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# Watch Escapement Desk Toy
- URL: https://olivalabs.com/watch-escapement-as-desk-toy/
- Published: 2021-01-12T01:54:49.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T03:32:53.000Z
- Author: John Oliva
- Tags: tech, 3d-printing, kinetic-sculpture

## *Part 1 - Inspiration*

I am a fan of the kinetic sculptures produced by [David C. Roy](https://www.woodthatworks.com/sculpture-directions/?ref=olivalabs.com#.UH2Fy2mc7aI). David produces beautiful wood kinetic sculptures with most of them powered by a watch escapement type of device as a motion power source.

I am planning on creating some modest kinetic sculptures and would like to see if I can also power them using a watch escapement type motion source. Rather then purchasing the motion source I am going to try to fabricate my own and I am going to start by simply fabricating an existing design to learn about it.

The watch escapement desk toy that I am going to fabricate can be [found on Thingiverse](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3464466?ref=olivalabs.com). This design includes a steel main winding spring rather than a 3D printed plastic spring resulting in a vastly increased run time. The original design with the plastic spring is [also on Thingiverse](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3364860?ref=olivalabs.com). The original design is very well documented and includes these exploded views of the parts of the mechanism:

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Here are a couple of photos showing the original design with a plastic main spring and the new design with the steel main spring:

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The second part of this series will cover the fabrication of the Watch Escapement Desk Toy.