Slashdot Mirror
Top 10 Geek Watches
peanutbutter13 writes "Productdose lists their picks for best geek watches. From the article: "Considering the wealth of geek chic wristwear out there at the moment, we started thinking about the point where nerd-tech meets personal style...and we've compiled a list of our current wristwatch favorites, which we hope will help you channel your inner geek-gent."
You don't get geekier than a watch with a PDA built into it, with little games. Hook a USB cable to it, or get an older model that works with a CRT monitor by flashing barcodes at a little eye sensor to transfer phone numbers and important lists and birthdays. I've had my original series Datalink watch since 1997, and it's only on its second battery, and I use the alarm every morning.
Oh You POS
I refuse to believe the top watch for geeks has come until it sshes into a linux box which then uses ntp to get the time from the atomic clock, and then sends it back. The time would of course be displayed in binary : octal : hex, for hour, minutes, and seconds, respectively.
And, of course, it runs Linux.
DYWYPI?
And for those of us who can't access Coral (because of work restrictions), the story is also available here.
Yes, in Soviet Russia--by a company named Elektronika (the bezel is in Cyrillic)--where time kills you. And it keeps very good time.
I don't think that watches have to be new and digital to be geeky. Consider the Repeater Pocketwatch (Warning: pdf file), for example. The one described there is a 1920 Quarter repeater, but minute repeaters also exist. These watches chime the time when you press a button. Extremely fascinating and complex.
For those of us of a certain age, the Nixon Dictator Watch does not live up to the image conjured by the name. I was expecting something far more sinister; something even Dr. Evil wouldn't wear. [sigh]
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Who has time to look at their wrist, what with moving your face away from the monitor. This is what 'date' and 'cal' are for, or xclock, if you go for that kind of excess.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
I can't believe they left out the slide rule watch! (Yes, it exists) Maybe it's an age thing...
-Queen of the Kung-Fu fairies
IBM created a Linux watch *with* Bluetooth now...
_ e.htm/
http://www.research.ibm.com/trl/projects/ngm/wp10
It's amazing how quickly that site went down
I just put two and two together and realized my friend designed that logo. I know he's working on the site more too. Link
Is has to be an IWV Mark XV Pilot's watch. It must be the only watch with a version number.
Your link is broken.
Here is what you meant.
Sometimes I can be a little slow. I had the wrong link. This is the right one:
_ e.htm
http://www.research.ibm.com/trl/projects/ngm/wp10
The only one that looks good from TFA is the nixie tube watch.
Is TFA real geek or marketing?
I still like CASIO Databank calculator watches (currently wearing and using 150 model). I have been wearing these types since junior high/middle school days. :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
My wife gave me one of these back when they were new and about $500, maybe 5-6 years ago. Much geekier than the modern GPS watch in the article - it was a much bigger challenge fitting all of those parts into a wrist-sized package back then. It didn't have a lot of features, and wasn't blazingly fast, but it was high geek cred, and I was very happy about it.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Looking at the list, I can't help but notice they are mostly about features, and not about ergonomics.
Most of the features talked about don't really help you keep track of time better or use the 'watch' functions more easily. The only real advancement in watch design I've seen since illuminated faces is the watch(from Timex?) that used a simple rotating ring around the bezel to set the alarm. It would be nice if they made a watch that would let you use a control like that, or even an iPod-like touch scroll on the screen, to let you set the time, date, and alarm. It's a PITA setting those on regular digital watches because going too far by a few minutes adjusting them means having to cycle through a whole 12 or 24 hours to get to the time you want again.
It would also be nice if you could activate the light without the other hand, like by knocking it or shaking it a few times. A thinner strap, and a latch that's next to the watch so I don't have the latch digging into my veins when I lay my wrist down would be cool, too. Aside from that, the only "non-watch" feature I would really want in a watch is a LED light that could illuminate the surroundings like one of those keychain lights.
