Scottish maker and silversmith Math Campbell has built a smartwatch with a difference: this one goes in your pocket, not on your wrist.
“I’ve always wanted a sci-fi style pocketwatch (ever since I read The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson),” Campbell explains of the project’s inspiration. “None exist aside from a few people cramming a smartwatch into an antique case. So I got a development board from Waveshare that has a screen and motherboard ([Espressif] ESP32-S3 with a 466×466 AMOLED screen), and programmed a UI [User Interface] that looks suitably sci-fi for my gaudy tastes.”
This chunky pocketwatch is powered by an Espressif ESP32-S3 microcontroller and round display, and housed in 3D-printed stainless steel. (📷: Math Campbell)
The watch is built around the dimensions of Waveshare’s ESP32-S3 1.75″ 466×466 AMOLED Round Touch Display Development Board, which in turn houses the dual-core Espressif ESP32-S3 microcontroller behind a circular AMOLED display connected via a quad-SPI interface. Being round, rather than square, makes it ideal for watch projects — but Campbell wasn’t happy with just cramming it into an old pocketwatch housing, so turned to 3D printing for something truly custom.
“[I] added a battery and designed [the] case in [Autodesk] Fusion360,” Campbell explains, “and had it 3D-printed in stainless steel. Not perfect and I still need to do the buttons and a few other parts and then remake the case in sterling silver (I am a silversmith), but this is the first time seeing it assembled and working somewhat so I wanted to show it off.”
More details are available in Campbell’s Reddit post, while source code for the smartwatch is available on GitHub under an unspecified license.