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Interesting Wrist Watches? 231

Posted by Cliff from the different-ways-to-tell-time dept.
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?"
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Interesting Wrist Watches? More

Interesting Wrist Watches?

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  • binary watches (Score:3, Informative)

    by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:13PM (#14756986)
    There's the selection of binary watches at ThinkGeek. [thinkgeek.com] I personally prefer simple classic analog timepieces, though.

    • Re:binary watches (Score:5, Funny)

      by SpacePunk ( 17960 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:21PM (#14757024) Homepage
      Nixies are neat http://www.cathodecorner.com/nixiewatch/ [cathodecorner.com]

      I also prefer analog or the old 70's LED watches. Funny now many people look at a LED watch and are just astounded.

      • Re:binary watches (Score:3, Informative)

        by ottothecow ( 600101 )
        I am suprised that noone has mentioned Skagen watches [datapipe.com] so far. I really like their mesh bands which are available in stainless steel, titanium, and black titanium.

        They are amazingly slim and the titanium is quite strong and scratch resistant. I own a black one and its a beatiful watch, quite comfortable to wear and the japanese movement is fairly accurate (obviously its not a several thousand dollar watch but...), and it has the date on it. The design is very modern and clean and they are very afforda

      • I'm at work but Amazon is safe for me - Here is the Fossil Palm OS watch [amazon.com]. I've been seriously debating this as a novelty. It bet it sucks the souls out of batteries and is difficult to synch.

        -B

    • Re:binary watches (Score:4, Funny)

      by onion2k ( 203094 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:21PM (#14757025) Homepage
      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.

      • Re:binary watches (Score:5, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19, 2006 @07:37PM (#14757571)
        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 [thinkgeek.com], 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.

        • Re:binary watches (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Tango42 ( 662363 ) on Monday February 20, 2006 @05:53AM (#14759950)
          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.

      • Re:binary watches (Score:5, Funny)

        by Feanturi ( 99866 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @07:50PM (#14757651)
        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.

      • Re:binary watches (Score:5, Interesting)

        by DahGhostfacedFiddlah ( 470393 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @08:00PM (#14757710)
        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.
    • Too subtle. Go for a unary [wikipedia.org] clock [rp-online.de] tower [manosmeisen.de] 750 feet tall.

  • Not to rip on you guys but (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hobotron ( 891379 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:20PM (#14757014)


    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.

  • LED watches (Score:4, Funny)

    by Odocoileus ( 802272 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:20PM (#14757015)
    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.

  • Obligatory Reference (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:22PM (#14757032)
    You still think digital wristwatches are a pretty neat idea? How primitive.

  • Mondaine Don't Rush watch (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sulli ( 195030 ) * on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:26PM (#14757076) Journal
    I have a neat watch [trends-presents.nl] from Mondaine [mondaine.com] (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. [ebay.com])

  • Some suggestions... (Score:5, Informative)

    by mmclure ( 26378 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:28PM (#14757084) Homepage
    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 [ulysse-nardin.com] or the Harry Winston Opus V [wristfashion.com].
  • My wife bought me a Tag a few years ago and I love it. I'm thinking of getting an Omega while I save for my Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona with meteorite dial. At $27k, that will take me a few years to save for! As you can tell, I'm into nice watches, not funky one. Probably not what you were looking for.

  • Japanese Domestic Market Watches (Score:5, Informative)

    by mr.henry ( 618818 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:35PM (#14757142) Journal
    As with everything else, Japan keeps the best watches for itself and ships the merely OK watches to the US. A Seiko in America is nothing special, but the "Grand Seiko" line in Japan is higher quality than Rolex/Omega/etc. I think the best bang for the buck in Japanese domestic market watches is the Seiko Alpinist -- $300 -- and includes auto calendar, GMT hand, titanium, and 5 year battery. They are "interesting" -- it is unlikely you will see anyone else with one.

    Higuchi [higuchi-inc.com] is a great place for Japanese watches, BTW. They ship to USA.

