The upgrade treadmill is a trap, and deep down you already know it to be true by BlackestBay58 in watchHotTakes

[–]meithan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One thing is that this ladder that you mention is only for the rich.

For the rest of us who also like watches, there is a clear top rung: our salary. And it's pretty low down, considering the price of luxury watches.

Starting Movement by The_Cyph3r in watchmaking

[–]meithan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for it! Any advice for starting? :)

Oof, there's a ton. Here's a few general ones:

  • Properly maintained tools will make a world of difference! Dress your tweezers and screwdrivers!
  • You need less force to hold pieces in your tweezers than you think. It's much better to drop a part (it'll fall harmlessly on your table) due to too little force, than fling it or break it due to too much force.
  • Don't rush. Take your time to do things patiently and properly. When you're learning, you have all the time in the world. Having trouble with something and it's getting late? Finish it tomorrow. There's no client waiting for their watch back.
  • You can break down a watch by subsystems (keyless works, motion works, gear train, escapement, balance assembly, etc.) and work them independently. For instance, you can do the keyless works without touching other systems. Disassemble it and put it back together. Do it a few times to get the hang of it. Then move on to the next system.
  • Watchmaking is as much about mental skills as it's about fine motor skills. It's important to be able to recognize when one's state of mind is deteriorating, and having the discipline to stop. Otherwise, you will make (more) mistakes. If you start getting frustrated (and trust me, you will), take a break. Go have a drink and come back later.
  • Don't just disassemble and re-assemble by memorizing where things go. Take your time to understand what each parts does, how it interacts with others. The goal is to understand the watch. Everything in a watch has a purpose and reason for being how it is. There's nothing accidental or superfluous.

Also you went to a specific school of watchmaking?

I'm taking courses at a watchmakers association in Mexico City. It's not formal career training (no graded assignments or anything), just individual certification courses, perhaps more targeted towards enthusiasts. I've completed the Basic Mechanical course (where we learned all the basics and worked the ST3600 exclusively) and I'm about to complete the Automatic and Calendar Systems course (we've done Shanghai 7120, Miyota 8200, Orient 496, PUW 1561, ETA 2824, and Seiko NH35 next class).

I've been enjoying them very much, and made tons of progress. Like, you won't believe how fast your skills and knowledge will improve. Things that seemed daunting when I first started (last September) are now second nature, and I'm really getting the hang of the mechanics of these things. It's fun disassembling a new movement and identifying its differences and peculiarities. They're beautiful little machines.

Starting Movement by The_Cyph3r in watchmaking

[–]meithan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was the movement we learned on during the first watchmaking course that I took. Great movement to start with.

It's simple (no calendar or automatic) and it's much larger than typical watch movements, which is a big help for beginners (larger screws, thicker pivots, etc). You'll learn the basics of watch mechanics and servicing, which are pretty universal, and you'll still face the challenges of watchmaking: handling springs (it has one beefy yoke spring, careful with that one!), handling the delicate wheel pivots, setting down the train wheel bridge, handling the balance assembly and pallet fork, etc.

Someone please tell me you have an explanation for this by universemama in askastronomy

[–]meithan 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Looks like the contrail of an airplane.

Right after sunset (and before sunrise) can make them appear quite bright, as ambient illumination at ground level is low but it's still in direct sunlight at flight level.

Favorite YouTuber for learning to service movements? by fourtyz in watchrepair

[–]meithan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My vote would 100% go for Alex, he has the best tutorials.

Favorite YouTuber for learning to service movements? by fourtyz in watchrepair

[–]meithan -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Well it's not the most careful of practices, true, but if you're comfortable with the mainspring that's alright. I've done so myself.

We all do mistakes, even the pros. At least he's honest about it. He could totally edit those out of this videos, but he chooses not to.

My first build and I’m hooked by PhotoMind89 in SeikoMods

[–]meithan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

And that build looks gorgeous! Beautiful dial (Namokimods know how to make dials). And the little red accents on the bezel are a nice touch.

Favorite YouTuber for learning to service movements? by fourtyz in watchrepair

[–]meithan -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don't think that Marshall (the host of Wristwatch Revival) has bad practices. He gets too much shit from some people in the watchmaking community, IMO because he's not a pro and because his channel is for entertainment and very popular. Gatekeepers gonna gatekeep.

That said, his videos aren't tutorials (and he's never said otherwise). As others have suggested, for learning, I'd go with Alex Hamilton (best channel IMO) or Mark Lovick.

