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Sky Watcher Tourbillon Table Clock
Ugears DIY model Sky Watcher Tourbillon Table Clock. Assemble without glue. Clock works without batteries. The time display is placed on reels. Perfect gift idea!
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338
Parts
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14+
Age
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Advanced
Level
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Mechanical
Model
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Metal spring
Drive type
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16.5 x 30.5 x 18 cm
Dimensions
Sky Watcher Tourbillon Table Clock
Assemble me. Catch the star moment!
The Clockwork Universe theory, favored by 17th-century deists, held that the Earth and the heavens, and all their motions, were like a giant clock, with God as the Clockmaker. Newton's three laws of motion and the principle of universal gravitation were thought to be sufficient to explain phenomena of any kind, using mechanical conceptions. At Ugears we love mechanical conceptions! And so with a nod to Isaac Newton, we present the Sky Watcher Tourbillon Table Clock, a fascinating combination of imaginative celestial observatory and functional table clock!
The standout feature of this functional and beautiful wooden model table clock is the rotating tourbillon that sits on top. In wrist and pocket watches a tourbillon mechanism helps increase accuracy by counteracting the effects of gravity when the watch is stationary. By seating the escape and balance wheel within a rotating cage, slight errors in timekeeping introduced by the force of gravity are averaged out. In table clocks and wall-mounted clocks a tourbillon often serves a more decorative purpose. This is true of the Sky Watcher Tourbillon Table Clock from Ugears, where the sphere of the tourbillon has been styled to resemble a large telescope observatory scanning the celestial sphere, like those at Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Perhaps it is creating a map of the heavens? Conducting infrared studies? Or maybe searching for new planets or signs of intelligent life?
Sky Watcher features:
- Functional mechanical table clock
- Powered by a spring motor
- Moving tourbillon on top with 3 axes of rotation
- Time display on rotating reels
- Celestial observatory design
DIY wooden clock features:
- Works approximately 2-3 hours per full winding
- Pleasant background ticking sound
- Assembles without glue or tools
- Comes with step-by-step instructions in 11 languages
- Free spare parts upon request

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Warning! Small parts.
Excellent quality of all parts: They fit perfectly and everything is very stable. You will profit from a small hammer, though. Bee wax is essential for getting the clock to work automatically.
I have never done something similar before but the manual is a very good guidance almost everywhere. I only made two small mistakes and found one imprecise picture which rendered the transmission to the minutes and hours wheels unworkable. The image I uploaded gives you some hints. But I even enjoyed partly disassembling the clock to somewhere in the middle - and the process worked fine also backwards ;-).
I always played around with the larger assemblies for quite some time (like when you have just mounted the minutes wheel, the hours wheel, or the tourbillon) not just to distribute the wax on the gears but also to check whether the mechanism makes sense and works correctly, e.g., wheels turn in the right directions, or lining up the impulse pin and escape fork thru the two levers managing the balance spring. You will need the latter many times when setting the clock mechanism in motion :)
The last action might be really difficult if you have no idea how a mechanical clock works internally so you might want to check out some YouTube videos on how the escape wheel and all the other parts of the escapement interact.
As I did not put any time pressure on my work, it was an extremely enjoyable experience with a great reward in the end when the clock worked automatically (for a few minutes b/c the transmission of power from the watch's mainspring barrel to the escapement was too weak in my case).
Now I contemplate fixing the last minor detail during the next longer vacation period...!
Finally I've got this excellent and beautiful model to work. After carefully building the clock it used to work always for some minutes then the escape fork hit the escape wheel from above, causing the whole thing to get stuck. I don't know if this was caused by my build, but I knew, I would have to fix it.
Some research taught me that the impulse pin would not provide enough energy to the escape fork, which then was too slow compared to the movement of the escape wheel.
I had to rework the inner and outer mount of the balance spring. On the inside the spring was mounted in an incorrect angle, causing the spring to touch the inner mount, so I bent it to a proper position. On the outside the spring was several centimetres too long, so I shortened it just by letting it stick out on the back side of the mount. To avoid interference, I had to place the inner mount closer to the balance wheel.
Then I removed some vertical play on the metal axle and the escape fork mount using washers and also placed washers below some gears to reduce friction.
This whole process took me longer than the initial build, I rebuilt the tourbillon about 20 times, but it was great fun and worth every minute. Now the clock runs without any problems, it runs for about three hours before I have to wind it up again and keeps time very well.
I can recommend this model, but be aware this thing is an advanced build.
Definitely anadvanced build (not for the faint of heart)! This is my first Ugears project after doing six of a competitor brand. I find that the instructions weren't as detailed BUT the parts are much more sturdy. Actually thepanels are at least twice as thick.
I have it completed but I have a couple of gears jamming and Ihaven't found out whichones they are so it won't operate (annoying) but I will figure it out.
One other thing I discovered is that the "lock" is just a hair too long making catch on the drive gear!
Try it if you dare and want a challenge!
John
An excellent puzzle! A challenge to build and impressive to show off. Adequate instructions, easy to follow. Not for beginners though! And extreme care must be taken - this is very intricate puzzle, and demands full attention at all times. (I made one minor mistake: I installed the UGEARS logo backwards on the top part.) They point out that you need to seat the top tourbillon part. However, once it is completed, there is a breaking-in period: The first time it only ran a few seconds, but I kept restarting it and now it runs continuously.
Amazing build, intricate and a true look into the way complex mechanical clocks work. Problem is, it doesnt work. After completion the only way i got the escapement mechanism to move at all was by physically rotating the mainspring housing with my hand, and it stopped seconds after i let off pressure. After trying to fix it it now doesnt work at all, the escapement mechanism binds after a single rotation.
Beatiful, impressive, but i feel it may have been under tested in production. I dont have the time to tinker with it back and forth after i already spent so long building it to get it to work.
👍👍
Amazing, but you have to work extremely precise
The lenquige needs to bein nl to
Wow! This is a piece of art and I’m so grateful for this company and the fun we had putting this together. Such a work of craftsmanship!!
Reviews in Other Languages
Me gusto mucho el armado del reloj, solo no me gusto el no poder ponerlo a trabajar como debería. No funciona
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
Ich bin mit ihrem Produkt sehr zufrieden, nur leider sind bei der ersten Benutzung 2 Teile kaputt gegangen wodurch die Uhr leider nicht funktioniert. Wäre es möglich diese Teile nochmal als Ersatz zu bekommen?
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Steven Döring
Ich habe den Bausatz für die Tourbillon-Tischuhr zu Weihnachten bekommen. Nach einigen Tagen war die Uhr fertig. Ich musste noch ein paar Feineinstellungen machen, seitdem läuft sie gut und ist im Freundeskreis der Hingucker. Ein wunderschönes Beispiel für ein tri-axiales Tourbillon, bei dem auch sehr interessante Konstruktionsdetails angewendet werden. Dazu zählen die Planetengetriebe und die nach innen zeigende Ankergabel.
Ein Tipp zur Verbesserung habe ich noch. Unter dem Zahnrad Nr. 173 habe ich vor dem Einsetzen des Toubillonkäfigs noch eine Unterlegscheibe platziert.
Dieser Bausatz ist anspruchsvoll, aber das Ergebnis ist einfach super.