    • Re:Japanese Domestic Market Watches (Score:4, Insightful)

      by techno-vampire ( 666512 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:42PM (#14757191) Homepage
      I think the best bang for the buck in Japanese domestic market watches is the Seiko Alpinist -- $300 -- and includes auto calendar, GMT hand, titanium, and 5 year battery.

      Nice, but a $50 Timex or Boliva will tell the time just as well.

      • I'm wearing the same Seiko digital I got 12 years ago for a birthday pressie. I will only wear a watch with a countdown alarm timer alongside the usual alarm, stopwatch and so on. My previous watch was a combo analog/digital - with the countdown timer - and coincidentally I found it yesterday while tidying up a box of stuff. Whack in a battery and I'll have a spare ;-)

    • Re:Japanese Domestic Market Watches (Score:4, Informative)

      by Glonoinha ( 587375 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:59PM (#14757310) Journal
      The Alpinist is a sharp looking watch - I wear a stainless Rolex Submariner and love it (couldn't imagine wearing anything else) but it was a gift.
      Would I drop ~$3,500 on a watch for myself ... not so sure. I'd like to think so, but if the Alpinist is anywhere as nice as it looks online and is 1/10th the price - it would be a hard choice to make.

      That said, I recommend a Swiss automatic to the OP. If he can carry it well and afford it, a Sub will be a life-long companion wherever he goes because a. it will last forever, and b. at $3,500 he isn't likely to leave it somewhere it can get stolen or broken. I actually asked the shop-owner if I needed to baby mine when I got it, for fear of damaging it - he explained that the amount of force required to scratch the crystal was easily enough to blow my arm off. He was right - five years later and nary a scratch.
      • Ah another Rolex lover :) I'm so enamoured with my 1960s Rolex 'Oyster Perpetual' Explorer. It was a present too, but I can't imagine for a moment why I would want to dangle anything less from my wrist - it is after all the only jewellery I wear. 40 odd years old, still looks amazing, still keeps great time.
    • I'm pretty sure stuff like that Grand Seiko line is built as a prestige item rather than a commercial good. For whatever reasons, companies like to have an item to say "We make the most awesome stuff in the world." So they make this stuff and make only like 14 (overexaggeration), half of which go to the execs and the press secretary. Maybe 3 go out as prizes in a contest. What the companies want is for you to look at a magazine and think "oh, that's so awesome, i want one" and then go out and buy a nvidia 6
  • If you really want to geek out, you've got to get a Timex Datalink. [bodytronics.com] Not only does it have a neat set of functions, you set it by connecting it to your PC.

    I've heard that it was developed because Bill Gates mentioned to a Timex executive that he'd always wanted a watch he could set from his PC, so they came up with one. Mine is a few years old and reads barcodes off the screen; the newest ones hook up with USB. In either case, get one and geek out.

    • I used to have one of those. Did they ever update it to be able to work on the screen from NT? Last time I used one, it needed a serial port adapter for NT/2K/XP systems and even required a TSR to work on my Rage 128 in Windows 98....Timex tech support said the video card was "too fast".
      • I don't know. I too have one of those adapters, but only because it doesn't work with a laptop screen.
      • I got a software update for the oldest series of Datalink, which works for the 150 too, but it wouldn't download. I figured out my Celeron 433 with CRT was too fast for it, and ran a slowdown utility on the computer and found a setting that worked. The video card I had then was 8MB AGP.

        I haven't updated it since about 2000, but the battery, my second, is still good, but will need replacing this year I suspect.

        I think the screen reading is way cooler than a USB port. I wonder why they don't have IR or som
  • My favorite watch I can never remember the name of. I saw it on Beyond 2000 years and years ago (either that or one of the other old shows on the Disovery Channel, like Next Step). The watch is shaped like a domino with four pips on each half (a 4:4 domino). The pips raise and lower based on the time, the combination of which are up and down telling you the exact time (note: the minutes were in 5 minute increments). I managed to find it online about 5 years ago (it was somewhere in Europe, Denmark?) and eve
    • I too have an LCD, but I have a CRT handy if I ever want to update my Datalink watch. I should try, although failing wipes all of the memory, so I really want it to eventually work because many of my phone numbers I use from it when I'm away from home.

