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Watches for UberGeeks? 112

Posted by Cliff 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?
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Watches for UberGeeks? More

Watches for UberGeeks?

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  • A watch that is the mark of a true geek should have an anti-static grounding point on the band, so that you don't waste any time hunting for an anti-static wristband when the urge to start taking apart your computers strikes...

    Anything else (calculator, GPS, biorhythm display) is just gravy...
    • reminds me of a sig I saw round here :

      "beware of programmers who carry screwdrivers"
      • At my second-to-last job, it was the first time I had ever worked somewhere that didn't make hardware and software (they just made software).

        I realized while getting stuff ready to bring in on my first day (dictionary, real keyboard and trackball, etc.) that I did not need my trusty computer toolkit, as the only person who would be playing with hardware there would be the IT guy. I was pretty dissapointed (I have really refined my computer toolkit over the years to include everything I could possibly need while tearing apart some box, while still being small enough to fit in my back pocket (can't sit down, though)).

        • as the only person who would be playing with hardware there would be the IT guy. I was pretty dissapointed

          really, oh I could feel the relief the day I could phone the IT dept. and just say:

          "My PC isn't working."

          and they come out, replace my workstation with another one and I carry on working.

          Only happened once while I was there (hd failure) but it was certainly appreciated.

    • True geeks don't care about static.

  • Binary watch (Score:3, Informative)

    by smoon ( 16873 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @07:44AM (#3025795) Homepage
    I just recently got The Matrix Binary Watch [rsi-digital.com], a great combination of different and inexpensive. This has been mentioned here before here [slashdot.org] and here [slashdot.org].

    The ordering process is now pretty normal. The watch itself is a bit chunky, and appears to be well made. The included band is leather, but not quite big enough for me (not unusual). The watch band is a less common size (19mm) so it took several different stores/malls, but eventually I found an extra long band.
    • Why would I want a watch were it actually took me a second or two to read the watch?

      ..Yes I'd get quicker at it, but do I really want a watch with a base 2 output to deal with a base 12 [kinda] time system that I associate with decimal numbers?

      Do I really want to have to explain what me watch is to attractive girls at parties?

      • Re:Binary watch (Score:3, Funny)

        by leifw ( 98495 )
        Why would I want a watch were it actually took me a second or two to read the watch?

        ..Yes I'd get quicker at it, but do I really want a watch with a base 2 output to deal with a base 12 [kinda] time system that I associate with decimal numbers?

        Do I really want to have to explain what me watch is to attractive girls at parties?

        I'm sorry, sir, but this discussion was clearly entitled "watches for UberGeeks". If you're having to ask about what women would think of this device or are even remotely positing that reading binary digits takes more effort than decimal, clearly you're not an "UberGeek".

        And, anyway, everyone (or at least every UberGeek I know) knows that time is base 60 [mathforum.org] because it is based (haha, oh, sorry, just a little UberGeek humor) on the Babylonian system.

        • You really find binary as easy to read as decimal??

          That's 10 much 100 me to believe.

          Anyway time may be based on the babylonian system, but is not consistant in any base, mins and seconds in 60, hours in 12 / 24 and after that.....

      • I am trying to use my Matrix Binary Watch to learn to think in binary. It's not easy, but I am definitely getting faster at it.

        Stu.
    • I'm more curious about the other watch linked from that page...

      "In a few days we will present a complete new type of watch. This watch will communicate with other similar watches and send virus to each other."

      Just what we need, a watch virus.

  • Storm? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Noodlenose ( 537591 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @07:49AM (#3025819) Homepage Journal
    I always found Storm Watches [storm-watches.com] quite attractive in a geeky sort of way.

    Dirk

    • Also Fossil (Score:3, Informative)

      by zpengo ( 99887 )
      Also, Fossil used to make a replica of the original LED watch. Looked terrible, with those blocky red calculator numbers. I loved it. I wonder if they still make it. Anyone have a link?
    • Bleah, Storm are for fashion-whores... Storm are like the kids who try too hard to be hip/cool, and end up making an ass of themself. :)

  • YesWatch (Score:4, Informative)

    by espee ( 64799 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @08:23AM (#3025885)
    I am thinking of buying a yeswatch myself - see www.yeswatch.com
    It features a single hand plate (hand does one round in 24 hours); shows you day/night time where ever you are on this planet; moon phase and some more.
  • try this watch/cell phone combo here [cuttingtheedge.com]

  • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I was brought up on a digital clock (real old (atleast 30 years) but it did 24 hours military time).
      I've always been more comfortable with a digital clock. It takes more time to understand where I am in the day on an analogue clock face.
      So digital is easier for me.

