If you're looking for a weird watch, you'd be hard pressed to find anything more unique than the MS1001-Ti. Currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, it uses two auger-like screws to tell time.
Made by Hong Kong manufacturer MECEXP, the MS1001-Ti is actually the company's second watch to incorporate the quirky time-keeping technology.
Whereas the firm's previously crowdfunded MS1001 had a stainless steel body, though, the MS1001-Ti goes with titanium. As a result, even though this second model is larger than its predecessor, it's also lighter – 86 grams as opposed to 100 (3 vs 3.5 oz).
Its proprietary mechanism was inspired by the leadscrews that 3D printers use to move their nozzles back and forth across the print bed. In a nutshell, a leadscrew is a long, thin screw with a component threaded onto it, and which is turned via an electric motor. The component is held down in such a fashion that it can't simply turn along with the screw.
This means that as the motor turns the screw in one direction or the other, the threaded component moves along its length accordingly – either up and down or back and forth, depending on whether the leadscrew is positioned vertically or horizontally.
In the case of the MS1001-Ti, there are two such screws arranged vertically side-by-side, each one with an indicator arrow that moves along it. The arrow on the left lines up with a numerical hour display and smaller minute markers, while the arrow on the right simultaneously lines up with a numerical minute display and smaller second markers.
Once every 12 hours (for the left side) or 60 minutes (right side), the arrows flyback to the beginning of their respective runs.
The display is protected beneath a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass face, and can be illuminated when necessary by an integrated LED. Power is provided by a rechargeable 270-mAh lithium-ion battery, which is claimed to be good for 35 days of use per charge. Pressing the watch's function button twice in one second causes the left arrow to temporarily display the charge level.
The whole rig is rated as being water-resistant to 30 meters (98 ft), which really just means it can withstand being splashed.
Assuming the MS1001-Ti reaches production, a pledge of US$319 will get you one. You can see it in time-telling action, in the video below.
Source: Kickstarter
