A mechanical watch asks two chores of its owner. Someone has to wind the mainspring, and someone has to pull out the crown and turn it to move the hands. Mercedes-Benz has designed a clock module that hands both jobs to the car and does them through the crown itself, according to a patent filing discovered by Carmoses. A drive unit in the vehicle turns the clock’s crown stem to wind the movement, then an electromagnet lifts that stem into the setting position so the same drive can move the hands.
That runs against the way Mercedes cabins have gone. AMG put IWC clocks in its dashboards for years, but the screen-heavy AMG EQE swapped the physical clock for a digital IWC Pilot’s watch on the touchscreen. The facelifted S-Class shown earlier this year spreads three displays across its dash.
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