      There are smaller digital watches these days (tissot had nice ones with both faces, and I always looked at the digital part).

      it fits in with unix being digital :-) .

      It all depends on personal preference and what you're used to

    • Just get something plain and simple.. If your going to carry something palm like around with you why duplicate function on your watch?

      I would suggest one thing though.. if you're in the UK get a wrist watch that syncs to the rugby time signal (I couldn't find a link), that way you know that your watch is right all the time - which to me is the most important thing, after all thats what a watch is for.

      For the US it would appear that Junghans [first-web-store.com] do something which sets the time automatically, and their watches [righttime.com] look pretty nice too :) (although expensive)

    • I agree - my wife and I bought each other the Seiko Kinetics for our wedding, and they are great! The titanium one I got is light, and looks really cool, plus they wind themselves with a pendulum inside as you walk, move, type, etc. Definitely has geek appeal there!!

      • I agree. I didn't get a Seiko, but I did get this [crescentclock.com] watch. I like not having to buy batteries or remember to wind it up. I've had a few people comment that it was a cool watch because one can watch the gears and pendulum move.

        • That's a pretty nice watch. I really like the looks of it.

          The thing I've liked about my Seiko Kinetic is that it's electrical and not mechnical. The pendulum turns a generator which charges a capacitor that can hold a charge for over a week without being worn. There are a lot of the mechnical watches that have problems with over-winding but there are some out there that don't have the problem.

          • I haven't had any problems with it over-winding, but it will wind down and stop if it hasn't been worn for a couple days. That's fine with me as long as it runs and keeps accurate time after I take it off before going to bed. Since I can see the spring, I know if I need to do some extra fidgeting during the course of the day.


      • ...my wife and I bought each other the Seiko Kinetics for our wedding, and they are great! The titanium one I got is light, and looks really cool, plus they wind themselves with a pendulum inside as you walk, move, type, etc. Definitely has geek appeal there!!

        I agree, the Seiko Kinetic watches are a nice concept, though I wish they weren't so *thick*, as the current fashion is for bulky, ironman, scuba diver watches with enough hardware on them to run a vacuum chamber.

        These THICK watches are always catching onto things - you'd think they had built-in grappling hooks and caribiners for climbing sheer walls.

        A few years back my ultra-thin Casio LCD watch gave out and I'm making due with a grocery store cheapie until I can find a suitable replacement that provides great functionality in a case that is less than 2 mm thick.

        • 2mm? Not sure if you meant 2cm (as a rightful exaggeration), but I've never seen anything (except for those trendy credit-card clocks you can get with a mag subscription) that's so thin - espescially in a watch...
          Regarding the thickness of the Seiko Kinetic, the titanium model (no model number on the case, just "Kinetic Titanium") is a bit less than 1cm thick, so it's not obtrusive at all...

          • Well, 2 mm may be hard to find these days.

            But evidently in the 1940's the Swiss were trying to make very thin watches with mechanical movements, such as the Audemars Piguet, coming in with a movement that was 1.64 mm thick.

            IIRC, the Casio I had was probably about 3-4 mm thick.

            The watch I wear now doesn't advertise thinness as a virtue and it is probably almost 1 cm thick.

        • I've got the Skagen 233LSS [skagen.com] and it's about the thinnest I've ever seen. It's well under 2mm at the edge, although it does bulge a bit in the center to accommodate the works. Strapped against your wrist, however, it appears to be only slightly thicker than a US quarter.

          It's also the least "cluttered" watch I've ever owned. No numbers, date, backlight, etc. Just elegant Danish design and Japanese innards.
    • I'd sugest you have a look at the Citizen Eco-Drive watch. I've got the very simple looking titanium diver's version (AP0600-01E) [web-watches.com.au]. which looks like a British Army watch of old. It runs forever as long as it gets a bit of sun and you're not deeper than 200m underwater. The whole face is a solar panel and the watch is completely sealed - the back is flat with no opening at all - containing a Li-ion battery, I believe. Mine's 2 years old and it's reisted every attempt to dent or scratch it. It's geeky, but subtle geeky.
    • I too appreciate a simple, well designed timepiece. For me though plain analogue was not quite enough. Since my old analogue was lost (in about 40 feet of water, Grrr...) I've been very happy with the combo watch I picked up. I really like the analogue face that can give me the time at a glance but with the digital display for the day, date, and alarm. So from my experience, the Timex Expedition Camper [timex.com] comes highly recommended.

