Mechanical Watch by Bartosz Ciechanowski
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 8 of 31 interactive visualizations by recommenders
An interactive web article that uses animations to explain how a mechanical watch works, praised for clear visuals that make hard mechanics easy to follow.
An interactive web article that uses animations to explain how a mechanical watch works, praised for clear visuals that make hard mechanics easy to follow.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Clear visualization of mechanics
“The way the escapement mechanism is visualized makes it so much easier to understand than any textbook I've read.”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Mechanical Watch: An Interactive Deep Dive” “It really nails both clarity and remains interactable, fun.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Mechanical Watch” “gets the balance just right without any hand-holding asides”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Why Is the Sky Blue?” Beautiful, fun, and interactive
“Ineffably magnificent... no words may express how simply ingenious and incredible both the website work and such the marvel the work is attributed to”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Mechanical Watch” “I love both, just opposite in the color vs dryness, jank vs precision”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Glashütte Trash Clock – A 30-minute pendulum clock made from trash” “It really nails both clarity and remains interactable, fun.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Mechanical Watch” - Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Learning to code is still worthwhile”
Admired as special work
“Ineffably magnificent... no words may express how simply ingenious and incredible both the website work and such the marvel the work is attributed to”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Mechanical Watch” “What an amazing post, thank you for sharing”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “The Brand Age” “The author really made something special.”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Mechanical Watch”
Other interactive visualizations people recommend
The four most recommended other interactive visualizations, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ciechanow.ski | 33 | 1 | 97% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Size of Life | 30 | 4 | 88% | 2 | — | — |
| PGSimCity | 27 | 3 | 90% | 1 | — | — |
| Ithihāsas | 18 | 3 | 86% | 1 | — | — |
| Mechanical Watch by Bartosz CiechanowskiThis page | 11 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
9 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“For one, it has real physics on the weight, and second it always shows the correct/current time.”
“I love both, just opposite in the color vs dryness, jank vs precision”
“My goodness it's beautiful.”
“It really nails both clarity and remains interactable, fun.”
“The author really made something special.”
“Ineffably magnificent... no words may express how simply ingenious and incredible both the website work and such the marvel the work is attributed to”
“What an amazing post, thank you for sharing”
“The way the escapement mechanism is visualized makes it so much easier to understand than any textbook I've read.”
“gets the balance just right without any hand-holding asides”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.