Clickspring

Clickspring is made by Chris Budiselic, a machinist and clockmaker. The channel is about the craft of clock and watchmaking. His best-known project is a recreation of the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek device that modelled the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets. He has built it using only tools and methods the original makers could have had, and his measurements have contributed to published research on the mechanism.

The videos are calm, close-up and carefully edited, with little talking and a lot of detail. They show metal being cut, filed, turned and finished, often on a lathe or by hand. Recent series include making a hand vice from scratch and cutting a traditional guilloche pattern into a silver dial.

Some highlights include:

Chris makes a hand-powered drill of the kind that could have been used to build the Antikythera mechanism.

A look at how metal files can be made by hand, cutting each tooth one at a time.

The process of making a square broach, a tool used to cut square holes in metal.

The channel has around 693,000 subscribers.

Clickspring shows what precision engineering looks like at its most careful. Gears, tolerances, materials and tooling all feature in every video. It is a strong fit for anyone drawn to mechanical engineering, manufacturing, toolmaking or horology. It also shows that engineering has a long history, and that ancient engineers solved hard problems with very simple tools.