      Regards

  • http://www.suunto.com/

    I personally have the model with temperature, altimeter, compass, and barometric pressure. It also has the more mundane functions such as time, alarm, stop watch, etc.
  • Not yet for sale, but geeky enough for me... [linuxdevices.com] but includes:
    1. CPU: High speed, low power 32 bit MPU (18-74 MHz)
    2. Input devices: Touch panel, a winding crown switch, button
    3. Display: 320 x 240 dots, monochrome liquid crystal display
    4. Memory: 8MB low power DRAM, 16MB flash
    5. Interfaces: Bluetooth wireless technology (v1.1, voice-enabled), IrDA (V1.2), RS232C (via a cradle)
    6. Others: Speaker, microphone, vibrator, fingerprint sensor, accelerator sensor

    • Yea, but you have to type 'date' each time you want the time...

      *rimshot*

      (old joke shamelessly stolen from the article in that IEEE magazine that did a story on the Linux watch that runs X)

    • "Hey, what time is it? I know! I'll just look at this HUGE FUCKING BRICK ON MY ARM!" *chix0r swoons at ultra-phat geekiness of Brickwatch-Man*

      Seriously, that watch is way too damned big.

      - A.P.

  • Right tool for the Right Job (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Patman ( 32745 ) <pmgeahan-slashdot AT thepatcave DOT org> on Monday February 18, 2002 @09:42AM (#3026090) Homepage
    Timex Ironman. Heavy-duty. It's cheap(~40USD). It's tough. It's waterproof. It tells time, has a timer, and the backlite rules.
    If you want an MP3 player, buy one. Get the right tool for the right job.
    • Timex Ironman. Heavy-duty. It's cheap(~40USD). It's tough. It's waterproof. It tells time, has a timer, and the backlite rules.

      I prefer the Suuntos. A bit more expensive, but mine has a heart rate monitor, a compass and a barometer. I use all these, training in the gym or outdoors. But the altimeter's not much use, you have to keep recalibrating it as air pressure changes. Plus it obviously tells the time, has a stopwatch, backlight, is waterproof, etc.
    • Ditto. And I'd like to express my support for the Timex Atlantis (pretty much an Ironman with a different shape). No idea if they're still made. Mine's been working flawlessly for 8 years, aside from 2 battery replacements and 4 strap replacements. The things's indestructible. :)
    • I used to love my Ironman too. Then the watch broke where the band meets the watch. The plastic on the watch broke, meaning no fixing :( I've still got in a box somewhere in the garage and it still shows the correct time after 4 years in said box.
      • I agree with you there. My watch band has broken twice, the plastic on the watch itself has long since been broken off, and the backlight stopped working after about 6 months. It's also started running fast (I've had it for around 4 years).

        -Lee
      • That is why I like the Explorer seris from Timex. It has an analog with just enough digtal features to be *really* cool and the band is made from cloth with a velcro backing. I've had fewer problems with the band than with any other watch I've ever had.
    • Both my current Ironman Triathlon and the passed one (almost same model but the new one has flix) lost a button!

      (average time before button loss: 2 year :)

  • Hmmm...let me think... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Hard_Code ( 49548 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @09:50AM (#3026125)
    "If you were to buy a new watch, and you are the geek type, which one would you buy?"

    I'd buy a decent $20 watch, and donate the other $100-200 to some worthy charity. If donating to mundane run of the mill "feed-the-starving-cure-the-sick" charities is too pedestrian for you, you could always donate to the EFF.

    The conspicuous consumption of the geek crowd is amazing.
    • Here goes my karma, but what the hell...

      I'd buy a decent $20 watch, and donate the other $100-200 to some worthy charity. If donating to mundane run of the mill "feed-the-starving-cure-the-sick" charities is too pedestrian for you, you could always donate to the EFF.

      How come every story someone comes out and get's modded up for saying don't spend that money, donate it to charity... If they are so big on donating to charity I must be assuming they are typing it on a 486 over 24.4 modem since that is the minimum they would need to surf the net and the rest could be donated to charity..(anyone else doupt this too).. I love the work the EFF and other charities do, and I do give to them.... but I work my butt off so I can also have some nice things in life... If this guy wants to buy a watch with his money then good for him. If you want to give yours to charity good for you, but don't go around pushing what you want to do on everyone else.

      The conspicuous consumption of the geek crowd is amazing.

