Modern mechanical watches are an engineering marvel. The intricate components work flawlessly to keep perfect time, and some of the parts are so small that they're almost microscopic. One of the more complex parts of a high-end watch is the tourbillon, and now there's a version that you can 3D-print yourself.

A tourbillon is a high-end watch component that rotates the escapement (i.e., the ticking part) to improve accuracy by minimizing the effects of gravity. Many designer watches contain single-axis tourbillons, but a triple-axis tourbillon, which rotates the escapement in three directions simultaneously, is very rare. When a watchmaker designs a watch with a triple-axis tourbillon, they typically only make a handful, and these watches can sell for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's unfortunate, because a triple-axis tourbillon is a masterpiece of modern watchmaking, and most people will never get the chance to see one in person.

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To remedy this, engineer Adam Wrigley created a 3D-printed three-axis tourbillon. Wrigley's tourbillon contains 99 parts, and there's an set of instructions and an assembly video on Thingaverse, along with the files and printing instructions so you can print and assemble this at home.

Wrigley's tourbillon is much larger than the typical model found inside watches, as most 3D printers are not capable of the kind of resolution required to build watch parts to scale. That's not to say you can't 3D-print your very own pocketwatch with this tourbillon, but you may need to get a larger pocket.

Source: Adam Wrigley via Gizmodo

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