adjust for the next day's expected drift by advancing or retarding  
the time as appropriate..
 
Doesn't seem too difficult to build.
 
Of course setting the trimmer so that the watch is as accurate as possible  
would help this contraption by having to work less hard to pull the watch.
 
bye,
Said




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