Innovative Minimalist Watch Uses BCD Technology for Low Power Consumption

A Hand Watch Inspired by BCD Technology

Over the decades, we have seen many DIY watches and timepieces, yet few have garnered as much interest or been met with irony as the binary watch. The qron0b project, created by [qewer], utilizes BCD encoding to display the current time and ranks among the rarest types of projects encountered, with the last comparable project being a BCD desk clock back in 2018. Typically, a single CR2032 battery powers the entire board, equipped with an ATtiny24A microcontroller or a compatible version, an RTC clock DS1302, and a 4x4 LED matrix to show the hours and minutes. Technically, three LEDs are not necessary here, but the symmetric appearance is aesthetically pleasing, and the extra LEDs can be used for additional tasks as firmware expands from the current time-setting and reading functions. The AVR C firmware can be found in the mentioned GitHub repository, along with the PCB KiCad project and FreeCAD design files for the watch case. The case accommodates a GT2/GT3 type strap measuring 22 mm wide to complete the assembly. With a single CR2032 battery, users can expect several months of battery life.