Lunase moon phase watch mechanism

(genuineideas.com)

70 points | by huhtenberg 77 days ago

8 comments

  • perilunar 74 days ago
    Does the "double bosom" occlusion mechanism have a proper name? I always thought it was a bit daft — excusable on watches perhaps — but on larger clocks where there's plenty of space why not just have a half black sphere that rotates once per lunar month? (Even better would be a small model of the moon with a half black shade rotating around it).

    Anyway: I made a (web) clock with that shows the moon position and phase: https://sunclock.net

    • caseyohara 74 days ago
      Great work on that web clock, that's a fantastic UI.
    • perilunar 73 days ago
      btw here's a simple SVG animation I made while working out the code: http://virtualgeoff/demos/moonphases/
    • dylan604 73 days ago
      Interesting to show 60 seconds and 24 hour vs 0s. does anyone say 24-hunderd instead of 0 like this would imply?
      • perilunar 73 days ago
        It's common for 24 hour clocks to use 24 instead of 0. It's also pretty common for people to refer to times after midnight as 24:nn or 25:nn to emphasise it's the same evening. Timetables often do this.
        • dylan604 73 days ago
          I’ve had the “discussion” about hour-25 vs rolling over to hour-0 before, but in a video timecode sense. Hour-25 does not exist in timecode, so hour-25 is just wrong in that sense. I’ve seen some very strange things that happen when it rolls over in the middle of a video clip.
  • jes5199 74 days ago
    I expected to see mention of the volvelle - a medieval device made of paper that could approximate the phase of the moon by moving a circular hole around a carefully designed track. There’s a long explanation of it at https://astrolabeproject.com/downloads/volvelle/deconstructi...
  • ggm 74 days ago
    Is this innovative for watch complications? It feels like it. It might be the first innovation for a while.

    Consumes a lot of space under the dial, so occludes other complications..

    (not a horologist or luxury watch collector)

  • vax425 73 days ago
    It’s always nice to find another true lunatic.

    I made a series of clocks that only track moon phase.

    https://digitalhorology.com

  • gorgoiler 74 days ago
    It takes a special kind of mind to tackle an idea so entrenched, rethink the design from first principles, do it well, and come up with something so different from what was there before.

    Bravo.

  • WillAdams 74 days ago
    Nice!

    Ages ago, a "Moonphase" font which I did was used in the typesetting of _Calendrical Tabulations_, so this sort of thing has always been near to my heart (I also used to use a "Phases of the Moon" application as a desktop background).

  • aruggirello 73 days ago
    > Improbable stars

    That was funny! (BTW the middle 'Horned moon drawing' has them too)

  • sciencesama 74 days ago
    Just use a digital screen for that part
    • cafeinux 73 days ago
      Just buy a smartwatch, duh.