How many can last mechanical watch? A couple of hundred years? Or, maybe, a thousand years? The head of Amazon Jeff Bezos set out to create an almost perpetual mechanical watch. The watch itself is located inside the cliff near the Blue Origin spaceport in Western Texas, and on the implementation of the project spent 42 million dollars.
As the authors of the project, the world’s largest mechanical watch should run for at least 10,000 years. I told myself Jeff Bezos via his Twitter account.
Installation has begun—500 ft tall, all mechanical, powered by day/night thermal cycles, synchronized, at solar noon, a symbol for long-term thinking—the #10000YearClock is coming together thx to the genius of Danny Hillis, Zander Rose & the whole team Clock! Enjoy the video. pic.twitter.com/FYIyaUIbdJ
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) February 20, 2018
Mine is to install the clock mechanism with a depth of 152 meters was dug a few years ago. Around the mine built a spiral staircase for the construction and maintenance hours. The “heart” of hours is a huge pendulum with a weight of 280 kilograms. In addition, the design uses 20 huge gears with a diameter up to 2.5 meters, the most massive of which weighs 450 kilograms. Nourish the whole mechanism will be solar energy. In the words of Jeff,
“For the time of these hours will cease to exist, the United States of America. Will fall and there will be a new civilization. Will invented a new form of government. No one can imagine what the world would be when that clock stops to go.”
It is worth noting that the idea of constructing such a clock is not owned by Jeff Bezos. Her in 1995 suggested engineer Danny Hillis as an illustration of the fact that you need to think about the future of the planet, not to live for today. After starting the clock and their internal unit will be open free of charge, however there is a small difficulty. In order to get to the place you will need to complete the quest sickly. As reported on the official website of the project
“The nearest airport is several hours away by car, and then visitors will have to walk to climb the 600-foot slope.”
The project of Jeff Bezos can be perceived in different ways, but in a fairly strong statement about the fact that the watch will last 10,000 years, hard to believe. After all, if to judge objectively: how much do you know really existing objects, age 10 000 years (fossils don’t count)? Besides, these watches are mechanical, and thus in their design are the gears which suffer constant friction force when interacting with each other, which wears out the details. After all, even the best Swiss watch from time to time require replacement of some elements. In addition, we must not forget that the metal parts corrode. Or Jeff managed to create a metal which does not oxidize over time?
Edition Hi-News.ru questioned the longevity of this device (in contrast to colleagues VC.ru). Everything that happens seems more like a PR campaign of Bezos, known for his extraordinary deeds. In the end, even the Egyptian pyramids and there five thousand years. But if time is afraid of pyramids, then would they be afraid of a mechanical watch?
Dear readers, what do you think about such projects? We are very interested to hear your opinion in our official telegram chat.
Amazon completes the construction of the “eternal” hours
Vladimir Kuznetsov