      I got a software update for the oldest series of Datalink a few years ago, which works for the 150 series too, but it wouldn't download information from my computer. I figured out my Celeron 433 with CRT was too fast for it, and ran a slowdown utility on the

  • Old hat (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Oldsmobile ( 930596 )
    Frankly, I think watches are kinda old hat.

    Cell phones have clocks on them, why would you want to carry two time pieces on you?
    • Because I can't yet strap my cellphone to my wrist?

      Not without looking like a complete plonker, anyway.

      • Whatever happened to that cellphone watch that transmitted the incoming through your wristbone? I saw that in Wired a few years back, and I've always wanted one.

  • Milieris (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gregbaker ( 22648 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:52PM (#14757270) Homepage
    I have a "Minstrel Copper" from Milieris' Watchcraft [windingway.com]. Very cool stuff in their catalogue.

  • Start Your Collection at number 007 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Quirk ( 36086 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:53PM (#14757280) Homepage Journal
    James Bond wore a Rolex Oyster Submariner [ukwatches.com]. In one of the Bond books 007 grips the handle of his razor between his middle fingers making a fist with the head of the razor outward, (an old stainless steel case and handle that took razor blades inserted under the top then screwed down onto the handle), he then wraps his prized Rolex Oyster Submariner around his fist and over the head of the razor. It's the only weapon available to him and he uses it to kill the man guarding him with a single blow.

    The Rolex Blackface Oyster is coveted worldwide.

  • TokyoFlash (Score:3, Informative)

    by X86Daddy ( 446356 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @06:57PM (#14757297) Journal
    I've bought several interesting / alternative watches from TokyoFlash [tokyoflash.com] My favorites have been the Equalizer, Pimp, and Twelve 5-9 B. When I was in China and Thailand, I bought some by brands called ODM and Thix, a few of which are carried / were carried by TokyoFlash as well. You'll see many of the same models on ebay too, although often around the same price.

    I did have to send back my Equalizer due to it being extremely dim, even with a new battery, and TokyoFlash turned it around pretty quick and paid me back for my shipping to them. As far as readability of those funky designs, I find the Twelve 5-9 to be the quickest / easiest, with the Equalizer a bit behind the Pimp.

  • Atomic clock sync (Score:3, Interesting)

    by blakestah ( 91866 ) <blakestah@gmail.com> on Sunday February 19, 2006 @07:06PM (#14757357) Homepage
    I really like atomic clock sync-age. It lets my watch agree with my NTP time on my computer. But it has a battery...

    Today, for $50-60 US, you can get an atomic clock sync'd watch which recharges with solar power. That will be my next watch, but probably after it cheapens a little....

    To me, watches are mainly functional. Nothing keeps better time than my watch, but lots of things cost more...

    • I remember an old saying that went:

      "A man with two watches doesn't know what time it is"

      My watch is a Casio MTG with a black metal band.

      Syncs to an atomic clock every night, solar cell keeps battery charged, simply rasing my arm and tilting my wrist to read it turns on the backlight for a few seconds.

      It's nice to know the accurate time. Isn't that what a watch is for?

  • I like my Atomic one... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ShyGuy91284 ( 701108 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @07:12PM (#14757396)
    Casio has (surprisingly) pretty good non-dorky looking atomic watches. I love mine.

