Space Traveller - Our own design touches

It was important to me to add some small changes to the design, so we were adding a little of ourselves to the project. A 1:1 copy would be a nice object and difficult to achieve but has less horological merit than a watch with some design changes. Daniels himself states that makers should add something new to give their project merit.

We also have to recognise that this project is a learning exercise and temper our ambition slightly. The closer we stay to the existing design the more likely we are to have a working watch at the end of the project, but we are at this point in our careers also working with a certain amount of freedom with no client involved so we have allowed ourselves to make a few changes from the original.

I have a few ideas that I am not yet certain whether to include in this project or save for the future.

The first change we have made is to the click mechanism. Without intending to criticise the original Space Traveller (as I have said I believe it to be a masterpiece) in my opinion the click mechanism is not my favourite part of the watch. As we are looking to make a few small changes, I identified this potential area.

In my opinion the spring affects the flow of the curve to the bridge and affects the symmetry. 

I decided we would consider using a passenger click system instead. This removes the need to have a spring screwed to the plate and is symmetrical.

The two clicks per mainspring work in tandem as both click and spring. They are mounted to the wheel below and carried with it as it turns. The ratchet wheel they work with is stationary and mounted to the plate above by 4 blued screws.

Our second change is the escapement bridge. We decided to use one single bridge instead of the 3 separate ones Daniels used. This decision was made to partially hide the extra wheel and make the movement appear more symmetrical.

I am considering a few more changes but these relate more to materials used so do not affect the design at this stage. I will consider these further as we continue to design before making a final decision. I am considering, as a bit of fun, making the watch as light as possible as if it was really going to space, I do also enjoy working with traditional metals so I have not fully decided which direction to go as of yet. If we do go in this direction it will involve the use of lighter materials such as carbon, titanium and aluminium.