ten10 Projects
To achieve perfect aim, just shoot then call anything you hit as target.
Friday, February 5, 2010

Watch Winder Drive System

One of my past designs for a watch winder uses a simplified belt-drive system. Depending on the construction and materials used, it may be a little quieter than the direct-drive winder units.




Although Orbita uses the direct-drive method to rotate the watch, the motor used is an expensive servo motor from Faulhaber and they ingeniously made a few changes to the circuit voltage, aided by precision bearings to have its silent operation. All this done without having BIG mechanical or rocket-science implementations. In the Rotowind system, it deploys a unique method that only “pushes” the rotating cup to a certain angle and then let the natural force of gravity take over. Read about it in their website. It’s rather interesting.



Rapport winders use belt-drives. The engineers calculate pulley ratios to make winders rotate at the ultimate RPM (Rotations per Minute) desired. The pulleys are made from some sort of cast zinc alloy and a double-belting system is used. Silent system but the rotating cup assembly contributes a clicking (creaking) noise problem due to the spring beneath rubbing against the acrylic panel.



From what I see, Buben & Zorweg winders also use the belt-drive system and have coupled (usually) four rotating tables to one circuit. This is not a confirm fact. I’ve yet to get a chance to review and test a unit.



The Chinese winder, on the other hand, uses the direct-drive method. Meaning, the rotating tables are directly mounted onto the motor shaft. This is the cheapest alternative without the use of any pulleys, belts or additional mounting accessories. So the winding mechanism depends greatly on the quality of the motor and not the quality of the whole assembly of pulleys as in the belt-drive system.

To make it even more affordable, they’ll place two watches per turntable and thus adding more stress to the motors. I’m not saying that it’s bad, but if a reliable motor is used this method is the most affordable solution for a affordable watch winder.



In every mechanical assembly or devices, there are bound to be failures. It is how much the manufacturer can reduce such failures without increasing the cost. I’m sure they have gone through many phases of Research & Development to optimize functions and minimize failures. Such evaluations take time and effort on their part; not to mention money too.



And in both the systems above, there are also advantages and disadvantages in using them. There is no perfect solution to everything.



From what I’ve seen the belt-drive system will definitely cost more as more parts are used. From my experiments, I know that all the parts of any winder system interlink to give silent operations, good battery life, low power consumption, durability, reliability and control over the TPDs. This interprets to taking good care of your luxury timepieces.



In summary, I find belt-drive winder systems quieter than the direct-driven ones but more expensive to manufacture and assemble. On the other hand, the belts have a limited life-span.

Labels:


posted at 1:15 PM by ten10


My Profile

Archives

Sep 28, 2009
Sep 30, 2009
Oct 4, 2009
Oct 7, 2009
Oct 11, 2009
Oct 14, 2009
Oct 17, 2009
Oct 18, 2009
Oct 20, 2009
Oct 23, 2009
Oct 26, 2009
Oct 29, 2009
Nov 2, 2009
Nov 6, 2009
Nov 10, 2009
Nov 13, 2009
Nov 16, 2009
Nov 20, 2009
Nov 23, 2009
Nov 27, 2009
Dec 1, 2009
Dec 4, 2009
Dec 7, 2009
Dec 10, 2009
Dec 18, 2009
Dec 24, 2009
Jan 3, 2010
Jan 8, 2010
Jan 12, 2010
Jan 16, 2010
Jan 20, 2010
Jan 22, 2010
Jan 27, 2010
Feb 1, 2010
Feb 5, 2010
Feb 18, 2010
Feb 24, 2010
May 3, 2010
May 8, 2010
May 12, 2010
May 17, 2010
May 31, 2010
Jun 5, 2010
Jun 9, 2010
Jun 13, 2010
Jun 18, 2010
Jun 22, 2010
Jun 27, 2010
Jul 4, 2010
Jul 9, 2010
Jul 29, 2010
Aug 8, 2010
Aug 12, 2010
Aug 19, 2010
Aug 31, 2010
Sep 4, 2010
Sep 9, 2010
Sep 22, 2010
Sep 25, 2010
Sep 28, 2010
Oct 1, 2010
Oct 9, 2010
Oct 14, 2010
Oct 15, 2010
Nov 5, 2010
Nov 14, 2010
Nov 19, 2010
Nov 28, 2010
Nov 30, 2010
Jan 17, 2011


home

Recent Entries

The Mystery of Turns Per Day
JOIN ME
Circuit for AC Watch Winder
Part 3, Special Watch Display - The Housing
Form, Fit and Function of a Watch Winder
Part 2, Special Watch Display - The "Sensor" Circuit
Blog Break
Panerai Watches on Watch Winders
There's Technology inside a Watch Winder
DIY Watch Collector's Box


Sites I Visit

All About Circuits
Chad the Watch Guy
Chronocentric
Circuits Today
Complaints Board
Dardel Paris
DIY Electronic Projects
Electronic Circuits Projects
Electronic Zone
Electronics Projects
Fratellowatches
Horology Zone
Horozima
MetkuMods
Paneristi
Perpetuelle
Public Warehouse
RED Free Circuits
Talking Electronics
World of Time
Carbon Watch Winder


Watch Winders

Abest
Arcera
Brown Safe
Buben & Zorweg
Cradle of Time
Dottling
Eilux
Elma Motion
ERS/Bocano
Erwin Sattler
MTE
Orbita
Penelop
Rapport
Roytec, China
Scatola DelTempo
Swiss Kubik
UB Sammerl
Underwood
Wolf Designs


Credits

design by maystar
powered by blogger