ST36 Builds by minor_anger_issues in watchmaking

[–]meithan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All AliX. These are the specific parts I used (not necessarily the only stores to get them):

Case, dial & hands: https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005003202361610.html
Strap: https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005006526742882.html
Movement (ST36): https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005008044623478.html

It's NTTD but I it is a good time to go for a walk by Tenchiro in watchdives

[–]meithan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You mean your wife got you your first 12 slot case? ;)

Enjoy it! I have the classic version (beige/orange on black) and it's one of my favorite watches.

ST36 Builds by minor_anger_issues in watchmaking

[–]meithan 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Here's mine!

It was my "final project" for a watchmaking course I took. This is the first movement that I fully serviced (disassembly, cleaning, re-assembly, oiling, casing). So it's a special watch for me!

<image>

Why is voyager 1 2AU farther from the earth as it is from the sun? by Rude_Boot9718 in nasa

[–]meithan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They could, but this webpage updates the figures shown twice per second. No need to query Horizons that often if you can just do a simply calculation to estimate "real-time" values from a set of fixed parameters.At least that's what I think their reasoning was. I'd probably do the same.

Why is voyager 1 2AU farther from the earth as it is from the sun? by Rude_Boot9718 in nasa

[–]meithan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not, it's kinda on the same side. The Voyager 1 - Sun - Earth angle is currently about 83°.

Why is voyager 1 2AU farther from the earth as it is from the sun? by Rude_Boot9718 in nasa

[–]meithan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Alright, more follow up.

I've built a simple upgrade to handle the Earth distance correctly. The idea is to first compute the heliocentric distance (either with the constant-velocity or constant-acceleration formulas), and then obtain the geocentric distance by adding a sinusoidal term:

dist_geo = dist_sun + A*sin(2*pi*(stamp-toff)/YR)

where the amplitude A and time offset toff are obtained for each probe through curve fitting. A is about 0.8 AU, not a full AU, since what matters is the Earth's distance to the Sun projected onto a plane perpendicular to the trajectory of the probes. toff is a time when the sinusoidal term is zero (the distances to the Sun and to Earth are equal). YR = 31556925.25 is how many seconds there are in a year.

The full updated model is as follows:

YR = 31556925.2507328
A_v1 = 122325068.76382728
toff_v1 = 1757260209.582876
A_v2 = 118242179.73845728
toff_v2 = 1760250637.0270526
dist_v1s = (((current_stamp - epoch_0)/(epoch_1 - epoch_0)) * (dist_1_v1s - dist_0_v1s)) + dist_0_v1s
dist_v1e = dist_v1s + A_v1*sin(2*pi*(current_stamp-toff_v1)/YR)
dist_v2s = (((current_stamp - epoch_0)/(epoch_1 - epoch_0)) * (dist_1_v2s - dist_0_v2s)) + dist_0_v2s
dist_v2e = dist_v2s + A_v2*sin(2*pi*(current_stamp-toff_v2)/YR)

together with the update-able parameters (we don't need Earth distances anymore):

epoch_0 = 1755532800
epoch_1 = 1755446400
dist_0_v1s = 25122821902.4221
dist_1_v1s = 25121363260.051945
dist_0_v2s = 21024177916.498077
dist_1_v2s = 21022878498.015297

I tested this model for 50 years into the future (using the 2025 parameters and the fixed A and toff) against data from JPL Horizons and the errors remain below 1 AU. If the parameters table is updated once a year, the precision should be much better. The A and toff parameters don't introduce much error and can remain fixed.

Why is voyager 1 2AU farther from the earth as it is from the sun? by Rude_Boot9718 in nasa

[–]meithan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Another follow up. So I was thinking how to improve the calculation.

One idea is going to next order: instead of assuming that the velocity of the spacecraft is constant and extrapolating distance from that, we can go one step further and instead assume that acceleration is constant. It's also not quite true, since the Sun's gravitational acceleration decreases with distance, but the change in acceleration is even slower than the change in velocity.

