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Clockwerk - A 3D Printed, Three-Axis Tourbillon

‘Clockwerk’ is a wall hanging kinetic sculpture of a 3-axis tourbillon escapement, and is the world’s first 3D printed multiaxis tourbillon. The mechanism is heavily inspired by Vianney Halter’s wonderful “Deep Space Tourbillon” watch, but adapted for the scale and materials of 3D printing. See the final mechanism in action here. 3-axis tourbillons are beautiful to see in motion, but are some of the most expensive and rare watch components in the world. Watches containing them command prices in the hundreds of thousands USD, and have production volumes in the single digits. What better way to bring this mechanism to the masses than 3D printing? Now you can have watchmaking’s rarest escapement hanging on your wall! Clockwerk is made of 99 parts: 34 printed parts, 8 ball bearings, 3 metal shafts, 2 barbell plates, 1 meter of fishing line, and 51 screws. The model shown here is printed such that each axis is an alternating color for ease of understanding the axis of rotation. The central blue part rotates within the white cage, which rotates within the blue U which rotates within the white bowl.”

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