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Tag Archives: Watches

TAG Heuer’s Mikrotimer Chronograph Concept Measures To 1/1000th Of A Second

By Andrew Liszewski on 09/27/11 • 1 Comment

TAG Heuer Mikrotimer Chronograph Concept (Image courtesy Hodinkee)
By Andrew Liszewski

As far as concept watches go, TAG Heuer’s new Mikrotimer doesn’t look like something from the distant future. Or even some crazy LED-enhanced lightstravaganza from the likes of TokyoFlash. It might even look a little boring to some of you, until you see it in action. The Mikrotimer is a chronograph designed to measure down to 1/1000th of a second. To do this, the watch’s caliber—or its internal movements—run at 500 rotations per second, or 500Hz. That equates to 3.6 million beats per hour, and as you can see in the video embedded below, when operating as a stopwatch the sweep hand is moving so fast you can barely see it in motion.

At this point the Mikrotimer isn’t quite ready to leave TAG’s R&D department just yet. But as Hodinkee points out, it’s important for any company to foster this kind of development and innovation in their field, to push their industry ahead. Also, for anyone who’s still a fan of analog watch technology, seeing it in action is pretty amazing.

[ Hodinkee - Exclusive Hands-On ] VIA [ TechCrunch ]

Click Watches Embrace ‘Retro-tronics’

By Andrew Liszewski on 09/21/11 • 2 Comments

Click Watches (Images courtesy Watchismo)
By Andrew Liszewski

The last time I had to fiddle around with a set of DIP switches was on a Star NX-1000C color dot matrix printer attached to my Commodore 64. I’ve no idea how and why I remember the printer’s full name, nor can I recall why I had to mess with those switches. But clearly that rudimentary ‘hacking’ I did as a kid stuck with me, because as soon as I saw these retro-riffic watches that Watchismo now carries, I knew I had to have one! Or possibly ten.

I’m obviously particularly fond of the DIP Switch model, which features a working set of small switches that were typically used to modify how a piece of retro electronics would function. But the Turn Switch model, which uses a rotating dial instead, also has its charms. Both use the switches to change what is displayed on the also retro-riffic LCD displays, including 12 and 24 hour modes, the date, the backlight, and even a stylish bar graph time indicator. You also have your choice of a stainless steel flex band, or the far more desirable faux ribbon cable option pictured above.

Click Watches (Images courtesy Watchismo)

Even the packaging is fantastic. Making the $169.99 price tag for the stainless steel strap, and $149.99 for the ribbon cable seem like the deal of this past century.

[ Watchismo - Click Watches ] VIA [ Boing Boing ]

Minimal Mutewatch

By Andrew Liszewski on 08/30/11 • Leave a comment!

Mutewatch (Images courtesy Mutewatch)
By Andrew Liszewski

If the thought of strapping a watch to your wrist that looks like it could be used to land a 747 doesn’t appeal to you, here’s an option from the other end of the spectrum. The Mutewatch is about as simple a design as you’re ever going to find, looking more like a charitable rubber wristband than a time piece. In fact it doesn’t even display the time until you ask it to, by simply tapping on the flat askew rectangle which serves as its display. The time will then illuminate, glowing through the watch’s rubber finish.

But that’s not all. The display also recognizes touch gestures like swiping, letting you scroll through the clock, alarm and timer modes. And setting an alarm is as easy as tapping the top of a number to increase it, or the bottom to decrease it. Cancelling or removing an alarm is even easier, requiring just a pinch gesture. Instead of an annoying beep, the Mutewatch also vibrates when an alarm goes off, and a built-in motion sensor can tell if you’re sleeping (not moving) increasing the intensity of the vibrations to wake you up. Of course a minimalistic design rarely comes with a minimalistic price, and the Mutewatch is no different, requiring $259 of your hard earned dollars.

[ Mutewatch ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

Ritmo Mundo Watch Is The Most Expensive Sliding Puzzle Game You’ll (N)Ever Buy

By Andrew Liszewski on 08/08/11 • Leave a comment!

