Watch collecting is a hobby of mine. I'm particularly fun of automatic watches.
Automatic watches are purely mechanical and do not require hand winding. They have a mechanism that automatically winds the spring with the movements of your wrist. For some reason this small fact enjoys me, it's something organic that resonates with me.
The drawback of this type of watches is when left immobilized for a couple of days they stop and I need to shake them or hand wind them to start again. Also after they restart I need to re-set the time (and possible date if they have date complication). Currently to re-set the time I use a quartz watch, another automatic watch still ticking or an app in my smartphone. Typically this is done at my bed side in the morning when dressing up.
I prefer to set the time as accurate as possible, that's why I tend to use the app in my smartphone that displays the time synchronized with an atomic clock. But this annoys me a bit, I have to pickup the phone and open the app, it would be great if I could just look at a table clock at my bed side and look at the time synchronized with an atomic watch. Not that it's really necessary for my life to have such accurate timing but I just like it.
And so a new DIY project idea is born. I will make me a clock for my bed side table that is radio synchronized to an atomic clock. As I'm at it, I might also include some additional functionality like a wireless interface for connectivity that allows to use an internet NTP server as a backup to the DCF77 radio clock system. Currently my vision is the following.
About the the DCF77. It's a German long-wave time signal service that has a coverage range of around 2000km of radius. Detailed information about this system can be found here.
Some DIY projects on this can be found in the internet, many using arduino platform for the MCU (Micro-Controller Unit), but they look a bit big and I want something with a smaller footprint that can be fitted into a sleek/small 3D printed case to have at my bed side.
For the DCF receiver module I'm planning in getting this Conrad module.
That's it for now. I'll be posting updates as the project evolves.
Automatic watches are purely mechanical and do not require hand winding. They have a mechanism that automatically winds the spring with the movements of your wrist. For some reason this small fact enjoys me, it's something organic that resonates with me.
The drawback of this type of watches is when left immobilized for a couple of days they stop and I need to shake them or hand wind them to start again. Also after they restart I need to re-set the time (and possible date if they have date complication). Currently to re-set the time I use a quartz watch, another automatic watch still ticking or an app in my smartphone. Typically this is done at my bed side in the morning when dressing up.
I prefer to set the time as accurate as possible, that's why I tend to use the app in my smartphone that displays the time synchronized with an atomic clock. But this annoys me a bit, I have to pickup the phone and open the app, it would be great if I could just look at a table clock at my bed side and look at the time synchronized with an atomic watch. Not that it's really necessary for my life to have such accurate timing but I just like it.
And so a new DIY project idea is born. I will make me a clock for my bed side table that is radio synchronized to an atomic clock. As I'm at it, I might also include some additional functionality like a wireless interface for connectivity that allows to use an internet NTP server as a backup to the DCF77 radio clock system. Currently my vision is the following.
About the the DCF77. It's a German long-wave time signal service that has a coverage range of around 2000km of radius. Detailed information about this system can be found here.
Some DIY projects on this can be found in the internet, many using arduino platform for the MCU (Micro-Controller Unit), but they look a bit big and I want something with a smaller footprint that can be fitted into a sleek/small 3D printed case to have at my bed side.
For the DCF receiver module I'm planning in getting this Conrad module.
That's it for now. I'll be posting updates as the project evolves.
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