If you're looking for a weird watch, you'd be hard pressed to find anything more unique than the MS1001-Ti. Currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, it uses two auger-like screws to tell time. Made by Hong Kong manufacturer MECEXP, the MS1001-Ti is actually the company's second watch to incorporate the quirky time-keeping technology.
Whereas the firm's previously crowdfunded had a stainless steel body, though, the MS1001-Ti goes with titanium. As a result, even though this second model is larger than its predecessor, it's also lighter – 86 grams as opposed to 100 (3 vs 3.5 oz).
Its proprietary mechanism was inspired by the leadscrews that 3D printers use to move their nozzles back and forth across the print bed. In a nutshell, a is a long, thin screw with a component threaded onto it, and which is turned via an electric motor. The component is held down in such a fashion that it can't simply turn along with the screw.
This means that as the motor turns the screw in one direction or the other, the threaded component moves along its length accordingly – either up and down or back and forth, depending on whether the leadscrew is positioned vertically or horizontally. In the case of the MS1001-Ti, there are two such screws arranged vertically side-by-side, each one with an indicator arrow that moves along it. The arrow on the left lines up with a numerical hour display and smaller minute markers, while the arrow on the right simultaneously lines up with a numerical mi.