On the watches themselves:
The first one looks cool, but it says that it goes to a 'negative display' (light text on black) at night. I currently have a digital watch with negative display, and one of the reasons I want to get a new watch is that it's harder to read than a positive display watch, especially in dark conditions. The digits are huge, about a full centimeter tall, but it's harder to read than a positive display watch with half-cm digits. Maybe if the light part where actually white instead of grayish and more reflective it would help, but right now it's very hard to read without the light.
The ruler watch: Why?
HF LED watch: Looks cool, but don't try to use it while driving or cycling, you might get a bit distracted trying to figure it out.
Nixie watch: Good luck getting through airport security with that thing.
Dr Aki Ross's watch from Final Fantasy: The spirits within. I ordered one as soon as I heard about them. It doesn't come with the doctor or the holographic stuff, but it sure is a conversation piece.
"I just can't sit while people are saying nonsense in a meeting without saying it's nonsense" J Watson, Sci Am 288:(4)51
And yes I've seen all the prototypes and the computer renderings. It still doesn't mean I can go to a store and buy one off a shelf. Here is what I want this mythical bluetooth watch to do:
-When I have an incoming call it should: display the caller ID, light up the backlight on the watch, and maybe flash a little LED to get my attention. The watch needs one phone specific button to clear the alert and let the call ring out in silence then get sent to voice mail. That's all it needs. It would also be nice to have a button that answers the call on my bluetooth headset, but that's not really necessary. It should prevent the phone from ringing or even vibrating for a couple seconds so I have time to look at the caller ID and make a decision about the call.
-It needs to do something similar for a text message. Maybe just flash the LED a couple times and display something like "new message from Bob" with the backlight lit. If I can read the text message on the phone that would be cool, but not strictly necessary.
-I want a PDA or smartphone to be able to use the watch as a way to alert me of an impending meeting/appointment. The watch should have an open API to let other bluetooth devices talk to it and *be controlled by it* in at least a basic way.
-If I can look through my contact list on my phone through it and use it to place calls and have the audio routed to a bluetooth headset, that would be cool. If not I can live without that feature.
-Be something like a normal watch size. I will not wear something the size of a brick on my arm.
-Have a readable monochrome LCD display. The wathces that were meant for use with that spot / msndirect thing seemed to have this figured out. I don't really have a sense of how big the watches were, but they didn't seem too huge...
-Have a backlight that stays on for however long I hold the backlight button. This is not complex but I've had too many watches where the backlight would only stay on for a couple seconds at a time no matter whether you held the backlight button or not. It drove me nuts to be constantly jabbing that stupid backlight button.
It needs to *NOT* have the following:
-wifi
-a color screen
-a GSM/CDMA radio
-a fast processor
-It's own unique copy of my phone book / contacts / appointments that must be synchronized to other devices. It should not be editing these, just displaying them when they're relavent.
This shouldn't really be that expensive. Bluetooth headsets are down to the $25 range, so obviously the bluetooth hardware isn't that expensive. And digital watches are way under $20 so that can't be a huge issue. This kind of a feature set is the only reason I'd ever be tempted to buy a watch again, so the sooner the watch industry gets on this, the sooner it makes a potential sale.
^I'm with stupid.^
What about the GPS watches like the Garmin Foretrex?
It's not an age thing. It's only another lame attempt at geek chic. "Geek" carries no meaning anymore.
...you have to use the original/a. What is this world coming to?
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
I was just going to preview, I really was! Then.. then they came, and I had to fight for my life and.. and.. you know, submit buttons were involved and one thing led to another. Someone probably just happened to push it while tumbling around.
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
Um, now _this_ is a working link.
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
The DataLink comes in two models: one with a shiny metal band, and one with a black rubber band. The rubber model has tiny 0's and 1's all over.
Being geeks, my twin and I wondered if those bits spell a hidden message. Turns out, they do. Have you got it?
"Good news, everyone!"
He forgot This.
Slick. I want one.