Ritmo Mundo Sliding Puzzle Watch (Image courtesy Ritmo Mundo)
By Andrew Liszewski

I can understand paying thousands of dollars for a watch when it’s got loads of useful features, a classic design and even a well-respected name. But when the timepiece comes across as being a novelty more than anything? Originally I thought that Romain Jerome had this market more than cornered, but then I discovered this sliding puzzle watch from Ritmo Mundo. It’s basically the same type of sliding puzzle game you played with as a kid, except that it obfuscates the watch’s face, requiring you to slide the tiles around to reveal what time it is.

The puzzle does completely slide out of the way when you get too frustrated, but besides this clever gimmick, I’m not entirely sure what justifies its $3,500 price tag. And that’s the cheapest version of this model. There’s also a $20,000 version that looks like it incorporates a ring of diamonds around the frame.

[ Ritmo Mundo Sliding Puzzle Watch ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

Sprout Biodegradable Watches

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/19/11 • Leave a comment!

Sprout Biodegradable Watches (Image courtesy Sprout)
By Andrew Liszewski

If your fashion sense changes on a week-to-week basis, and you feel a little guilty about your ever-growing pile of passé clothing and accessories you no longer wear, these Sprout watches will make you feel a little better about your style habits. They come in a huge variety of styles and color combinations, and when you tire of your current design you can simply throw it away since the watches are 80-93% biodegradable. (Though perhaps giving it away to a friend is probably a better alternative.)

The watches are made from materials like bamboo, organic cotton, mineral crystal lenses, corn resin instead of plastic and even feature mercury-free batteries. And they’re not terribly expensive either. On the low-end you can expect to pay about $30, even for the styles pictured above. While their most expensive design tops out around $75.

[ Sprout Biodegradable Watches ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

HP’s New Blood Pressure Monitoring Watch

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/18/11 • 1 Comment

HP Blood Pressure Monitoring Watch (Image courtesy HP)
By Andrew Liszewski

HP Singapore, in collaboration with local telco SingTel, medical device maker HealthSTATS Int’l and Frontier Healthcare have just started an 8 week long, 100 patient trial of their new Mobile Health Monitoring Solution. Now you might be thinking that you’ve seen fitness watches like this before, but you haven’t. Most watches that monitor your heart are only keeping track of your pulse, letting you know if you’re truly getting an effective workout. But HP’s new monitor uses technology developed by HealthSTATS International that actually lets the watch measure blood pressure or CASP, central aortic systolic pressure.

This measuring technique is actually considered a far more accurate indicator of a patient’s cardiac health because it measures pressure in the aorta, but until now it’s required invasive surgery. HealthSTAT’s non-invasive BPro EVBP Technology instead measures something called the pulse wave from a patient’s radial artery at the point of their wrist, and using proprietary algorithms is able to produce results as accurate as the surgical method. Of course HP’s implementation of the technology goes one step further, allowing a patient’s stats to be remotely monitored via cellular data networks so they don’t have to continually visit hospitals or clinics to have their BP measured.

[ PR - Checking your health around the clock ] VIA [ MIT Technology Review ]

Tokyoflash’s New Kisai Kaidoku Word-Based Watch Requires Some Level Of Literacy

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/06/11 • Leave a comment!

Tokyoflash Kisai Kaidoku Watch (Image courtesy Tokyoflash)
By Andrew Liszewski

When I was 15 I was just as fascinated with digital watches as Tynan Mayhew probably is. Except that at that age most of my time was spent drooling over display cases, fascinated by Casio’s latest calculator wristpiece. While Tynan was sketching up his own designs and sending them off to the Tokyoflash Design Studio Blog. Who liked it so much they put it into production!

Now known as the Kisai Kaidoku, the watch features the numbers one to twelve as words, plus other characters like AM and PM, which flash in sequence letting you read the time. Already confused? You’re probably not alone, it’s a Tokyoflash design after all. So here’s a helpful video that walks you through using the watch and deciphering the time.

