# 3d cad file of movements



## pattron

Hi all,

i'm new to the forum, like you all i'm a watch lover.

i have a question or request for you all, hopefully someone of you can help me.

i'm looking for detailed real based 3d cad file of existing swiss mechanical watch movement.
eta are the most used.

anyone can help?

thanks in advance


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## Tanuki

unless you model them yourself, then they dont exist unfortunately....

most of the time you are lucky to get 2d dimensioned drawings from the manufacturer that aren't missing half their critical dimensions....o|


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## pattron

Thank you Tanuki for the answer.

the problem is like you mentioned.... no usefull info to build your own movements... 

strange thing is that eta caliber are the most used and diffused, they are so cheap that there is no way to build them cheaper.... and better... also they are well known.

so.... i can't understand why they are impossible to find as 3d cad files.

I sended an email to eta.... hopefully i get an answer.


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## interested_party

The 2d drawing on ETAs site (customer service section) are pretty detailed. Have you seen them?


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## pattron

yes, 
but i can't see usefull quotes of each single pieces.
https://secure.eta.ch/CSP/DesktopModules/ViewDoc.aspx?DocId=187&DocType=DT
copy and paste the link.... if you click on it it wont work


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## interested_party

Do you mean "quotes" as in price per unit?

I thought you were after dimensioned drawings?

Or do you mean dimensions of individual parts? I doubt you'll find them anywhere.


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## pattron

sorry... my bad, 
i mean drawnings with dimensions for each single components.
that's why i need the 3d cad version of the file.


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## interested_party

No worries. I hope somenoe chimes to help. It would be good to see.


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## Tanuki

ok I understand now, the answer is a definite NO. Manufacturers would never give this kind of information out. If they did within weeks every other manufacturer would be producing them at a lower cost and they would be out of business in no-time


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## pattron

hmmm,
Tanuki, not sure about!
the eta movement are well known... a lot of them were not used for a lot of time... eta buyed all... and begun again with the productions.
the movement aren't no more protected by patents.... they are to old.

for example... eta is the biggest advanced producer of mechanical movement world wide. you can't construct them cheaper and better. i don't know if you have a vague idea how the price for a 2892-A2 is or for a 7750.

also the production-market is safe by the "swiss made" logo. this mean that not less of 60% of the watch components must be made in swiss. people want "swiss made" for a mechanical watch. this is why the most custom mechanical watch maker are to find in swiss territory.
not sharing 3d watch movement file... really i can't see a reason for that.... i'm still talking for the eta one


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## chambers7867

Tanuki said:


> ok I understand now, the answer is a definite NO. Manufacturers would never give this kind of information out. If they did within weeks every other manufacturer would be producing them at a lower cost and they would be out of business in no-time


I agree. No major Company will give out their prints. Why would they? what will they possibly benefit from this? Nothing.


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## pattron

chambers7867 said:


> I agree. No major Company will give out their prints. Why would they? what will they possibly benefit from this? Nothing.


what about to make your own skeleton caliber? 
most of watches builder use just and mostly when not only eta movement..... so i can't get it.... 
if the problem would be the one from you described.... you just need to buy one watch with such a movement... insert it in a 3d scanner... and rebuild your movement.

btw... if you go to eta site.... there you'll not only find the exploded model with all pieces... but also the animation that show you how to assembly and disassembly each of them...
there is no magic in it... no secrets.. all is well known and documented....

for example... what is the win of eta by sharing the 3d files? simply they don't increase their profit, since their are the biggest producers... but they offer an advanced service to their costumers.... or to potentials one.

consider that i'm not asking for a 3d file of "lange & sohne"


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## iam7head

pattron said:


> what about to make your own skeleton caliber?
> most of watches builder use just and mostly when not only eta movement..... so i can't get it....
> if the problem would be the one from you described.... you just need to buy one watch with such a movement... insert it in a 3d scanner... and rebuild your movement.
> 
> btw... if you go to eta site.... there you'll not only find the exploded model with all pieces... but also the animation that show you how to assembly and disassembly each of them...
> there is no magic in it... no secrets.. all is well known and documented....
> 
> for example... what is the win of eta by sharing the 3d files? simply they don't increase their profit, since their are the biggest producers... but they offer an advanced service to their costumers.... or to potentials one.
> 
> consider that i'm not asking for a 3d file of "lange & sohne"


You probably will not get a good output file with a reflective surface on a laser based 3d scanner, when we scan metallic item sometime we coated it with a matte white waterbased paint and mark the critical hard point with a black sharpie. Doing so with a movement will most likely be a destructive event. With all the "layers" of the movement, i am not even sure scanning will be the best approach to get all the hardpoints.

to the op: if you don't need any mechanical accuracy on the 3d part, you can replicate a movement in most cad software with little effort. Given you are a skilled CAD jockey

as far as why wouldn't they put out the engineering spec: why should they? will you invest tons of money to R&D a product and give away the technical spec for free? sure anyone can get a close appox. measurement with a 10 dollar caliper and some basic retro engineering background but why give out such information?


