I am nearing completion of my Analog Meter Clock project. The meters I have chosen for the project were cheap but have the retro look I wanted. The problem is they are a bit crowded for 60 graduations.

Initially I wanted 3 meters so I can have a seconds meter to show movement to make the display more interesting.

But I was thinking I could have a meter for 10s of minutes and one of ones of minutes. I was thinking the the ones of minutes meter could also show seconds movement too.

I am torn on which way to go and just wanted opinions. I am opting to leave things as they are. Might actually be less confusing than the 10s and ones minutes meters. Plus there are so many other projects to work on, I would just like to get this one finalized.

Opinions?

 

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, what you have now is simple, logical and elegant. And with the SECONDS meter constantly moving, there's an "eye-catching" factor the other scheme doesn't offer. On the other hand, the MINUTES meter is going to be awfully difficult to read accurately, even if you can eliminate parallax between the pointer and the scale by looking at it from directly in front. That would drive me completely nuts.

So I'm voting-- very reluctantly, because what you've got now looks so cool-- for Option #2. But it's a darned close call.

 

I'd vote to keep the three panel display as shown. It's more art than a timepiece with single unit displays of time increments.

 

Like @OBW0549, I'm torn. I think reading minutes accurately will be all but impossible in the current design, but I'm going to assume you have plenty of other options when you need to know the time to within 1-2 minute accuracy, in which case it's not important that this be totally practical.

Assuming you're ok with knowing the time +/- a few minutes, I'd vote to keep the aesthetics of the current design.

 

And with the SECONDS meter constantly moving, there's an "eye-catching" factor the other scheme doesn't offer. On the other hand, the MINUTES

Well I could make the ones minutes meter tic up to the next minute tick mark on every second but that might be kind of goofy looking to.

In my original design idea I had an idea to blink a "Seconds LED" but later decided against that idea.

 

In my original design idea I had an idea to blink a "Seconds LED" but later decided against that idea.

Hmmm... instead of an LED, how about blinking an old-style pilot lamp from some ancient piece of equipment? That'd be more retro.

Just an idea...

 

I like it as-is
The seconds readout makes the thing seem more alive.

 

Hmmm... instead of an LED, how about blinking an old-style pilot lamp from some ancient piece of equipment? That'd be more retro.

Just an idea...

No space on my front panel. I even had to go with 3mm LEDs.

 

I think it looks great as is!

 

Add another vote for leaving it as it is.
A resolution of ±1 minute is quite adequate for most of us.

 

Looks great, keep as is. But how are you going to display 12:30?

 

Looks great, keep as is. But how are you going to display 12:30?

Crap forgot about 12. For some reason I was thinking at 11:59 it would turn to 0. But that would be 23:39 for military time so no 24 needed. Looks like I will need to redo the hours meter face. Too bad the scale work perfectly with PWM. No need for a value table. Other meters required it.


I really needed to do the meter face anyway. For some reason it is off color from the others.

Did you select your user name just to post this?

hrs = hours.