  • The definitive site on funky japanese watches... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Glog ( 303500 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @07:12PM (#14757397)
    http://www.tokyoflash.com/ [tokyoflash.com]
  • http://www.tokyoflash.com [tokyoflash.com]

    Always has interesting stuff.
  • I have inherited a few pocket watches, one from each grandfather and one from my father. One grandfather left me his with art deco style digits and a seconds "wheel" hidden behind a window; unfortunately it was stamped-from-tin and doesn't really work well. The other grandfather left me a very nice "railroad watch" hearkening from the 1920s with a porcelain dial (although with only 11 jewels, it's not an "official" railroad watch which is supposed to have 17 jewels.) And my mother gave me my father's wat
  • A year or two ago on ThinkGeek I saw an awesome watch they had for about $400. It's not there anymore but I think this [thinktheearth.net] is it. It has a holographic image of the world floating under a bubble, and it turns (with day/night effects) to show the time.
  • I don't know if it ever made it to the market, but a wristwatch powered by temperature variations of the air [164.195.100.11] would be really cool. (Its inventor, Steven Phillips, died [professionaljeweler.com] in March, 2004, and I can no longer find his shop, the Budapest Watch Company of Guilford, Connecticut, on the web.)
  • Real men type 'date' in bash. The women move the mice to the lower right corner of the screen. Why do you need plastic wrapped around a limb?

  • Travel to Hong Kong. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @07:48PM (#14757632) Homepage
    If you're serious, travel to Hong Kong, Bangkok, or any other major Asian city with a lax view of copyrights.

    You'll be able to start a large collection of many different styles for not very much money. And on top of that you will have traveled around and have a story for all of your watches. The story really makes the watch.

    Other than that, try a
    Casio Waveceptor [casio.co.uk] (note, doesn't work in New England)
    Fossil PDA Watch [beiks.com]
    USB Watch [thinkgeek.com]
    YES watch [yeswatch.com]
    MP3 watch [ohgizmo.com]
    Sleep Tracker Watch [gearlive.com] (too bad it is so ugly)

    Tokyo Flash [tokyoflash.com]
    Nike Watches [nike.com] (always something interesting)

    Also, consider pocketwatches. They're rare enough that you get immediate oddball points for using one, but they're common enough that you can find interesting ones [russianlegacy.com].

    • I'm not sure if it's the same one thinkgeek used to carry (doesn't seem to be there now) but it looked very similar. I bought one, thought it was pretty cool for a while... then the USB connection went flaky. The watch had to be held in a certain position for it to connect properly. I got it replaced and it happened again. Now I just use a steel watch and a tiny usb key...
      -ReK

  • Storm of London (Score:4, Informative)

    by kafka47 ( 801886 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @07:48PM (#14757637) Homepage
    Nice topic! Watches are my only accessory.

    Not geeky, no gizmos or doodads, but Storm watches [stormwatches.com] look the coolest (and are fairly cheap, too).

    I have two Storms, one Diesel [watchesplanet.com] and a beautiful St. Moritz [st-moritz.com] for scubadiving. Am always on the lookout for nicely designed watches.

    /K

  • My Coolest Watches (Score:3, Interesting)

    by the eric conspiracy ( 20178 ) on Sunday February 19, 2006 @08:00PM (#14757711)

    Omega Speedmaster Pro - only watch worn on the moon
    HP-001 - only RPN calculator watch
    Nixie Watch - only watch based on vacuum tubes

  • I know everyone has their own needs or wants for a watch...

    For my tastes, I like Movado. Their styles are usually minimalist; the watch I chose for my wrist is this one: http://www.movado.com/selector/results.cfm?Collect ion=Classic%20Museum [movado.com]

    Of course, I just like minimal. I'm sure there are others here who may want a lot of other tools handy on their wrist. For me, I don't even want #'s on the face of my watch.. :)

  • Visible gears (Score:2, Informative)

    by Saberwind ( 50430 )
    If I were to wear an analog watch, I would definitely consider this one:

    Swatch analog watch with visible gears [swatch.com] (zoom in to see detail)

    There's something about watching moving parts that inspires the engineer in me.
  • I love my kinetic [seikousa.com] watch! Even though my old automatic was cool, the whole idea of a self winding quartz watch is even more cool and kicks solar ass. It even has a window on the back side where you can see the generator weight, gears, coils and capacitor, so you can show poeple how it works.

