Most conventional analog watches have two or three hands, covering hours, minutes, and seconds (where present). [Sahko] has built a different kind of analog watch that creatively displays the time with just one.
The build is based around a simple analog coil meter, which, at its heart, just sweeps its needle across a scale based on the voltage input to the device. A Raspberry Pi Pico is employed to drive the meter through a digital-to-analog converter. Pressing the buttons on the outside of the device tells the watch to display hours, minutes/seconds, or the current month or day of the week. With a single needle, only one parameter can be displayed at a time, but that’s just a compromise you accept for having a cool unique analog dial watch.
Another cool touch in the design is that the dial backer isn’t just a printed piece of paper—it’s a custom PCB, which has a much nicer, hardier finish. The case of the watch is also CNC milled out of aluminum and bead blasted for a quality surface finish, adding a nice industrial touch to the build.
This is a great example of a custom watch with quality fit and finish. The attention to detail really pays off in terms of feel. We’ve seen other watch projects use similar construction techniques before, too.
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