Watch dial help for a student

[JMijatovic]

Hello, I am sorry for bothering you all and this is my first time on this forum so sorry if I have done something in advance. 

I have been tasked with a school project to innovate a product, I have chosen to develop a watch for the blind with my own innovations and designs. I am currently within the works of developing my own dial and strap however I come to the predicament of not understanding how I am able to solve my dial issue. My whole design revolves around the glass protector or guard being lifted by the user's finger and for them to feel around dial freely thus allowing for them to feel the time. However, I am attempting to find myself a method of how I am able to make the hands not move on the dial yet be adjusted by the crown on the side of the watch. 

 

Please and all help will be kindly and greatly Appreciated. 

Kind regards 

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

You could google watches for the blind and take a look at some images, that would give you some idea. There are also watches that work on batteries, you press a button and it tells you the time, no hands needed. Don't forget if you use numbers or figures they need to be razed.     

[wls1971]

There are many designs of watches for the blind most of the old mechanical watches where already using the method you describe a glass and bezel that lifted out of the way and allowed the user to feel the position of the hands in relation to the raised numerals on the dial they where fitted with hands that where far more robust than on a normal watch. I do however have a pocket watch from around 1880 that uses a different method in that it has a pin at each hour this pin is either raised or lowered so at 10' o'clock the pin at that hour is raised at eleven o'clock the pin drops and the 11 o'clock pin raises via means of a spring loaded disc under the dial, the raising and lowering of pins is instantaneous on each hour, this means that only one hand is needed for the minutes.

I think that most Blind people now would have a quartz talking watch which of course would not use hands.

There are plenty of examples of watches for the blind on the web, good luck with your project.

[yankeedog]

Wls1971 .you beat me to the punch.And I am very sure that Oldhippy mention raised.I would hate to see a watch with razed numbers...but maybe he is on to something

[WatchMaker]

Watches for the blind have been around for a long time. The traditional system you mention (where the watch user will open the front and gently feel the position of the hands) through to more modern versions and ones that can do a lot more than tell the time (check out the Dot Watch!).

I guess things will come down to the actual nature of your project and how literal the term 'innovative' is!  The system you're pursuing is not new ... although I expect you have some snazzy ideas up your sleeves.

If you continue to go with this then let me answer your main query of how you are "able to make the hands not move on the dial". This should not be a problem; the traditional system watches are effectively standard watch movements. This means the watch user can only alter the hand positions when pulling the crown out to put the movement in a setting position and then turning the crown. With the crown in the normal pushed in 'non setting' position the hands do not move by touch alone. [The watch user must still be gentle when using the watch however as hands are friction fitted so could still be compromised with very rough handling].

 

 

 

[yankeedog]

Alright..take a look at this old "digital " alarm clock. It has three rotating drums .hours.tens and minutes. Maybe a standard watch movement could be modified  to do this? Turned on it's side? The crown would be on the face of the watch.the drums could have raised numbers.all protected by a hinged lid..of course if you actually have to make one..that could be tough.but if it is just a concept..I think it could work

[Gaus]

Maybe you can create a watch that talks! I don't know of that is possible, but it came up to me.

[Gaus]

Sorry, I have to read first. Old hippy already suggested this. 

[Nucejoe]

Go to any electronic forum, ask for advice and what forum to go to for your inquiry. You will be refered to the right forum. Folks there are generally working on their Phd and are well capable of recommending the right hardware, you may get by, with inexpensive ones like ADRIANO WAY, ask for help on programming it, make a talking watch that tells time and takes some basic commands.like wake me up, remind me to go to work, etc. 

Good luck pal.

 

 

 

[oldhippy]

I should have typed raised not razed.

It was a senior moment, these days I get quite a few. 

[Nucejoe]

Correction to my post,   ARDUINO .

ARDUINO is an inexpensive microprocessor which can be shrinkified.

I think the voice synthesizers and all you may need are readily available.

Ask the experts there.

Regards

[yankeedog]

On 6/7/2019 at 2:00 PM, oldhippy said:

I should have typed raised not razed.

It was a senior moment, these days I get quite a few. 

I would have blamed it on spell check.

[yankeedog]

OR , if you want to keep it mechanical, Maybe you need a new way of telling time.  If you were to go with a four digit odometer type read out. May I suggest the following.

 

First digit, The quarter of the day.A totally sightless person might lose track of whether it is AM or PM.

So, 1 would be 00:00 through 05:59, 2 would be 06:00 through 11:59, 3 would be 12:00 through 17:59 , 4 would be 18:00 through 23:59

Second digit,  The hour within that quarter. 

Third digit  , The the tens digit of the minutes within the hour.

fourth digit, the minute rounded off to an even number. 

This way the numbers on the indicators could be larger. while keeping accuracy acceptable.

A readout of 1000 would be midnight.

A readout of 2212 would be  8:12 AM

A readout of 3522 would be  would be 5:22 PM 

A readout of 4246 would be 8:46 PM 

 

Does This make any sense to anybody?

 

[oldhippy]

3 hours ago, yankeedog said:

I would have blamed it on spell check.

I don't use it. 

[yankeedog]

me kneether.

[Nucejoe]

Mimic nature, bats scans surroundings by ultrasound and fly with incredible precision. 

The technology to scan surroundings is already out there guiding driverless vehicles.

Why not guide a blind humankind. The watch can tell, what a guide dog can,t put in English,

If ambitious to help, ideas are endless.

[AndyHull]

Not only are talking watches a thing, but there are companies that specialize in selling these, and other aids to the blind.

I recently picked up and restored a couple of talking watches from this company.

https://www.cobolt.co.uk/categories/category/clocks-and-watches

I posted about them here on the forum here.

Take a look at the Cobalt site, it might give you some inspiration.

Edited June 10, 2019 by AndyHull

[JMijatovic]

Thank you all for your considerations, i will be incorporating these notions within my project and creation phase. I live in Australia and wasn't checking this i am very sorry. 

 

I understand that this design has been created however my mind isnt smart enough to create something to innovative that would change the world but honestly, i am so happy i had this forum you had all helped me. I will be designing my own watch face and creating which is where i will be raising the numbers and braile sizing. I had an idea to create a bezel that twists, this has been created however i was gonna develop mine act more as a fidget spinner. As a method to reduce stress or anxiety for the consumer who is using it. By any chance would anyone know where i could hire a company to create the watch casing that can be opened in this fashion, or can any regular watchmaker do it?