
The Hawk Eye: a 3D-printed three axis tourbillon project - evo_9
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/11/this-three-axis-tourbillon-movement-is-a-3d-printed-marvel/
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jacquesm
Very nice! Here is a watch that has one:

[http://www.swisstime.ch/en-watches-CABESTAN-Triple-Axis-
Tour...](http://www.swisstime.ch/en-watches-CABESTAN-Triple-Axis-
Tourbillon-p3341.html)

And this is what another watch with one looks like in motion:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TveIl2whXY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TveIl2whXY)

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anfractuosity
Also - [http://www.jaeger-
lecoultre.com/eu/en/watches/master/master-...](http://www.jaeger-
lecoultre.com/eu/en/watches/master/master-grande-tradition-
gyrotourbillon-3/5036420.html)

It's a little pricey though ;)

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bartread
Good grief: a chronograph too. As if the tourbillon isn't complication enough.
Imagine how much it would cost to service.

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jacquesm
If you can afford that watch the servicing costs will not be your main concern
in life.

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zokier
Neat and impressive. Its bit difficult to estimate the scale from the video,
anyone venture a guess how big this thing is?

It's interesting that even the balance spring appears to be printed, I would
not have guessed that to be feasible. In watches custom speciality alloys are
used to get the performance needed, and afaik it is also one of the bigger
contributors to the accuracy of the whole movement.

Which brings to the big question, how well does this tourbillion actually
perform? I get that it probably is intended as a show piece rather than
practical timekeeping, but still it would be nice for understanding the state
of 3d printing.

Beyond accuracy other interesting "metrics" would be friction/energy
efficiency and longevity.

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Nanite
I just viewed the stl-files, It's about 300x300x170mm

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jmole
i don't know a lot about the physics of it, but won't this run into power loss
issues because of the constant changes in angular momentum of the main
spinning gears?

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arketyp
I always thougth the point of those cages was to keep the wheel in its steady
angle, but it seems it's rather the opposite -- to spread the angle around. I
think you're observation is right, and I suppose that's the compromise. If
it's a good compromise is besides the point I guess, as with mechanical
watches in general.

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agumonkey
I want my wrist babbage engine !

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zokier
If mechanical computers are your alley, then you might enjoy perpetual
calendar complications; they are the closest thing to computer in watchmaking,
and competes in complexity with tourbillions. Here is one interesting example:

[https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-mb-and-f-legacy-
machin...](https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-mb-and-f-legacy-machine-
perpetual-calendar)

~~~
agumonkey
many much thanks

