Hello everyone. I'm trying to make a digital watch that displays the time with an analog interface. I'll probably add a few other programs, like a stopwatch, a timer, and an alarm later. How should I go about doing this?

Edit: I have done some research on this. I'll need an LCD, a microcontroller, and other stuff. To be more specific, which microcontroller and LCD should I use, and how? Thanks very much!

 

Watch or a clock? What do you mean by "analog interface"?

How much experience do you have of micro-controllers and electronics?

 

Sorry for the confusion. I mean a watch. When I say analog I mean the type of watch that has an hour, minute and second hand. I have basically next to no experience with microcontrollers, but I can learn.

 

Sorry for the confusion. I mean a watch. When I say analog I mean the type of watch that has an hour, minute and second hand. I have basically next to no experience with microcontrollers, but I can learn.

In my opinion, a watch is far too ambitious as a starting point. Apart from the functional design aspects, of which you have no experience, you then have the considerable challenge of fitting everything in a very small space. In addition, the whole thing needs to run on a tiny battery which means you must pay a lot of attention to reducing power consumption. Even someone who knows what they are doing would be wise to start with a large prototype and only consider reducing the size once the functional aspects are solved.

Furthermore, in order to provide an analog style display you will need an LCD module capable of displaying graphics and this will require a significant amount of programming skill to implement.

A clock is a very good first project but (since you have never used a micro-controller) you need to get there in stages. A good starting point would be a PIC micro-controller and an Hitachi HD44780 alpha-numeric LCD. Learn how to write to the display and then start work on the clock.

Whatever type of clock you design, at their heart, they are all the same in that they contain registers that count hours, minutes, and seconds. Most clock designs start with a 1Hz timebase and from this seconds, minutes and hours are derived. In a digital clock the 1Hz timebase is usually derived from a crystal with a frequency that can be evenly divided down by the binary registers. If you intend to include a stopwatch; you may want a 0.1 or o.01 second timebase.

Step #1. Design the logic for the basic timekeeping "mechanism"

 

What if I give up the analog idea and go for a digital watch?

 

you can buy an led clock kit on ebay for less than £2 ( $3)

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/171631657869?nav=SEARCH

 

What if I give up the analog idea and go for a digital watch?

That is your decision, but, you will find it very difficult prototyping your design if it is small enough to be worn as a watch.

Smart watches didn't start life the size of watches, they were developed on larger hardware.

What electronic devices have you designed and built previously? Do you have the skills to design a multi-layer PCB and work with tiny surface mount components?

 

That is your decision, but, you will find it very difficult prototyping your design if it is small enough to be worn as a watch.

Smart watches didn't start life the size of watches, they were developed on larger hardware.

What electronic devices have you designed and built previously? Do you have the skills to design a multi-layer PCB and work with tiny surface mount components?

None

 

you can buy an led clock kit on ebay for less than £2 ( $3)

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/171631657869?nav=SEARCH

Thanks but I'm looking for something more... Customisable

 

I actually did a similar project before. You need a microcontroller board, LCD, keypad, speaker, RTC

 

for the board, i used PIC18F4550