The Kisai Kaidoku also features a stainless steel case and buckle, a leather strap in a black or white finish and an electroluminescent backlight which glows blue, green or purple. If you order it in the next 35 hours (at the time of writing) it’s just $119. But after that you’ll have to cough up an extra $20 when it jumps to its regular price of $139.

[ Tokyoflash Kisai Kaidoku ] VIA [ Newlaunches ]

Tatooine Sand Watches Will Help Save the Lars Homestead

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/05/11 • Leave a comment!

Tatooine Sand Watches (Image courtesy Planet Tatooine Collectibles)
By Andrew Liszewski

So here’s the backstory. Since traveling to a far-off planet to location shoot the Tatooine scenes from the original Star Wars film would have been cost-prohibitive, the filmmakers built and shot the sets in Tunisia instead. Including the Lars’ family home, commonly known as the ‘igloo’. Unfortunately the conditions and temperatures in the Tunisian desert have slowly weathered those sets over time, to the point where they’re close to being completely destroyed. So a group of fans has planned an expedition to Tunisia to restore them to their original glory, but in order to do that they need money. And as Lucasfilm has proved time and time again, the best way to get money is with Star Wars merchandise.

Taking a page from the Romain Jerome design playbook, the restoration team has created a collectible watch that features actual sand from the Tatooine sets adorning the face. The numbers surrounding the watch face are printed in Aurebesh, the official language of the Star Wars universe, and each timepiece is made from solid 316L stainless steel, machined brass and Seiko mechanisms. According to their Kickstarter page the watch has a suggested retail price of $112, and you can get one with a donation of just $77. However, it looks like the project has already reached their $22,760 funding goal. So not only will the sets hopefully be preserved, but they’ll have a few extra credits to head into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters too.

[ Kickstarter - Planet Tatooine Collectibles ] VIA [ TheForce.Net ]

Romain Jerome Does Space Invaders

By Andrew Liszewski on 06/23/11 • 4 Comments

Romain Jerome Space Invaders (Image courtesy Romain Jerome)
By Andrew Liszewski

We’ve got a soft spot for the truly original designs of Romain Jerome’s luxury watches. In the past they’ve incorporated everything from moondust, spacesuit fibers, pieces of Apollo XI, dinosaur bones, coal and steel from the Titanic and even volcano ash into their designs. It kind of makes their latest timepiece seem downright boring, though ironically, far more enticing to any of us who appreciate old-school gaming.

Teaming up with the TAITO Corporation, Romain Jerome’s latest creation pays tribute to Space Invaders, with two unique designs that are limited to just 78 pieces each. As a tribute to the game being released waaaaay back in 1978. But as usual the watch’s appeal isn’t just limited to its pixelated tribute graphics.

Inheriting the highly distinctive case of the Moon Invader series (a round shape within a cambered 46 mm square, with a round front and an almost rectangular back), the SPACE INVADERS have also kept the same steel coalesced with fragments from the Apollo 11 capsule. It is no coincidence that this case is designed like a strongbox, or even like a space vessel capable of travelling great distances, since that kind of vehicle is exactly what is needed to facilitate the SPACE INVADERS colonisation of our daily lives.

The four functional ball-and-socket joints of this rounded squares are cut like the pivoting « feet » of the lunar landing modules of the American lunar missions. These extremely sophisticated components mounted on axles anchored in the case hold the lugs of the rubber straps and enable the watch to adjust to all kinds of wrist sizes.

Embodying another tangible token of the space age symbolised by this new SPACE INVADERS collection, a dedicated plate made of Moon SilverRJ– a silver alloy with an extremely low oxidisation rate incorporating moon rocks – appears on the stellar-patterned back of the watch. This engraved plate reproduces the lunar surface, of which the mineral particles interact on an infra-molecular level with the wearer of the watch.

Available in two versions, the full color model pictured above and a black and white version with the characters covered in Superluminova causing them to glow at night, the watches are expected to sell for between $10,000 to $15,000. Which is sadly pretty affordable when compared to previous Romain Jerome models.

[ PR - RJ-Romain Jerome: Space Invaders shake up the watchmaking world! ] VIA [ Highsnobiety ]

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