      Yeah, Its called feeding the economy!!!

  • Junghans Atomic Solar watches (Score:4, Informative)

    by zsazsa ( 141679 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:06AM (#3026187) Homepage
    Personally, I find bulky watches with millions of features and complex digital displays cumbersome and outright dorky. Yes, we are nerds here, but we can have a LITTLE style, right?

    The perfect watch, as far as I'm concerned, is the Junghans Atomic Solar line. The styling speaks for itself, and technically they're a marvel. Since they're solar powered and sync to the NIST WWVB radio station [nist.gov], all you have to do set your time zone once - and never do anything ever again. No batteries to change, no daylight saving to worry about, no time drifting ever. Junghans, being a German company, also makes watches that can sync to European time standard stations.

    Check 'em out here [fsiwebs.com] and here [radiocontrolledclock.com]. Unfortunately, at just under $1000, they certainly aren't for everyone. .

    I certainly can't afford one (yet), so I have to be content with my trusty Timex for now. :)

    Ian
    • One of the links you provide is to radiocontrolledclock.com. They actually cater to all price ranges. However, caveat emptor. You can certainly find an "atomic" clock on this site in your price range. But no guarantee that it will actually work!

    • Yea, but if geeks spend so little time in sunlight, how will they tell time?

  • Casio Pro-Trek line... (Score:3, Informative)

    by jonr ( 1130 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:32AM (#3026300) Homepage Journal
    Makes people think you are rough outdoorishy type :)
    And they look cool (Execpt that GPS type, looks like a piece of dung on your wrist). Mine [megatime.de] is the first watch I am really happy with. Analog, with clever in-glass LCD.
    • Yep. I had one of the older Casio watches (G-Shock) and finally decided to get a new one. My fiancee got the Casio Protrek for me for my birthday. It has a barometer, thermometer, altimeter. Pretty nice, and actually smaller than my old GShock. Analog and digital. About $200.
      Here is a pic of it: http://www.casio-watch.co.uk/casio-pro-trek-watche s.html
      Near the bottom, on the right, model PRT-70
      Mine is slightly different than this one, but you get the idea.

  • This is something I've had my eye on... (Score:3, Informative)

    by AtariDatacenter ( 31657 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:39AM (#3026328)
    It is a watch from Timex [skytel.com] that receives pages (and Yahoo! instant messages). Works via skytel. My main problem is that I hate carrying around my pager, and I don't necessarily have it with me when it goes off. If I had a pager that was a wrist-watch, it would have that problem.

  • Only one choice: the HP-01 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by shoppa ( 464619 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @10:42AM (#3026353)
    There's only one choice IMHO: The HP-01 [hpmuseum.org]. It is, without a doubt, the ultimate geek watch, and has been for the past quarter- century.

    See this picture [hpmuseum.org] and this list of features. [hpmuseum.org]

    • Somebody modded my comment to "funny". I'm dead serious - I've wanted an HP-01 for the past 25 years, ever since I saw it in an issue of Radio-Electronics. It has truly serious cool-geekiness factor among anyone in my age group!

      In the early 90's I saw one at a flea-market for $400, and ever since I've regretted not buying it. (Never mind that I was a starving grad student.)

    • Now I'd be all over this if it were RPN. Granted, an algebraic system is probly more convenient on a watch. But, I'm much too accustomed to using RPN. Using any algebraic calculator takes me too much time.
    • when I read this, I thought, wow, HP used to be Apple. I mean, all that stuff about the band not showing seams, with a quick release, and the battery replacement pack comes in something that is the tool to open the watch! (if i understood correctly)

      But then, isn't that where Woz was working when he came up with the Apple 1? If they hadn't turned him down, they would probably still be making apple ]['s :).

      Anway, a bunch of random half-remembered stuff for you to pick apart. Thanks for the link, that is a seriously cool watch.
  • The best geek watch, in my opinion, is the Hamilton Ventura - sported by two of the masters of Science Fiction, Rod Serling and JMS.

    I know I'd go nuts if I got one.

  • I add my vote to a plain analogue watch. Not geeky, but elegant. My Citizen Eco-Drive is solar powered and made of titanium; that does for me.

    But, if you must have geeky, ThinkGeek has lots of intersting watches. http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/gadgets/watches.sht ml
    The alien one is nifty.
    The one with a built in laser is scary.
    The 24hr one will prevent other people reading your watch over your shoulder.
    The Junghans ones that listen for the Atomic Clock radio signals so they set themselves to the correct time every night is superb engineering.

