It S the Rich Man’s World

Having several watches is a joy if you can have them nicely exhibited rotated in front of you to choose which one to wear today.

This project does NOT need any programming, no Arduino or PIC involved, just simple electronics.

It is based on a rotating tray(platform) that stops for a while at each watch then moves to the next one. on the same time there are some LED light effects to give it some futuristic looks.

Here is a list of materials needed:

A- For the rotating tray:

- Round piece of sulvaged plywood cut round shape to any size.

-Lshape section aluminum strip(10mmx10mmx0.5mmthk) to cut for Geneva timing concept

-Servo MG995 or similar. modified to rotate continuously(easy to modify just search on this website)

- some wood sulvaged from boxes and old foto frames.

B- for chasing lights (you may skip this part if you do not want light effects, I added them to make the paltform look hi tech)

- CD4017 counter

- 2 transistors 2N2906 (or NE555 pulse generator); 2X47 Kohm; 2X1Kohm; 1X100 ohm resistors; 2X100uf capacitors. 3X AA batteries & battery holder.

-you need some soldering skills (look for Knight Rider LEDs on this website or google it)

C- For the pulsing arrow (you also may skip this part if you do not want the flashing arrow, I added it to look sci fi)

-blue LED arrow for car turn signal from ebay or solder a few LEDs by yourself...Arrow or circle suit your taste.

- slotted optocoupler circuit using one transistor.

You will also need to make a spring lever that induces some tension on the rotating disc in order it does not continue to rotate by continuouty. instead, this spring lever would make it stop at each slice of the geneva mechanism.

The main idea is to make the rotating exhibit platform (call it tray or disc) make it stop at each exhibited watch once. If you google (geneva mechanism) you will easily know how this ingenius concept works. Today it runs in the heart of every mechanical watch we wear.

The way we made in this project is cut 1.5 inch long x 10 pcs of L-shape aluminum strip and fixed them on the lower face of the wooden platform. you must measure and divide the wooden round platform into 10 equal slices like a pitza:)

Next foto shows the the bearing upon which you will fix the platform. It is a lazy suzan bearing. also we install the smaller rotating disc on the servo (which is working as a continuous geared motor). smaller rotating disc has a metal lever that will push each of the aluminum L-shape angles and for each one spin of the motor and small wheel; will turn one 10th or 1 slice of the big wheel(which is the watch holder)

This animation shows how the Geneva mechanism works

This LED show is added as we mentioned to give a Sci fi looks to the project. You can skip this step if you have other ideas. Anyhow, since it shows on the video, it is fair to explain the circuit. how it works is simple. a 2 transistor multivbrator circuit generates a square wave that is fed into the johnson counter CD4017 which jumps one LED at each pulse. LEDs are duplicated in 2 rows and placed such that they look like chasing. This can be a project by itself for your car or bike.

This part is also optional. As you see in the video, there is a blinking LED arrow that blinks on top of each watch when it makes a stop in front of the spectator. This is done by a simple optocoupler (slot type) . The white/blue vardboard slotted disc passes through the slotted sensor causing it to trigger the 1-transister LED driver.

Here are a few more fotos from every side to show how the MG995 is installed on a wood-n-metal assembly to make sure it does not move or sway.

one must admit that this servo is quite strong and works great as a geared motor. Do not throw the control circuit you took from inside the servo, and keep the RRR alive(reduce-reuse-recycle).

Now final step: upper face divided by pencil into 10 equal slices, spray paint silver. or any color you please.

Watch holders are made from sulvaged wood from a broken photo frame.

If you notice one of the watch holders has 3 shanks instead of 2..This is to use it as ring holder. So it can exhibit some of your rings. can also simply modify to exhibit other accessories like tie clip, cufflinks, brecalets..etc

This project can be much nicer and more neat. As you see, no programming, no C++ or PIC..just the good old steampunk age mechanism.

please vote for me if you think this effort is good enough.

Thanks for reading.