Technical Drawings

Now that I had settled on the movement, I could proceed with the detailed work of defining all of the other watch dimensions.  From the inside, I had to take into account the movement’s dimensions as well as the manner in which it would be held in place. Since the dial face would be glass, this added a bit of extra thickness.

The dimensions of the exterior of the case were informed by other watch cases that I owned and liked. I used my calipers (as seen on the background of this blog!) to measure details of suitable precedent designs.

Here are (according to my taste!) the perfect dimensions and proportions for a wrist watch:

The case diameter is 38 mm which is a very comfortable size and seems to fit well on most people’s wrists.  This size does go against the current trend of ‘over-sized’ cases.  38 mm is a  more classic size and would be in keeping with watches from the mid 20th century which is the era that inspires this design!

Using these drawings, I was able to get a friend to help with creating a 3D model and a set of renderings:

The next stage in design development required the creation of detailed production drawings that could be used in a machine shop to create the case and put all the parts together.  At this point, I was at the limits of my capabilities and sought out a company with experience in creating detailed production documents.