Slashdot Mirror
Interesting Wrist Watches?
brobak asks: "I've always been interested in interesting, wearable timepieces, and lately I've been wanting to start my own collection. They needn't be wiz-bang, high tech gizmo's, so much as interesting ways of displaying the time. What are some unique, or interesting time pieces that Slashdot readers own? Where should I start my collection?"
Ever since my watch battery ran out and I didnt get another, Ive found Im really good at knowing the time without one, clocks are everywhere so you can recalibrate when you enter a building etc, also when I used to work outside, I became very adept at knowing the time by the position of the sun, (the one thing that Daylight savings fucks up when the time changes, I bet farmers are pissed too).
Anyways, im not knocking your habit of collecting time telling devices, just saying you already have a fairly accurate one built in.
There is truth in humor.
When I get a job, I will be finding myself a nice old red LED watch. These old watches are the defacto standard for fine programmers everywhere. LED watch == fine programmer.
...
Nixies are neat http://www.cathodecorner.com/nixiewatch/
I also prefer analog or the old 70's LED watches. Funny now many people look at a LED watch and are just astounded.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
If you're going to wear a binary watch, make sure that you're able to read binary as if it were Base10. If a foxy chick asks you the time in a bar not being able to read your watch loses whatever geek points a binary watch might have afforded you.
http://twitter.com/onion2k
You still think digital wristwatches are a pretty neat idea? How primitive.
I have a neat watch from Mondaine (makers of Swiss Railways watches) that only has one hand, and little hashmarks that show the minutes in 5 min increments. It's very minimalist - after all, if you have a good enough eye, one hand is all you need - and it never fails to confuse people when they see it. (Someone has it on ebay.)
sulli
RTFJ.
First I'd take a look at getting at least one mechanical automatic in your collection. You can get brand new mechanical Seikos using their 7S26 movement (a real workhorse) off eBay for around $50. These usually have glass backs so you can see the movement and the hairspring ticking. Another option is a skeletonized automatic - Swiss versions of these are quite expensive, but recently there have been a lot of lower-cost mechanical automatics available.
Another good option is an ana-digi - i.e. a watch with hands over an LCD dial - the LCD dial can show the time digitally while the hands show it as analog.
It's sort of embarassing to say this, but if you have the ShopNBC channel on your lineup, you might want to look for their watch shows. The guy who runs them (Jim Skelton) is knowledgeable about watches, and they often have interesting watches available. If you're looking for "funky", watch out for shows with Android Watches. Often they will have inexpensive (relatively - note that in the watch world anything under $1000 is considered a "poor man's watch") skeletonized automatics ($100 - $500 depending on the complications and the quality of the decoration on the movement.)
Of course, if you want really funky and price is no object, take a look at either the Ulysse Nardin Freak or the Harry Winston Opus V.
Higuchi is a great place for Japanese watches, BTW. They ship to USA.
Yeah, but:
1. Do people who wear binary watches even go to bars?
2. Do foxy chicks ask people with binary watches what time it is? I mean, if you're wearing one of these things in a bar, you're probably also wearing a shirt off of ThinkGeek with some profound saying like "Got root?", a holster containing a graphing calculator, and maybe even this hat, things collectively known as The Foxy Chick Repellant Kit.
3. And even if all you have is the binary watch, and the chick is interested enough to ask what it is, how long will it take for her eyes to glaze over as you try to explain, at which point she walks away?
Of course, this all goes out the windows if she happens to be a geek chick, but if she is, she may already have her own binary watch, so she won't even have to ask you what time it is.
Not geeky, no gizmos or doodads, but Storm watches look the coolest (and are fairly cheap, too).
I have two Storms, one Diesel and a beautiful St. Moritz for scubadiving. Am always on the lookout for nicely designed watches.
The more important part there though is, if you meet a foxy chick in a bar, do NOT let her know that you have a binary watch.
Also, make sure the bloody thing doesn't actually *display* in base 10.
I was very disappointed when I opened my binary clock and found that each base-10 digit was represented in binary, so 35 would be 0011 0101, rather than 100011, as it should be.
Last post!
I'd send it back - obviously they sent you the EBCDIC model by mistake.
I have two. They're lighter than the Fossil branded variants.
http://www.abacuswatches.com/
Tiger Direct is selling them for $49.95 plus shipping right now, and all kinds of folks are selling them on eBay for around US$50 (with shipping).
Not bad for a very portable B&W PalmOS 4.1 device, IMO...
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
I have a binary watch, it took a couple of months to learn to read it quickly (you have to learn tricks like what various pairs of numbers add up to and then you add the pairs togethers, etc. Of course there are some combinations you just learn - half past is 011110, for example).
I'm at a top Uni, so the demographic may be a little atypical, but I find people are generally quite interested in it - they usually give up after a few seconds and just ask me what is says, of course.
I even worked in a pub at home over the holidays (old style English country pub, lots of old farmers, etc) and the regulars used to have great fun getting me to show it to everyone that came in. I think it was only about 50% taking the piss - the other 50% was genuine interest.
By far the most fun thing I've found about my watch is what happens when the battery is running low - it starts flashing random bits at you.