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## pattron

well i need accurate models... to replicate one using a 3d cad software is easy... but long... and finally not accurate... effort spend for nothing <|

thanks about all the coating info... i didn't thought about... is good to learn something news each time... also for accurate unbiased rendering.

as i stated... there is no magic... all caliber from eta are well known... most of them are just antique model.... redone with better materials... like is it a spiral now.

also this great investments are on the paper.... they are not realizing something special!
just increasing and optimizing productions lines... but hey, they are the biggest industrial mechanical watch movements producers world wide.

aslo most of them are simply info to fools the eyes while reading a magazine. 
they're market position is safe! swiss-made is a very smart label that protect them against any conqueror outside swiss. people want swiss-made and at last 60% of the watch must be produced in swiss ;-) to put the swiss-made lable on a dial.

anyway... i didn't find and i'll not find one of them :-(


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## gifvinn

you can download detailed 2D drawing from the ETA.


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## cheshireccat

So, back to the original thread, does anyone know where to get CAD files for a watch movement? I personally don't care as long as it's a manual or automatic movement. I want to have some blueprints to make my first movement all by myself. So I need detailed files on every piece so that I can make all of the pieces exactly as they are supposed to be. Am I the only one that likes to follow blueprints for the first time doing something on my own?


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## mariuss.r

cheshireccat said:


> So, back to the original thread, does anyone know where to get CAD files for a watch movement? I personally don't care as long as it's a manual or automatic movement. I want to have some blueprints to make my first movement all by myself. So I need detailed files on every piece so that I can make all of the pieces exactly as they are supposed to be. Am I the only one that likes to follow blueprints for the first time doing something on my own?


You canfind a cad file at this link,you must first register...Watch movement - STEP / IGES - 3D CAD model - GrabCAD


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## alexdcd

Just download the PDF files from the ETA Website and open that in Adobe Illustrator - If you do this with main assembly drawings, it will unlock all of the lines and shading, If you have a reference size for the exterior, then you simply scale to suit.

If you have a particular movement in mind i can do this conversion for you and export as DXF, AI, DWG etc,

Unfortunately this is simply the general size of components, but will not provide you with thickness, tolerances etc.

You could follow the assembly instructions to extract all of this data to a certain extent, but i doubt you will get an accurate or even working movement without months of work involved.

Any CAD files you find publicly will be visual only, as hundreds of years of knowledge is not normally freely available.

I work as a watch designer, and in my experience the only way to get this data is directly from the manufacturer and is subject to heavy NDA agreements and signatures.


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## slikmetalfab

Pattron,
I downloaded the drawings from the ETA site and build CAD models of those movements. What is your goal? I have built a couple of watches to fit those designs and they works great. No issues.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk


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## X2Stone

slikmetalfab said:


> Pattron,
> I downloaded the drawings from the ETA site and build CAD models of those movements. What is your goal? I have built a couple of watches to fit those designs and they works great. No issues.
> 
> Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk


Hi Slikmetalfab,

I know i dig up an old post and I hope you still receive notifications from this forum.
Like the author of this original post, I'm trying to develop my own mouvement based on the ETA-2892-A2 mouvement and I'm looking for a CAD file of it (in Solidworks file format or other CAD format)
I found your answer where you said you build CAD models of ETA mouvements. Do you build the 2892 one ? Could you share me your work to see if it could help me in my development ?
Thanks a lot for your answer !

Nicolas.


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## MechaMind

Even if you would get a detailed nominal Cad model ... Step and Iges are not made to handle tolerance fields.. and since you would not be able to go without ... it would probably difficult to install standard ETA gears into a movement with no common tolerance management from both sides -> the ir parts and yours


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## maysatanong

i have 3d file 6497 mov.
if you need it pm to me

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk


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## Aadil139

maysatanong said:


> i have 3d file 6497 mov.
> if you need it pm to me
> 
> Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk


Hello.
I am Aadil and also in dire need for the same file. Could you please share it. I'd be indebted.


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