    • I add my vote to a plain analogue watch. Not geeky, but elegant. My Citizen Eco-Drive is solar powered and made of titanium; that does for me.
      A good suggestion, and one I wish I had heard before I wasted $50 on a Timex Expedition. I figured I'd get something simple -- my Palm Vx meets my data and alarm needs. The Timex has a simple calendar and florescent hands. What more do I need?

      How about hands that glow brightly enough to actually be useful, and a calendar that's perpetual, and also visible from some angle besides 19 degrees to the right. Oh well.

      But wait! The Eco-Drive starts at over $200. Isn't that expensive?

      No, it's not. Consider the cost of buying a new battery every couple years. Yeah, the battery itself is just a few buck. But unless you have the tools and the touch, there's also the hassle of finding somebody to change the battery for you, plus the risk that doing so will damage the watch. (Actually, it always destroys the water-resistence of the watch, unless you go to a special jeweler who will charge more than the watch is worth.) A lot of hassle. I suspect most people just buy a new watch when their battery dies.

      But if the Eco-Drive lasts you ten years, you more or less break even, and save yourself some hassle.

      Also, if you're a tree-hugger -- or just think toxic metals in the groundwater is uncool -- you should consider what happens to all those used batteries.

    • I have enough digital stuff, for various reasons, some not easily put into words, I prefer an analog watch.

      I second the recommendation for a mid-price ($200-$400) titanium-cased watch with a kinetic, solar, or other self-powered mechanism.

      I want a good-looking watch that would hold up to abuse, not too heavy, and nothing as flashy and expensive as a Rolex or Omega. I considered both Seiko and Citizen, they each produce quality watches in titanium, with a variety of features and appearances.

      My only regret is not upgrading to a model with the 'automatic calendar' feature, that automatically sets the day-of-month correctly.

      • My only regret is that it isn't tritium, so I need to turn a light on if I wake up at 3am.

        But other than that I love it. It's so much lighter than a steel watch (hate plastic).

        It doesn't have many features - a bezel for timing things and a non-automatic calendar - but I have a Palm on my belt for anything fancy.

  • two (Score:2, Interesting)

    by E Zimmer ( 221646 )
    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

  • Eh.. (Score:3, Informative)

    by technos ( 73414 ) on Monday February 18, 2002 @11:55AM (#3026675) Homepage Journal
    Go get yourself a hunter case Waltham, Hamilton, or similar. You can generally get a pretty pristine early 20th century gold filled pocket watch and a decent pocket chain for under a couple hundred bucks..

    Myself, if I were just starting in them, I'd get what they called $10 watches; A sturdy, plain watch they mass produced for the common fellow..
    I started instead with a expensive open-face in solid gold, and I cursed myself everythime I cracked a $120 crystal.

  • Casio PC Unite (Score:3, Informative)

    by Tet ( 2721 ) <slashdot AT astradyne DOT co DOT uk> on Monday February 18, 2002 @12:48PM (#3026986) Homepage Journal
    I've got a Casio PC Unite HBX 100 [sentimentalgift.com]. It's essentially a data bank with an IrDA port to allow syncing with your PC. It's a little on the chunky side, but still within acceptable limits for me, which most of the geeky watches aren't.
  • If I were going to invest hundreds of dollars on a new watch, I'd seriously consider an automatic watch. Who needs electronic features? How about a watch that could arguably survive a nuclear war, provided it was protected from the heat?

    An automatic watch is perfect for the uber-geek/ultra-paranoid slashdotter. How about when the next huge terrorist attack happens to be a large EMP bomb? That electronic watch is now useless. At least you'd be one of the few who still knew what time it was.

  • My personal favorite is a simple analog watch that goes the wrong way 'round. It's Lorus Goofy watch. [laughingplace.com]; Goofy's in the center, surrounded by the numbers laid out counterclockwise. My favorite trick: When somebody at a bar asks me the time I just hold my wrist up to them. They look at it for a while and conclude that it's time to go home.

  • $$$ (Score:2, Insightful)

    by loydcc ( 325726 )
    If you can afford them I've always thought Breitling watches were the ultimate in geek appeal. I mean Astronauts wore them to the moon. It doesn't get any geekier.

    • NASA did not send astronauts to the moon with Breitlings.

      The offical issue watch was an Omega [omega.ch] Speedmaster. There is some indication that non-offical Hamiltons may have also gone to the moon. Vintage Speedmasters cost about $2,000. A new one, with essentially the same look, but a newer movement is bit less. These watches are hand wound chronographs. The current NASA issue is either a G-Shock or an Omega Speedmaster X-33 [omegawatches.com]. Both use a quartz movement. Official NASA photos show astronauts wearing both.

