Help me assess a Fiver watch PCB design

[ppyxmw]

Hello guys,

I have paid and electronics engineer to help me design a watch idea I have. They have sent me a file as the first stage of the deliverable. But I am not sure how to assess it. Here is the summary of what the final product would do:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cYKVrKaTiYlv27EA4FMYHDopdRYeN1DNI3vMHOJrvIE/edit?usp=sharing

Here is what the first deliverable agreed is meant to be (just step one):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Q8vI-XPzFkW_RG7NqzGzUjrG3ljgJoVN4SitWx5UKQ/edit?usp=sharing

I have attached what the person who is doing the project has sent me as sent me as the deliverable for step one, and I would like to know what exactly this is and what it proves or has solved. Any help would be much appreciated. He says "Use altium designer to open it". He also sent me the image of the file on a computer, and said it is proof!!!?

Thank you,

Michael

[bd139]

DM if you are interested in a review. My rates are £950/day.

[robert.rozee]

hi Michael,
    i'm not sure if this is a 'smart watch' of some kind, or just a tally counter. nonetheless, the dollar amounts for each of the stages and the time allowed seems to be a fraction of what i would expect to see for a commercial product development.

might i suggest that you initially have someone develop the device just as an application that runs on a tablet or smart phone. given that the user-input is via just 3 buttons, this is something that would come closer to your budgetary constraints while demonstrating much of the functionality - that is counters that are incremented by the user, decremented by timers over days and weeks, and some limited text messages delivered on-screen. in essence, a variation of the 'tamagotchi' electronic toys that were popular some 20 years ago.

are you able to describe in more detail what you wish the finished device is to be used for? this may be helpful in suggesting the best way for you to move your project forward.


cheers,
rob   :-)

[nali]

I'm curious - what has your engineer done except change the pcb text from this github project?

[Dave]

The files you received are gerbers. You can use pretty much any gerber viewer to open those, it does not need to be Altium.

As for outsourcing work to Pakistan... well... you get what you pay for.
Out to curiosity, I once tried sourcing out some menial embedded programming tasks to fiverr, just to see what comes out of it. Tried contacting no less than 5 "engineers" and getting them to understand a simple problem was already proving difficult. Ended up scrapping the whole idea and doing the task myself, in considerably less time than the interactions with those guys took.

[ebastler]

Michael -- your "specifications" on that project are extremely loose, and yet your contractor has managed to give you something which has nothing to do with those specs. As pointed out by nali, he has just taken an existing design and put his name on it. He probably spent 10 minutes searching and two minutes editing.

I'd suggest you cut your losses and stop any further collaboration with that Fiverr contractor. Since your own experience in the field is apparently very limited, you will need someone much more qualified, who takes a much more active role in the project. Expect to increase your budget estimates by at least two orders of magnitude too.

[ppyxmw]

Hi Rob,

Thank you so much for your insightful message; it’s very much appreciated.

I’ve updated the watch document to simplify the design—removing the need for extra buttons or a touchscreen. Instead, the existing buttons will switch between two modes, keeping the functionality streamlined.

The concept for this watch is to be as basic as possible, intentionally not a smartwatch. I want it to embody simplicity. In fact, I came across an open-source watch called Watchy by SQFMI, which seems like it could be a good fit with just a bit of reprogramming for the buttons.

The watch’s purpose is to be a habit changer and tracker. Imagine wanting to encourage yourself to develop positive habits or reduce negative, impulsive ones. For example, one challenge I face is the urge to operate my phone while driving to change music on YouTube. Whenever I resist that impulse, I want to reward myself by pressing a button on the watch, marking that positive choice. I believe that having a simple, barrier-free accountability tracker that’s always a click away will help me build more control over my impulses.

Similarly, I could use the watch to motivate myself to avoid eating chocolates. Instead of getting a dopamine hit from sugar, I’d get it from rewarding myself with a point on my watch. The idea is to make self-improvement easy, practical, and woven into everyday actions—without the usual buzzwords and hype.

Thank you,

Mike

[ppyxmw]

Hi Nali,

wow, this is ridiculous! Thank you for this. I would have easily wasted hours with this guys who have already been about 2 weeks late. Thank you again

[ppyxmw]

Thank you for this. 100% let me terminate it.  I think they are just trying to take advantage.