Time Tags are pretty cool in that they just clip to your sleeve. Mind you, don't most geeks just use their mobile phones nowadays?
Alternatively, how about a "Fuzzy Watch". I always have my KDE clock set to fuzzy mode where it displays the time in words (e.g. "Quarter past eleven"). Can I get the same thing in a watch? I have seen some which display numbers as words (e.g. "Eleven Fifteen"), but I would prefer one which uses words like "past", "quarter" etc.
Personally I think my favorite watch would have to be just an ordinary Casio atomic watch, one of the ones with analog/digital/stopwatch/whatever. All that other geek stuff might be fun and amusing, but as far as actual function goes, the only thing I need is a device that keeps time, and doesn't need to be set.
;-)
(It's also rather nice-looking, despite the fact that I've drowned it once and superglued it twice... my stuff tends to get abused
My second favorite, for reasons still unknown, is one of those Shark Tale promotional things my friend got from a cereal box. I don't know why, I just like the thing.
Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
for the fem-geek. I'd prefer something as functional but a bit more streamlined and feminine looking. Who says tech-wear has to be big and bulky?
I want my WatchAll(tm).
I want my watch to available in both formal (metalic) and athletic (vinyl/plastic) versions. It will be waterproof. The entire display will be backlit-LCD (both auto-adjustable and manual brightness controls), so it can display both digital and analog time. It will have all of the standard digital watch features (stopwatch with laps, countdown, etc) for my workouts. It will also double as a cell phone (with a wireless headset or earplug). It will have an address book so I can dial any number by either voice or button. It will be a read-only mini PDA, so it can sound off on any calendar events that are sync'ed from my computer. I don't think I need it to sync to any mailboxes, but I should be able to receive text messages and email directly to it. I don't need GPS, but I'm sure my futuristic watch will have it. Since it stores 40GB of data, we'll throw MP3 playback onto it. I hate camera phones, so it doesn't need a camera (although I'm sure someone will mount a crappy lens onto it to take pictures anyway).
I tell my 11 year old son that someday this will be standard watch. I hope it happens before I'm too old to enjoy it.
About 10 years ago I bought a Casio watch with altimeter, barometer, temp sensor, and compass built in. It's bulky enough to impress the geeks and repulse the snobs. It's built like a tank - it's a little beat up and I've replaced the watch band twice, but it still works great. I used to use the altimeter as a backup when I was flying my airplane, and I sometimes use it to check elevation changes as I'm riding my bike.
And it keeps time.
No sig? Sigh...
I was just reading about this (hideously expensive prototype) watch, the Seiko Spring Drive.
It is a mechanical self-winding watch (an eccentric rotor winds the mainspring as you move about; nothing extraordinary per se), BUT it doesn't have the conventional mechanical escapement and balance wheel of a mechanical watch; instead, it has a tiny generator (a magnetic rotor and a set of stationary coils) that powers a chip with a quartz oscillator; the chip senses the speed of the rotor and varies the load on the coils to regulate the drag on the rotor and thus the rate of the watch.
The result is a batteryless, self-winding quartz-regulated analog mechanical watch. Very cool, and only costs about as much as a low-end SUV... I would not be at all surprised to see a future version with a radio receiver for time signals. In a decade or so, the technology may filter down to where ordinary mortals can afford such a watch. Or possibly not...
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
And no I'm not this coachgifts cat, it's just the only 24 hour analog self winding watch that's less than like $1500 that I could find period.
"If a quarter is two bits, then a dollar's a byte." -R Deric Miller
Dude, I so envy you. You deserve as much karma as a caramel cake.
I have the entire collection of reversible Star Wars watches from Burger King. And I wear them.
you're all figments of my deranged imagination
How's the usability (does it require a pen input like the regular PDAs?), weight compared to the Databank calculator watches, etc.? It looks interesting, but I don't need a full PDA (hence why I don't own one). Just something simple to record some schedules, some telephone #s, and a simple calculator.
