the Laysan

2024

A midsize quartz watch which contrasts the rectangular form-factor of a slick dress watch with tool watch design sensibilities: raw aluminum and birch-wood finishing, rugged angular details, and an art-deco inspired laser-engraved face.

Materials

Case: CNC Aluminum Crystal: Laser-Cut Acrylic Crown: PLA Face: Birch Wood Veneer, Laser-Cut and Laser-Engraved Internal Structures: PLA Case Back: PLA Strap: Generic PU Leather 18mm

Form Prototypes

This was one of my more technically challenging projects to date. After deciding that I wanted to create a better everyday watch for myself, I immediately started looking for movements, eventually settling on the ETA 902.002 for its affordable price, reliability, and (most importantly) an available datasheet. After learning what I could about watch design from YouTube, I ordered the movement and some hands and jumped into modelling. Surprisingly, holding the components in place was fairly simple; but what proved the most difficult was finding a thin enough wood for the dial. I had my heart set on a wooden dial, but the dial material must be at least 0.4mm thin to allow the hands to move. Although I ordered some wood strips which presumed to be 0.4mm, I ended up having to sand down the back of the dial, nearly turning some of the engraved sections invisible in the process. I ended up filling some of these sections in using a super-thin micron pen. The final assembly was difficult but rewarding, synthesizing an assembly I had made which featured 3D printed, CNC-machined, laser-cut and engraved, and hand-sanded, polished, and glued pieces. It was truly a labor of love, extra emphasis on the labor part. I enjoyed this project and hope never to make a watch again.

In future iterations, I'd like to make the leather band wider, see if I can further trim down the case's size, finish the wood better, and try a different dial material such as copper.