    The only thing I don't like about kinetics is that there are virtually no options. They're all analog display. Why is it that the Casio G-Shock [gshock.com] solar watches come in all sorts of flavours including a plethora of digital
  • Talus. [talusfurniture.com] Click the one on the right for a demo.
  • I play volleyball a lot. I've been looking for a thin but shock resistant watch to wear when I need to play but keep an eye on the time. (Strapping one to my ankle or someplace else isn't just inconvenient, it's.. well, really dorky.)

    Suggestions?
  • A little off topic, but still related.

    This xmas I was looking for a nice looking, sub-$500 watch and picked up the Citizen Calibre 2100 [amazon.com]. While searching for watches I stumbled across the ridiculously rich timepiece enthusiasts at thepurists.com [thepurists.com]. Don't bother looking for a watch you can buy there as most of the pieces they review are >$10000, but those same reviews are fascinating to read. I warn you though, after you see a flying tourbillon [thepurists.com] in action you will be unhappy with whatever you end up gettin
  • I collect cheap, tacky watches.

    My favorite watches are both wind-ups: A "Charlie the Tuna" watch my dad got me when I was 6 or 7 (i.e. circa 1970) and a "Ritz Cracker" watch that he owned for at least 20 years.

    I also own the following quartz watches:

    * an M&M Nascar watch
    * Mickey Mouse (of course)
    * Jerry Lewis
  • How about a nice Gyrotourbillon [timezone.com]? It'll only set you back oh, maybe a quarter of a million USD. That or something with a minute repeater. Anything else is pure junk.
    • How about a nice Gyrotourbillon [timezone.com]? It'll only set you back oh, maybe a quarter of a million USD. That or something with a minute repeater. Anything else is pure junk.

      And judging from the pictures on that page, they're hand-made by Richard Stallman!
  • I'm not much of a collector but being a driving enthusiast the watch I would hunt down would be the old Gruen Ristside Curvex. It's the only watch I know of that was ever designed to be worn with the watch face on the side of your wrist instead of the top.

    Link here: http://www.pixelp.com/gruen/1929.html [pixelp.com] (about halfway down the page)

    I'm not sure why this concept never caught on but I wish some designer would start making such watches again. Maybe it died when clocks started showing up on dashboards...bu
    • I'm not sure why this concept never caught on but I wish some designer would start making such watches again. Maybe it died when clocks started showing up on dashboards...but i still want one anyway!

      You can get Timex OVA and maybe Nike watches with a similar design. However, they are digital watches designed for runners and other athletes needing to time their workouts. They probably wouldn't work in a formal setting.

  • I bought myself a Movado Museum for my birthday several years ago, and I'm still very happy with it. It is one of the few watches that I think actually looks like art (it is also very thin, which is surprisingly comfortable). Museum Two-Tone [movado.com]

  • Digital kanji numeral watch (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Heian-794 ( 834234 ) on Monday February 20, 2006 @01:11AM (#14759137) Homepage

    Unfortunately I can't seem to find any pictures of it on the internet, but Fossil made a great watch which had Chinese/Japanese numerals for both the hours (printed on the face; not that hard to find) and the seconds (digital!). Sets you back about Y8500 in Japan. Mine has a deep blue face and always gets attention.

    The men's version is big and heavy, and the LCDs forming the numbers aren't the rectangular ones we're used to. Rather, they crafted the shapes of them so that the numerals look like they're written with a brush or pen. There are a couple of kludges -- the "1", which is normally a horizontal line through the center, reuses the bottom of the "3" so it's a single horizontal line at the base, and rather than use the perfectly-circular kanji zero, they used the 10 sign instead (looks like a big plus sign if you're unfamiliar with Chinese). So it counts '57, 58, 59, 60, 01, 02...'

    The problem is that when I wear it in the US, people inevitably say, "Oh, that's right; you live in Japan. Of course you'd have an all-Japanese watch."

    To which I have to reply, "No, this thing is special and rare and you can't find it just anywhere. This is the first-ever watch with digital kanji numerals. See? Look at... hey, wait, come back here!"

