Quasi-Logarithmic Kitchen Timer

My microwave timer increases in 5, 10, 30, 60, ... second steps when turning the knob, so basically very similar scheme to this. Works pretty well imho.

With rotary encoders you can also do velocity sensing which could allow convenient coarse/fine adjustment, but for kitchen timer that probably isn't that useful.

If you're not set on analog and want a countertop timer, just get one of these: https://www.thermoworks.com/products/extra-big-loud-timer (though probably on sale soon given the season). It's one of those products that just does exactly what it says on the tin: it's extra big (very easy to operate!) and extra loud (they do mean that one).

Though if you prefer a portable one you can stuff in your pocket they have that too, and it also does just what it says on the tin.

What about removing the "0" label (which is implicit anyways) and having a label at 10sec instead. That would preserve the pattern that the last label is self-documenting as the increment interval.

Kinda clever, not sure I understand why you want 25% of the dial dedicated to 0-60 seconds. In cooking nothing is really that precise to justify that

Why not the standard 1,2,5,10?

Why is the wakeup feature needed?

This is, on the one hand, a very cool design, but on the other a sad indictment of more-buttons-is-better design in Western appliances. Go to Japan and most microwaves have two dials, one for power, one for time. 99.9% of the time you can get what you want with a twist of the time dial and be halfway through cooking/heating your food while the person with the keypad microwave is still trying to figure out which of the pre-Sumerian glyphs in dark grey on black keys against a black background is the one they need to press.

Like the author, I've also found there are no great kitchen timers. I've had some ovens in the past that do an OK job, but my current one is terrible. I've been using a clockwork one for the past few years, but it does have the noted shortcoming of only ringing once.

The quasi-logarithmic idea is a good one. I would buy a simple one that just has a dial. No button required. But I agree with the other commenter that the 0-60 part would be quite useless for a kitchen timer. Better to have more resolution in the commonly used 0-30 minute range.

love the clicks and sounds in the demo