After finding a collection of inexpensive pocket watches in his mother's loft, Rob Roach had the bright idea of rehousing the mechanism in custom laser cut cases.
After dismantling each watch, he was left with 10 working mechanisms, of which 4 were the same dimensions. Based on this, Rob modelled the mechanism in Fusion 360, allowing him to then build cases around it. After a few quick sketches to get the brain juices flowing, Rob modelled 4 different case designs in Fusion 360 before laser cutting and glueing together.
having 4 watch mechanisms to build from allowed Rob the chance to play with different shapes and closures, and each one looks great. Because this project is reliant on the dimensions of whatever pocket watches you get your hands on, he hasn't made the CAD files available. If you're not already familiar with Fusion 360, perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to learn? Just make sure you aren't dismantling anything valuable!
Head to the Instructable to read more about how he made these cases. Rob Roach is a technical tutor focusing on digital media and digital fabrication. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.