Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Watches for UberGeeks?

Posted by Cliff on from the more-advanced-than-dick-tracy's dept.

eyefish asks: "My trusty old watch recently gave up on me, and now I want to buy a new one. This time though I want something a bit more functional that my simple analog-digital watch. If you were to buy a new watch, and you are the geek type, which one would you buy? I'm interested in anything from watches with built-in GPS to built-in video or MP3 players and calculators. Or simply anything that looks really cool, or is really light, or syncs with my palm pilot. You get the drift." A watch that could sync via GPS? Never have the wrong time again! But seriously, what nifty new technologies have had the shrinking ray applied to them so that they fit nice and comfy on the wrist?

5 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Only one choice: the HP-01 by shoppa · · Score: 5, Interesting
    There's only one choice IMHO: The HP-01. It is, without a doubt, the ultimate geek watch, and has been for the past quarter- century.

    See this picture and this list of features.

  2. two by E+Zimmer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One my Breitling 1812 chronometer - The Jupiter Pilot. Breitling makes fantasticly beautiful watches. www.breitling.com
    also see: http://www.cns.com.jo/jaffar/jupiter.htm
    for all its cool ubergeek features.

    and my second the carbon watch from thinkgeek, it syncs to atomic time. http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/gadgets/5807.shtml
    in kevlar too ... nice

  3. Let the cubewars begin !!! by Tha_Zanthrax · · Score: 3, Interesting

    catapult watch !!

  4. Most advanced watches by michaelmalak · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The Casio scientific watch from 1986 is what I still wear -- it does trig, logs, parenthesis and metric conversions. Until about 1999, it was the most advanced watch made. I'll probably update to the IBM Linux WatchPad when it becomes available. As for current state-of-the-art, there is:
  5. unix philosophy watch by Roadmaster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I faced the same dilemma a few months ago, when my casio databank broke (the damn thing was chromed but made of plastic so it broke).

    I realised that most of the databank's functionality was already duplicated in my Palm V, and since the Palm is much more comfortable, I didn't use the watch for data keeping anymore.

    So I figured I'd get a "unix philosophy" watch. That is, a watch that does one thing, and does it well.

    Since what a watch does is tell time, I got a simple, analog, automatic watch (that's mechanical, not a single electronic component inside). This baby tells the time with acceptable accuracy (+15 seconds a day, which sounds pathetic, but I still need to have it adjusted), doesn't need to be wound (hence the "automatic"), and, unlike quartz watches, will withstand an EMP blast, will keep working on extremely cold weather, and will never need a battery. Additionally, this one is made of steel (i made sure of that after the fiasco with the casio) so chances of me breaking it are pretty slim. And hey, it only cost 100 bucks!

    Seriously, the thrill of having more functionality on your wrist than on your desktop computer will probably fade with age. *i'm getting old*