How a Watch Works
How a Watch Works is a short film from 1949 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
A simple demonstration of the basic design and operation of a watch. The inside "works" are shown on a giant 71/2 foot, in-line movement, exact and to scale in every detail. The function of each part is demonstrated as the huge watch is assembled and disassembled.
18:00:45:00 How a Watch Works 08024
18:01:06:00 med wide shot of silver streamlined jet (probably turbo-prop, but looks jet ) hovering above the clouds (18:01:17:00) 18:01:18:00 CU looking at airplane controls over pilots shoulder (18:01:23:00) 18:01:24:00 med shot of plane(okay it s a prop) (fade to black 18:01:29:00)
18:01:34:00 med shot of front of car driven down residential street (18:01:44:00) 18:01:45:00 med wide shot from side of car driving down street past houses, turning (18:01:54:00)
18:01:58:00 med wide shot of factory interior - worker tending large machine (18:02:05:00) 18:02:06:00 MCU of worker turning huge wheel on valve (18:02:12:00) 18:02:13:00 CU of voltage meter (18:02:15:00) 18:02:16:00 MCU of monitoring equipment - seismograph-style printout (fadeout 18:02:18:00)
18:02:22:00 MCU - expressionist-style lighting - topless child with adult hand holding stethoscope to heart - extreme camera zoom on hand with stethoscope (18:02:29:00)
18:03:01:00 med shot of nurse taking patient s pulse - holding up arm with watch - camera zoom on watch (18:03:03:00) 18:03:04:00 CU of plain watch on woman s arm- 10 minutes to 6 (18:03:06:00)
18:03:12:00 MCU of woman playing piano - camera zoom on hands and wristwatch (18:03:16:00) 18:03:17:00 med shot from above of man playing golf - zoom on wrist with watch (18:03:22:00) 18:03:23:00 MCU of woman working cash register in newsstand -camera zoom on wrist with watch (18:03:28:00) 18:03:29:00 MCU of businessman at desk signing paper - camera zoom on wrist (18:03:34:00) 18:03:35:00 MCU of businessman on phone - takes out pocket watch - camera zoom on watch (18:03:42:00) 18:03:48:00 MCU of male student working at desk with slide rule - camera zoom on watch (18:03:53:00)
18:04:00:00 - CU of watch on blue surface 10 past 10 - watch turned over by invisible hands (18:04:03:00)
18:04:19:00 CU of ticking mechanism inside watch (18:04:35:00) 18:06:02:00 CU of back of watch with no cover - stop-motion animation of watch being taking apart by invisible hands (18:06:18:00)
18:06:39:00 med shot - large model of winding mechanism of watch - hands wind (18:06:51:00) 18:06:52:00 MCU of winding gears (18:06:55:00) 18:06:56:00 cross fade to another large model of balance wheel and hairspring assembly (17:04:00:00) 18:07:25:00 med shot of balance wheel set in action by hand [possible to cut hand out](18:07:48:00) 18:07:49:00 MCU - balance wheel with palate lever added in 18:07:56:00 MCU - two hands moving opposing ends of lever (18:08:07:00) 18:08:08:00 MCU - balance wheel, lever (18:08:10:00) 18:08:44:00 med wide shot of winding mechanism, balance wheel, and lever (18:08:48:00) 18:08:49:00 - MCU of winding stem attached to gears - hand turns it (18:0853:00)
18:09:00 med wide shot of whole mechanism - hand gives stem a push, whole mechanism goes into action, then slows to a stop (18:09:06:00)
18:09:33:00 CU of balance wheel and lever action - camera slowly zooms out - very nice (18:09:47:00)
18:10:27:00 MCU - slow camera zoom on set of gears (at rest) (18:10:31:00) 18:10:32:00 CU of gears -camera slowly pulls back (18:10:39:00)
18:10:41:00 MCU of gear set moving (18:10:45:00) 18:10:46:00 CU of gears - starting to move (18:10:50:00) 18:10:53:00 CU of gears in motion - slow camera pan of gear set (18:10:57:00) 18:11:03:00 - MCU - series of gears moving very nice (18:11:10:00) 18:11:11:00 - MCU - camera pans slowly from series of gears to escape wheel and balance wheel in action (18:11:18:00)
18:11:51:00 CU of part of clock model - gear and lever - looks soviet expressionist - camera moves down to reveal mirror image mechanism (18:12:05:00)
18:12:15:00 CU of balance wheel in action - slow camera zoom - very hypnotizing (18:12:23:00)
18:13:05:00 CU of dial attached to center of gear (moving) (18:13:12:00) 18:13:13:00 cross fade to MCU of gears - another dial appears on larger gear (18:13:30:00) 18:31:31:00 MCU - same shot another gear and dial set fades in - recognizably hour and minute hands (18:13:42:00) 18:13:43:00 MCU - cross fade to second dial and gears -(18:13:50:00) 18:13:51:00 cross fade to CU of minutes dial and gears (18:14:00:00) 18:14:01:00 CU of minutes dial/gears - camera pulls back- minutes hand moves extremely quickly - demonstrating entire hour (18:14:19:00)
18:14:47:00 med shot of watch case - watch assembly stop motion animation (18:15:05:00)
18:15:07:00 med shot of assembled watch - ticking (18:15:25:00) 18:15:26:00 CU of balance wheel and spring in working watch (18:15:36:00) 18:15:41:00 MCU over shoulder of jeweler at work (18:15:48:00) 18:51:49:00 CU of jeweler s eye and jewel under microscope (18:16:02:00) 18:16:03:00 CU of watch ticking with back removed - tweezers point to various places (18:16:19:00) 18:16:20:00 extreme CU of red circular jewel held by tweezers - looks like lifesaver (18:16:36:00) 18:16:52:00 CU of tweezers picking up tiny spring (18:17:00:00) 18:17:08:00 CU of watch springs, gear under X-ray (18:17:13:00) 18:17:14:00 CU of balance wheel, spring held between huge fingers -tweezers point to it (18:17:32:00) 18:18:06:00 CU of jeweler eye level with table with barely visible watch pieces (18:18:08:00) 18:18:09:00 CU of tiny screw held with tweezers (18:18:13:00) 18:18:18:00 CUs to tiny watch pieces held by tweezers (18:18:38:00) 18:18:39:00 CU of jeweler eye level with table with barely visible watch pieces (18:18:42:00) 18:18:44:00 extreme CU of tiny watch piece on finger - skin magnified (18:18:55:00)
18:19:15:00 CU of watch - camera pulls back as woman s hands put watch on man s wrist (18:18:24:00)| How a Watch Works | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Handy (Jam) Organization |
Production company | Handy (Jam) Organization |
| Distributed by | Handy (Jam) Organization |
Release date | 1949 |
Running time | 18:40 |
| Language | English |
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