My brother recently got an automatic watch and I wanted to build him a watch winder. I have seen lots of wind up mechanisms for TC13 and was wondering whether I could attach it to Sheo's simple version of the Spinning Gimbals with the watch in the middle. Would this work? Or should it be powered by a motor?

You found a way to generate energy for free?! I don't think that is going to work alas.

I have a feeling the watch winder are for those watches that have an internal counterweight, that generates a small amount of electricity, to keep the watch going... the idea is, when you wear it all day, it's forever charged by the movements of your arm/wrist. (I own one, but haven't worn it in years!)

However, if you take it off, and don't wear it for a few days, it will go flat. Then it needs a few minutes of motion to get enough charge, to start again.. (and then you have to fix the time!)

I'd imagine a gadget like this, is where you would store your watch, when you're not wearing it, and every few hours, it spins the watch around, to activate the internal counterweight... to keep the watch charged, and working

 

and yes... it should be easy enough to make one out of Lego.. and have it operate every so often, on a timer

Edited February 2, 20187 yr by RohanBeckett

An automatic watch does not use electricity. They are fully mechanical. As the counterweight rotates, it winds up a spring which is used to drive the mechanism, much like a pullback. I have a number of such watches, and they typically have a power reserve of 2-3 days, so not wearing the watch for a week will stop it.

The device shown in the opening post is power by a small electronic motor and rotates the watch to keep the spring loaded. @Raf H is asking to build such a device  using a LEGO pullback motor, essentially proposing to use a pullback to charge a pullback. 

Alas, my experience with the pullback in my steampunk clock shows that the pullback doesn’t provide enough power for such a contraption. Even if it would, you would have to rewind it multiple times per day, defeating the purpose. I would use an M-motor. 

47 minutes ago, Ludo Visser said:

An automatic watch does not use electricity. They are fully mechanical. As the counterweight rotates, it winds up a spring which is used to drive the mechanism, much like a pullback. I have a number of such watches, and they typically have a power reserve of 2-3 days, so not wearing the watch for a week will stop it.

The device shown in the opening post is power by a small electronic motor and rotates the watch to keep the spring loaded. @Raf H is asking to build such a device  using a LEGO pullback motor, essentially proposing to use a pullback to charge a pullback. 

Alas, my experience with the pullback in my steampunk clock shows that the pullback doesn’t provide enough power for such a contraption. Even if it would, you would have to rewind it multiple times per day, defeating the purpose. I would use an M-motor. 

 

Thanks for clarifying @Ludo Visser.  I should have been more clear in my initial post. Well, I guess the plan is to have the watch inside a Christmas tree ornament piece and it spinning in the middle of the gimbal. This is going to be a difficult project(as it is my first one) but good thing I got 8 months to build this!

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