I am also worried about its physcial size and weight. Would it be too heavy, annoying, and big for say a kid? My wrist and hand are small and thin due my physical disabilities. Casio Databank calculator watches fit me well.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Honestly that cathode watch looked cool. But in reality I have this great self winding analog watch which I do where as an accessory for an important client maybe, but I am constantly resetting the thing and it tears my nails to do so. You take your watch off to type, etc., and the main thing is that phones tell the time and you always have your phone, so then you have two clocks. My phone has 5 alarms and a perpetual calendar too. So what happens is, I leave my watch at home and whenever I put it on I know it's the wrong time. A couple times I've even hidden it because I didn't bother to set it and didn't want the other person to see it too closely and notice I'm wearing a watch that can't tell the time. So.. self-winding watches used to be cool but these days the best geek watch is going to be a linux or java equipped smartphone with Internet connectivity and show me one with a nice keyboard please. Analog nerd is cool too but if you are going to be a net nerd then count its storage capacity or bandwidth to see how cool it is maybe.
I wish I could find a true 24-hour analog watch (hour hand makes one complete rotation each day) that isn't some ridiculously priced Swiss aviator-grade timepiece.
Casio makes something similar to what you are asking for. It is called the Casio Wave Ceptor Tough Solar. It runs off solar power (batter backup for extended dark periods), the watch is available in black on white, or assorted other colors. It uses the Radio from Denver, CO to set itself. There are a few exceptions. The first is it does not automatically do timezone determination (I have had this before, believe me it is not a feature). The second is that it has buttons. While I have never used them it has advanced calendaring, the option of a digital time display, alarm, etc.. It not obtrusive though and very well designed. It also is relatively inexpensive. I think I payed about $100 for mine on sale.
I don't wear a watch you insensitive clods.
While I'm at it, "geek chic" is officially annoying. "Ooh, look at the 'geek cred' I get from wearing a vacuum tube watch! What? What time is it? Well, it'll take a couple of seconds for the tube to heat up, but then I can tell you the time!" What utter shit.
Here's a "geek watch"--it tells time, digitally; stopwatch; alarm; can communicate with your desktop over Bluetooth; has some kind of storage, also accessible via Bluetooth or via a standard USB connector; will sync alarms with iCal/schedule/PDA; can perhaps play a simple game such as Breakout or Othello. Extra-extra features: compass; altimeter; barometer. All of these in a watch would be huge, so select and choose a few. But don't give me some crap watch where it's arduous to tell what fucking time it is. How completely useless.
IMO, a "real geek" will have either a $5 digital watch (that keeps perfect time, and may even have a stopwatch and alarm), or a calculator/databank watch (so they can do bigger math than they can do in their head).
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
. . . is what I wear on my wrist: The Casio MRG-2100. Consider:
* All-titanium construction
* Solar-powered
* Receives radio time signals from both US and Japanese sources
* Waterproof to 200m
* Digital/analog face
It's a Japan-only model; I had to import it. It's worth it, though; looks great with a button-down shirt.
Even with my limited exposure to daylight (and light in general) it seems to keep running just fine. Supposedly can store enough of a charge to run for several months without light.
http://www.fsiwebs.com/shopcart3/SC_ProdView.asp?L inkID=wZa4wZ1gCl6AQTY3HJ1lalwfyCnX2BFs7WFzTWKFBCeo pjHJXVxaAgg1heCK8hVR
My girlfriend is a nurse, and will not wear a digital watch.
I found this out after buying her one when her old watch broke. It seems it's almost impossible to count a pulse and determine heart rate per minute with a digital watch.
With an analog watch, you merely watch the second hand travel around the face of the watch while counting the patients pulses.
Today's show is brought to you by the number 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0: 25
I'm very supprised not to see anyone lookng for a watch which keeps solar and lunar time. What geeks have the chance to connect to mother earth and feel what she says the time is. A nice example is from http://www.yeswatch.com/ anyone is welcome to buy me one :-).