Trolex - the 3D printed working wrist watch

Introducing the Trolex, a 3D printed working watch powered by a Miyota 2035 Quartz movement. Shock your watch-collector friends with a custom piece that will certainly attract their interest!

With its 41.3mm size, this timepiece can adapt to most wrists and for all the occasions provided you use filaments that suit your taste. It is fully working and relatively easy to put together.

Create your own personal wristwatch and show the world your style! Now, I also added a custom text version of the dial for your special messages.

Important notes:

Dial, hands and back case require a 0.2mm nozzle. The other pieces can also be done with 0.4mm nozzle, to allow more filament options (e.g. marble, sparkle, etc.) but would benefit from a 0.2 nozzle for higher quality.

To work the watch requires a Miyota 2035 quartz movement, which is easy to find online and fairly cheap, but could be adapted to other movements by creating a custom inner movement holder. 

I got 5 for 9£ from Aliexpress here: 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006170752556.html

I do not own an AMS, so the watch is designed to be printed without one, for multi-color dial there is a pause set at the start of the 14th layer and change filament. If you do not want to change filament you will have to resume print to finish it, or remove the pause before slicing the plate. 

There are now two options for the wristband: flexible to be made with TPU (as in the cover picture) and rigid for any other filament.

The rigid version is made up of pieces that need spare filament wire to be held together. This allows to adjust size by removing or adding more pieces.

Needless to say the hands are the hardest part to get right and might require a few print (I am still working on a more reliable version of these). For reliability I would recommend buying the hands if you actually plan to use this watch as I do not know how long the 3d printed hands will last or keep the time. The second hands was too small even for the 0.2 mm nozzle.

I printed it using a smooth PEI plate, I have not tested it yet on other plates, particularly for hands and back cover which have designs on the bottom surface.

Building instructions:

I am planning to produce a dedicated video on how to build it, in the meantime the Fusion360 scheme shows more or less where each piece should go.

1. Place the movement in the holder, snap the dial in place over it and insert it into the main case;
2. Push in place the back case and force the spacer ring over the dial to secure the movement in place, then add the top ring;
3. Attach the wristband pieces using spare filament, the holes have a tight fit so it is best to use some pliers to help pushing the filament through;
4. Insert the stem on the movement, pull it into time-set position then screw the crown in from outside the case. (Leave enough play to allow the stem to be pushed in into normal position). Use some super glue here to fix the crown on the stem.
5. Set the watch into the time-set position;
6. Finally use some precision tweezers to push the hands in place carefully. It is not easy and might require some attempts and patience;
7. Turn the crown to check the hands are moving correcly and freely;
8. Wear it proudly!