Unusual radio-controlled wristwatch and why are there so few digital ones?

[Fischgott]

It has a very light plastic case with mineral glass, the engine room is almost empty, and the model is also non-existent. Unfortunately, I can't find the instructions anymore, not even the model itself. Brand: Majestic made in Germany. I completely disassembled the part, I don't remember why, but now I put a battery in and I'm trying to adjust it. First you have to push in the crown, then the watch runs quickly, to 12 digits and waits until it receives the signal and adjusts itself. Hour is set with the crown pulled, the hour hand always jumps one hour further, mechanically! (It wasn't right at first, then I compensated for the wrong values and then it worked, later it also worked with setting it to 12.) Can someone tell me more about the watch and the technology? The battery cover grips the crown with one arm and serves as a contact switch. Actually, it's all very spartan and technically impressively simple, I wonder which crazy engineer designed it all to let this model appear on the market for a short time.

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Then it occurs to me that there are only a few digital radio-controlled clocks, most of them have hands. So I wonder why that is.

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And the market is flooded with cheap jewelless watches, most with some standard movement. The question is how long do watches without jewels or with a jewel on this spindle with the magnet, the jewel sits where the flywheel/magnet sits.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Fischgott

[spectre6000]

I can't tell you much about the movement, but my best friend works at NIST where the signal it uses to set itself comes from. He just designed/made/installed a new FPGA based server for that signal, and will be moving all the servers to his equipment in the near future. If you have something that uses the atomic clock signal, it goes through his equipment.

[Fischgott]

Nice detail, thank you, but this is not the source of my signal, mine is dcf  because my watch residents in Germany. See the locations worldwide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_clock My watches get the signal in around 5 Minutes, i guess the dcf signal is sent every 5 or 10 Minutes or so.

And i discovered that casio has also G-Shock radio watches, and some unknown vendors have digital radio watches too, but i think they are all together overlooked somehow in my opinion. Casios watches can even process the signal from different stations worldwide. You dont have to adjust your watch every now and then, and the summer and winter time is also set for you by the signal.

Found this link: https://www.hkw-elektronik.de/produkte/empfangstechnik-am/pc-funkuhren/ very interesting. Looked up the letters on the pcb. Dont remember the internals exactly but this could be it: https://www.hkw-elektronik.de/produkte/empfangstechnik-am/funkuhr-und-steuermodule/ And the hours are set through metal disks and springs and a very unique lever.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Fischgott

[praezis]

1 hour ago, Fischgott said:

My watches get the signal in around 5 Minutes, i guess the dcf signal is sent every 5 or 10 Minutes or so.

DCF77 sends the complete info every minute.

Frank

[canthus]

Maybe this will help.  Not fully digital but setting methods etc may be helpful.

ST06169i Operating Instructions.pdf

 

[Fischgott]

this helped, thanks. Its new to me that the clock has to be positioned horizontally for optimal reception.

[JohnR725]

One of the problems with the all the clocks and/or watches that receive digital time signals is the problem of getting a nice clean reception.  Then the next amusements for me is what do they do if they don't get a nice clean signal?

5 hours ago, Fischgott said:

My watches get the signal in around 5 Minutes, i guess the dcf signal is sent every 5 or 10 Minutes or so.

What you typically find with these items is they do not try to receive continuously. Running the receiver continuously consumes a lot of power and watches typically don't have a lot of power. So usually what they do is they will attempt to synchronize from time to time like every 24 hours typically sometime after midnight when there's less interference. Even initially when you're setting the time on them or their trying to set the time they might ask you just give up for a while and then try later if they can't get a signal which means of course that your watch isn't on time.

Here's a link to the US transmitter.

https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-distribution/radio-station-wwvb

 

 

 

[Fischgott]

I read up that within 2 minutes the watch should get the signal, i talk about a watch without time waiting for signal. Very interesting video: Amplify signal by hanging the watch over a metal tube: 

 

The perfect atomic wristwatch would be the F91W without any buttons. Always 24h mode, time in second, day of the week, day plus month, no other function. Thats it. There are only very big atomic digital watches out there, but very small atomic analoge watches. I cant get why. Also i prefer flexible stretch wristbands.

I also cant get why a watch has to be big, because its ugly, it gets in the way, its unkomfortabel, it clings everywhere. And then the "luxury" watches, watches for thousands of dollars with obsolete technology from before 100 years with a brandname. Is it because ones ego thinks: whooo im special

I also dont like the fitness features, its a waste of time, unless you are a maniac who destroys his body professionally.

Also the signal should be used as an emergency alert, so everybody gets awake in the night in case of a disaster.

[Fischgott]

Are there any small atomic digital wristwatches out there?

 

[Fischgott]

Here is the front, made in Germany, i disassembled it completely, struggled to put it back together, runs fine, battery lasts very long. I figured out that spraying silicon spray into it makes quartz watch movements have longer battery life. Plus thick oil on the back where i can reach the bearings, and grease on lid and crown (waterseal). I have an osco quartz watch, put brake cleaner in it, gave it a brutal shake, then dried it quickly with compressed air and did the silicon lubrication thing. This runs endless on a very little AG4 Battery and its very accurate. Most will say im insane, but these are the facts.