  • The only watch I'm interested in is the one which sets the time by itself by listening to GPS or Galileo signals.
  • I just bought from ex-USSR soldiers a Raketa 24 hour mechanical watch. Great conversation starter : almost anyone notices something weird about my watch after a few minutes of casual staring. It has a rotating bezel to dispplay the time in every world timezone, and the 24-hour rotating small hand is convenient to visualize the progress of the day.
  • Well, being typically german in that respect I guess, I took a long time finding a proper watch.
    I wanted the following: titanium body (doesn't scratch, ever), crystal glass (dito), very highly accurate, simple appearance, very quick to glance at, especially at night, waterproof.

    After many years I found a Junghans Spektral. Can't find it at the Junghans URL anymore, but somebody on eBay is selling one: http://cgi.ebay.de/JUNGHANS-Spektral-Titan-Herren- Funkuhr-030-2012-00-Neu_W0QQitemZ8904977010QQcateg oryZ7 [cgi.ebay.de]
  • I don't know if it's in the U.S. yet but yesterday for the first time, I saw in a Tokyo shop two G-shock watches that have TV/VCR remote controls with infrared transmitters. One was just channel up/down and volume up/down, the other also had standard vcr controls, I mean dedicated buttons on the watch. A big red transmitter at the top. So I guess if you frequent pubs with tv sets etc you can be annoying. Don't know if this has any use as an irda device. Must be programmable..
  • Check out "atomic watches" (which is what the marketing people call them to get people's attention). They're really just watches that sync to a "radio station" (WWVB near Fort Collins, Colorado) to keep precision down to the second. I have a Casio one that gets charged via solar power, has an automatic backlight (turns on when you rotate your wrist) and syncs to WWVB every night. It works around 80% of the time if I leave it on my night stand and. Casio makes a lot of different models.. a lot of them are pr
  • A few years back, I decided I wanted a "nice" watch...even though I'm surrounded by clocks, I still wanted something nice for my wrist. (it's about the only jewelry I wear, aside from my wedding ring).

    As I looked, I was astounded at what was out there in the watch world. Unfortunatly, it's difficult to get really good information on all watches (manufacturers' sites are full of flash, and any Google search generally turns up thousands of fly-by-night outfits). I quickly decided I wanted something elegant
  • I'm so tempted to get one of these:

    http://www.philosophersguild.com/index.lasso?page_ mode=Home&category=watch&swfname=watch [philosophersguild.com]

    particularly the Einsteinian relativity watch.

    B
  • As someone opined above, "...but a $50 Timex or Boliva will tell the time just as well."

    True. Which lead me to the desire to have a least one really accurate wristwatch. Came across the Casio Waveceptor [casio.com] line and got what I was after. Loads of different styles (both analog and digital) and it receives a time calibration radio signal from an atomic clock in Colorado which keeps the watch accurate. Price was right, too. About the same as those Timex or Boliva models mentioned above.

  • Many years ago I was given a 'greenpeace' watch. It had some clever gyroscopes in it, and it recharged itself using kinetic energy. It was awesome. Sadly I lost it and can't find another. If you really waved your arm quickly you could hear the spinny doodads recharging.
    Anyone know where you can get them?

  • Oris (Score:2)

    by snopes ( 27370 )
    Most of the recommendations on here are for modern, tacky stuff. Fun stuff, for certain. However, if you are looking to start a collection of traditional watches, you should look at Oris. They have a very good reputation for creating high-quality, affordable, automatic watches.
    http://www.oris.ch/ [www.oris.ch]

    One great source for heavy discounts on fine watches is Bernard Watch.
    http://www.bernardwatch.com/ [bernardwatch.com]

    If I were going to shop for a Rolex or, more likely, an Omega, this is where I'd go. Multi-thousand dollar discou

  • Nooka (Score:2, Informative)

    by Shashvat ( 676991 )
    I found Nooka watches (www.nooka.com) to be a perfect combination of cool (unique looks), geeky (linear time) and stylish (beautiful finishes and straps).

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