Round Nixie Watch - Part Three
Around Easter of 2003, I had taken up the nixie watch design torch again with the discovery of a new battery made by Panasonic - a lithium-ion rechargeable coin cell 32mm diameter and only 3mm thick. I asked the distributor for a sample, and received three units. However, they wanted to get a credit application from me to buy a carton of batteries from Japan - they were sold in lots of 2,000 units for $11,000! I was not prepared to front that much money for this watch yet, since I hadn’t gotten the case figured out.
The case design I had in mind was to put the logic boards on the sides, the battery underneath, and pot the whole thing in clear resin. A metal tub on the back would cover the battery and connect to the strap. I actually made three PC boards and one metal back, but never got any further than that. I was leery of the recharging nuisance, and scared that the tubes would fail and dead potted watches, expensive garbage, would be returned to me at an alarming rate.
The case design I had in mind was to put the logic boards on the sides, the battery underneath, and pot the whole thing in clear resin. A metal tub on the back would cover the battery and connect to the strap. I actually made three PC boards and one metal back, but never got any further than that. I was leery of the recharging nuisance, and scared that the tubes would fail and dead potted watches, expensive garbage, would be returned to me at an alarming rate.