freely programmable wrist watch? time signal over DCF77 ?

A

Andreas K de

Guest
Hello!
Two interesting questions that might be off-topic, sorry,
but I really don't know where to start:

a) WRIST WATCH
Please tell me how to design a cheap wrist watch
(keywords, companies, webpages, mailinglists, usenet-groups).
I want watches with a different timing. It will be a fun gadget on
which DATE and TIME are shown - but differing from our "normal" time.
The quartz crystal, the IC, the display, the battery, etc. will stay
the same, only the multiplier from Quartz to Time shall be changed
in the software. (It would be even better, if one could change the
factor and the fixpoint manually.)
It should NOT be expensive, the first series might only have
20 wrist watches. There are so many 3$ watches around, do you
know a company that might do such strange stuff?
I'd appreciate ANY ideas.

b) DCF signal
Is it possible and easy to create a DCF77 broadcast transmitter
that sends a different signal from the normal atomic clock signal?
(same idea as above).
Will it be received by normal watches?
Is there a chance to limit the range to 5 kilometers?
I don't want to send the world into chaos, it should
only be a fun thing for 3 days within a very limited and remote region.


Many thanks!
Andreas


Please send me a copy of your message to postings@AndreasK.de

Crossposted to:
alt.horology (LETS DISCUSS IT HERE!)
sci.electronics.design,
sci.electronics.equipment,
rec.crafts.jewelry,
alt.radio

subject:
freely programmable wrist watch? time signal over DCF77 ?
 
On Thu, 26 Feb 2004 16:01:52 +0000, Andreas K de wrote:

Hello!
Two interesting questions that might be off-topic, sorry,
but I really don't know where to start:

a) WRIST WATCH
Please tell me how to design a cheap wrist watch
(keywords, companies, webpages, mailinglists, usenet-groups).
I want watches with a different timing. It will be a fun gadget on
which DATE and TIME are shown - but differing from our "normal" time.
The quartz crystal, the IC, the display, the battery, etc. will stay
the same, only the multiplier from Quartz to Time shall be changed
in the software. (It would be even better, if one could change the
factor and the fixpoint manually.)
It should NOT be expensive, the first series might only have
20 wrist watches. There are so many 3$ watches around, do you
know a company that might do such strange stuff?
I'd appreciate ANY ideas.
Click to expand...
Get yourself an electronics simulator for the PC, and start
designing/experimenting. I use Circuit Maker http://www.microcode.com/
Then go to China and find someone who can build it cheap enough.

b) DCF signal
Is it possible and easy to create a DCF77 broadcast transmitter that
sends a different signal from the normal atomic clock signal? (same idea
as above).
Click to expand...
Illegal.

Will it be received by normal watches?
Click to expand...
What do you mean 'normal watch' ? Rolex, Casio ?

Is there a chance to limit the
range to 5 kilometers? I don't want to send the world into chaos, it
should only be a fun thing for 3 days within a very limited and remote
region.


Many thanks!
Andreas


Please send me a copy of your message to postings@AndreasK.de
Click to expand...
My replies are for the benefit of everyone.

Crossposted to:
alt.horology (LETS DISCUSS IT HERE!)
sci.electronics.design,
sci.electronics.equipment,
rec.crafts.jewelry,
alt.radio

subject:
freely programmable wrist watch? time signal over DCF77 ?
Click to expand...
It's not going to happen.

--
Michael Turner
Email (ROT13)
zvxr.gheare1963@ivetva.arg
 
"Andreas K de" <postings@AndreasK.de> wrote in message
news:s16s30dugcaqbng707n9isqdm626m8v1h5@4ax.com...
I want watches with a different timing. It will be a
fun gadget on which DATE and TIME are shown -
but differing from our "normal" time. The quartz
crystal, the IC, the display, the battery, etc. will
stay the same, only the multiplier from Quartz
to Time shall be changed in the software.
Click to expand...
A 1970s LCD watch was described here in the last month in which the user can
change the speed. I do not know *how much* the user can change the speed.

It should NOT be expensive, the first series might only have
20 wrist watches. There are so many 3$ watches around,
do you know a company that might do such strange stuff?
Click to expand...
The development of a watch chip costs millions of Euros. if you are only
selling 20, you have to sell them for about 200000 Euros each. the USD3
watches have bought-in chips which have already been used in a dozen
different models first.

Maybe you could buy one of these and write a suitable program for it?
http://www.matsucomusa.com/Products.htm

b) DCF signal
Is it possible and easy to create a DCF77 broadcast transmitter
that sends a different signal from the normal atomic clock signal?
Click to expand...
Illegal and immoral. Millions of us have paid a lot of money for our DCF77
watches so that we will always make our appointments and catch our planes,
and we will not be pleased if you deliberately mess us up. I use my DCF77
watch to know when I can drive my car in peak-only bus lanes: if you mess up
my watch, I might accidentally drive in a bus lane during the peak hour, and
get a GBP100 fine (that's about EUR150). If you do this, I would love to see
you spend some time in a German jail. If you are determined to commit a
criminal offence, pick an offence that doesn't involve broadcasting the
evidence to the world.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7069/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes
 
All you need for a quartz Mars watch is a 31.904 kHz crystal.

Or a cleverer way would be to add a circuit that would intercept every 37th
pulse. That way you could change it from an Earth watch to a Mars watch
with the flip of a switch. The second hand would behave strangely in Mars
mode, however.
 
Andreas K de wrote:

Hello!
Two interesting questions that might be off-topic, sorry,
but I really don't know where to start:

a) WRIST WATCH
Please tell me how to design a cheap wrist watch
(keywords, companies, webpages, mailinglists, usenet-groups).
I want watches with a different timing. It will be a fun gadget on
which DATE and TIME are shown - but differing from our "normal" time.
The quartz crystal, the IC, the display, the battery, etc. will stay
the same, only the multiplier from Quartz to Time shall be changed
in the software. (It would be even better, if one could change the
factor and the fixpoint manually.)
It should NOT be expensive, the first series might only have
20 wrist watches. There are so many 3$ watches around, do you
know a company that might do such strange stuff?
I'd appreciate ANY ideas.
Click to expand...
Wrist watches can only be made cheap if you build them in large volumes.
A batch size of 20 watches for $3 is a total turnover of $60. No
manufacturer in the world would even answer a phone call for that. If
the gadget is such a lot of fun that it is likely to sell in volumes
beyond 10000 it starts to become marginally interesting, but still not
for a price of $3. Sort out your market first, the technical problems
come second.

b) DCF signal
Is it possible and easy to create a DCF77 broadcast transmitter
that sends a different signal from the normal atomic clock signal?
(same idea as above).
Will it be received by normal watches?
Is there a chance to limit the range to 5 kilometers?
I don't want to send the world into chaos, it should
only be a fun thing for 3 days within a very limited and remote region.
Click to expand...
Possible, relatively easy, and absolutely illegal. There are a lot of
people with zero tolerance for that sort of fun, and that includes legal
enforcement bodies.

--
Cheers
Stefan
 
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