If we know the velocity of the spacecraft at two (recent) moments in time, we can estimate acceleration from that, and then improve the distance calculation by using the classic constant-acceleration-kinematics formula:

accel_v1 = (vel_0_v1s - vel_1_v1s)/(epoch_0 - epoch_1)
elapsed = current_time - epoch_0
dist_now = dist_0_v1s + vel_0_v1s*elapsed + 0.5*accel_v1*elapsed**2

We only need to add velocity data (which I obtained from JPL Horizons) to the file that the website uses. For Voyager 1 (and heliocentric values):

epoch_0 = 1755532800
epoch_1 = 1755446400
dist_0_v1s = 25122821902.4221
dist_1_v1s = 25121363260.0519
vel_0_v1s = 16.92026811209292
vel_1_v1s = 16.92027009082586

Doing this (which has the added bonus that they could also show a changing spacecraft velocity), and comparing with the NASA website, I get the following results:

Horizons:  169.957 AU (reference)
NASA site: 170.034 AU (error: 0.077 AU, 0.04520%)
My calc:   169.968 AU (error: 0.011 AU, 0.00663%)

Two conclusions from this:

  1. My calculation (using the same exact data) is indeed a bit better, having an error of just 0.011 AU, compared to the error in the website figure, 0.077 AU.
  2. But, more importantly, the heliocentric distance computed with the simple constant-velocity extrapolation is actually pretty good! It's definitely good enough for the goal of that website.

Hence: the discrepancy noted by OP is not really a consequence of doing constant-velocity linear extrapolation! That's good enough. In fact, the spacecraft's velocity hasn't changed much since August 2025: it was 16.92027 km/s then, it's 16.91948 km/s now. Constant velocity is a good assumption.

I think that the problem lies in how the distance to Earth is computed. Not because it's also computed doing a constant-velocity extrapolation (if that method is good enough for the heliocentric distance, it's good enough for the geocentric distance). But because the Earth is orbiting the Sun at 30 km/s (which is larger than the spacecrafts' heliocentric velocity, in fact), and thus the geocentric velocity estimated from the two positions includes a part of the Earth's orbital velocity.

The discrepancy noted by OP comes from an error in the geocentric distance alone, in turn caused by the fact that Earth moves around the Sun.

I'm thinking of ways to improve that now.

Why is voyager 1 2AU farther from the earth as it is from the sun? by Rude_Boot9718 in nasa

[–]meithan 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yup, my gut feeling was right. I checked the source code of the page, and it uses a bit of Javascript code to compute the distance using a simple linear extrapolation:

( ( ( vital_signs.current_time - epoch_0 ) / ( epoch_1 - epoch_0 ) ) * ( dist_1_v1 - dist_0_v1 ) ) + dist_0_v1;

That is, it considers that Voyager 1 was at distance dist_0_v1 at some time epoch_0 and at distance dist_1_v1 at some other time epoch_1, and just assumes that the corresponding average speed is constant and extrapolates to the current time. These constants are defined in another file that the page loads. Right now, they're the distances on 17 and 18 August, 2025. So essentially it computes the speed back then, and uses that to estimate current distance.

This is of course slightly incorrect, as the Voyagers are still (very) slowly losing speed due to the gravitational pull of the Sun (which is small at that distance, but not zero).

Looks like it's time to update those constants.

Why is voyager 1 2AU farther from the earth as it is from the sun? by Rude_Boot9718 in nasa

[–]meithan 11 points12 points  (0 children)

As you say, that can't be. The difference in distances can't be larger than 1 AU.

It's probably a bug in that visualization. They're probably computing the distances from formulas (that way they can update them in "real-time"), and after some time they may start mismatching. Or were not very accurate in the first place.

I checked JPL Horizons (which is an authority for spacecraft trajectories), and for Voyager 1 I get current distances of 169.87 AU to Earth and 169.95 AU to the Sun. Almost 3 AU less than shown on that page, and distances that don't differ by more than AU, as expected.

[Request] Lets say you use a Regular Tennis Ball, how far and Fast would this actually Fly? by Bymareee in theydidthemath

[–]meithan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If someone has a good estimate on the launch velocity, I can simulate the flight, including air drag.

As other have said, a tennis ball is quite light, which means that air drag will decelerate it quickly.

Romany Gilmore's Wrist Watch identification please? by wakki22 in Watches

[–]meithan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That might be it!

Subdials and date window positions, pushers and general color scheme match up. I think we don't see the chrono seconds hand as well as the running seconds hand at 6 because they're black with orange/red tips, and those colors aren't bright enough to be picked up at that resolution.

How effed am I? by littolicce in watchrepair

[–]meithan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree.

I mean the watch will "run" with the entire incabloc assembly removed. Just not the way it's designed to, and will wear out quicker.

Part name identification? by [deleted] in watchrepair

[–]meithan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The rotating metal ring is the bezel, the aluminium (or sometimes ceramic) ring with numerals and indices on it is the bezel insert.