Coming Soon? The Anarchist's Watch Valet

[C. in Indy]

One of my earlier home WW projects is still in daily use, a Valet for the master bedroom, here shown when I first made it:

   


Lately I have changed my wristwatch habits (spent too much, of course) and it occurred to me I could work up a new sort of valet.  Further thinking, and the idea of a 8-sided "wrist slab" might play into it.   It's therapeutic to lay hands on some wood, so experiments are starting:

   


I'd be very interested in what other woodworkers do for humble jobs like the wallet valet?


Chris

[C. in Indy]

Composing the older valet was fun...   I'm trying to have fun on the new one as well:


Time was, I went through utility razor blades via disposal a fair deal.   But, thanks to you folks, such is no longer true:

   



With a sharp utility knife and a bunch of cutoffs, I've started a basic partition of functions.  The "coin chute" (a cove-cut tablesaw job on the older valet) will now be made of some very hard locust 45-degree moldings on top an ash board substrate.   Here and there other partitions will be sized and mounted:

   


Happy woodworking,
Chris

[Mike Brady]

Hi Chris.  I'm interested in your dresser valet idea.  Currently I use some leftover cowhide from Chris Schwarz's tripod camp stool seat.  Its just a leather rectangle that keeps the coins, watch, and keys from scratching my dresser; in no particular order.  A watch winder would be nice since I have a self-winding watch, but the nerd factor is pretty high with that idea.  

My known design challenges are these:
My dresser top is also occupied by a flat screen TV.  Anything tall in front of the screen blocks the view, so I need a low profile....more like a tray.   Inlaying both the leather and some wood stringing might be the goal.  

I have another project before this one.  It will be a storage cabinet on legs for above the commode and in front of a mirrored / tiled wall in a guest bathroom.  It is the only way make storage in ths very tight space.

[C. in Indy]

Hi Mike,

Also looking forward to seeing your projects in the queue !

The point about self-winding watches is one that tickled me a few times lately.   Automatic mechanical watches can be viewed as "Eco friendly" since they don't have disposable batteries.   But now that I have one and see how much regular upkeep it takes on activity and/or winding, I am resisting the temptation to get a Watch Winder and plug it into the "grid"


The other irony is that some watch-lovers devise ways of laying the automatic watch at a different orientation, such that if it runs fast on the wrist, it runs slower when laid a certain way overnight, and then it's a net-zero time-error piece.    I think I may have had mine that way by accident on the old valet, but the new valet might not be optimal.  Probably means I need to think about more important things....

Chris

[C. in Indy]

Actually it's a good idea to talk these things through sometimes...

Now I've really confirmed the automatic-watch trims back its error rates if it spends overnight on its side rather than oriented face-up.  The valet strategy must change!

Reminds me of the strange look I got from a girl 30 years ago, on a date, when I was correcting the car radio clock as I drove.  I guess I had that knack, for better or worse.

[C. in Indy]

I've made some decisions.   The watches will go back to lying on their sides rather than on a simulated 'wrist'.   And there will be 2 tiers.

This said, it's now more about the wood than the tools or joinery.  All this ash (and maybe some hickory in there?) was cutoffs from another cabinet I did lately.   The shelf-risers are basic walnut dowels, but I'm putting 3/16" brass rod 'keys' through them.

   

   


Happy woodworking,

Chris

[Bill_Houghton]

I'd be very interested in what other woodworkers do for humble jobs like the wallet valet?

You asked...I pile wallet, cell phone (as close as I get to a watch since I retired), and car keys on top of a box, about 8" x 10", that my great-aunt carved and stained; one of the scores from cleaning out the ancestral house in Seattle when I was 16.  Various use-them-sometimes things go inside the box.  The box lives at the back center of the dresser top.

[C. in Indy]

The 'gadget' is oiled up and on trial.... not bad!   I do see I could use more undercut on the 'coin chute' if I really want to duplicate the original valet's convenience.

I've got to hand it to Bandit for routinely working with Ash.  It takes a while to cut a plank on the miter-box!

   


Thanks for watching

Chris

[hbmcc]

You know, I think watches are a bygone fad. Only us old fogeys use them. Most of the youth (35 and younger) have cell phone clocks. I however, proudly wear my self-winder (Eco) and hide the flip-phone in the car, turned off. I am retired.

No valet. But, yours is nice, Chris. Like Bill, over the years I have adopted dead people curios boxes for cool things to live in. 

The watch is perched on stack(s) of books and magazines for prompt access in the wee hours. It does whatever charging it needs under the bedside lamp. The rest are scattered or hiding in jackets and pants. I have two keys, one car and one house. About every 5 or so years I lace a new 3-strap key lanyard from Nomex cord; the only artsy-fartsy I permit for "valet-like" purposes. And, as every multiple lenses addict knows, glasses are never lost, even when stinking hung-over--that's been years and years. Glasses straddle the latest pulp fiction, or my nose.