  • Do you really need a watch? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by andaru ( 535590 ) <andaru2@onebox.com> on Monday February 18, 2002 @01:06PM (#3027093) Homepage
    It seems like I spend enough time being influenced by the clock as it is. There is one on the wall, one on your computer, one on my car radio, one on the wrist of the guy sitting next to me (who will gladly tell me what time it is if I ask - I might actually benefit from the human contact, too).

    When I am out and about, finally away from those stupid timepieces everywhere telling me to rush to and from here and there, the last thing I need to know is how many minutes have gone by since the last time I looked at my watch.

    People seem to be in too much of a hurry these days. If you are going someplace, remember that you will get there when you get there, no matter how many times you look at your watch, and often hurrying will only slow you down (a car accident is much more time-consuming than stopping at a yellow light). Also, hurrying is no fun. You don't enjoy yourself along the way (mmm, stress), and you fail to pay attention to all of the neat stuff you would otherwise notice - you can really enjoy yourself on the train ride to work if you are not stressing about whether the boss will notice that you came in 5 min. late.

    In other news, it seems to me that a 'geek' would spend more time thinking about what he or she needs, and buy it when it is really time. The true geeks run their old computer untill there is a real need to upgrade, thereby saving LOTS of money without taking a performance hit.

    You seem to just want a really expensive watch with a bunch of useless crap on it. You don't seem to care which features it has - it is not like you have identified some vacancy in your life which needs to be fulfilled with device X or Y (except maybe, "I don't feel smart enough - I need a watch that makes me look like a geek"). To me, that is not geeky, it is just wastefull and vain. In fact, given that you will probably end up wasting a whole bunch of money that you could use to get some usefull technology for which you have actually identified a need (or at least a more substantial desire), it is downright anti-geeky.

    There is a constant stream of input/stimulus coming in from the outside world. I think that a lot of these devices are just there to keep us entertained because we have forgotten how to look out the window without getting bored. Do we really need to be constantly entertained by our mp3 player (ever hear a bird singing?), or always in touch with our social circle (maybe we could make new friends if we weren't always on the cell phone) or in touch with our job which is so much more important than our sanity or health.

    For me, objects which are only usefull if you carry them around constantly (like PDA's, beepers, etc.) are not worth it. My wallet is already enough crap for me to carry around. If I want to remember someone's phone number, I write it on a paper phone list I keep in my wallet. When I get home, I enter it into a text file and re-print it when I need to (no issues of compatibility - I don't ever have to re-type my address book into another program).

    And in the meantime, I can walk around relatively unencumbered. I never have to worry about breaking my PDA by sitting on it, or dropping my cell phone into a toilet. I don't even have to make sure I have battery power before I leave the house.

    • Two things I forgot to say:

      1.) When a farmer or a hillbilly buys a pickup truck, they look at the horsepower, the size of the bed, etc.. If they get a bed liner it is because they are actually trying to extend the usefull life of their equipment (it is about keeping the bed in good condition as opposed to keeping it nice-looking). They are buying the truck because it is a usefull tool which they will use to move large things around.

      When a yuppie buys a pickup, they look at the color, the stylish lines, the power windows. They have to get a bed liner because, even though they are never going to put anything in the back ecxept maybe groceries (which would fit in the trunk of the Lexus, anyway), the main objective is not to scratch the paint.

      In all honesty, does the yuppie come across looking as "outdoorsy" as the farmer/hillbilly? No, the yuppie looks like they are trying to look outdoorsy, and failing miserably because they have a pickup truck with no mud or scratches on it.

      This is analogous to the difference between a geek who buys something he/she will use and a pseudo-geek who buys something because they think it makes them look like a geek.

      2.) At a former job, I went out to lunch (as if I am not always out to lunch) with about 10 engineers and QA folk. Someone had to get back for a meeting and asked if anyone knew what time it was. Between the 10 of us there was not not one person who was wearing a wristwatch. I felt a deep sense of pride in my team that day. And it led to a great conversation about why no one in the team wore a watch.

    • Why do you care if "yuppies" buy trucks or luxury cars? It's their money to waste.
      • First of all, please do excuse the stereotypes. They are only used for convenience. Technically, being young, urban, and professional (sometimes), I would classify as a yuppie.

        As far as your question goes, although I do not feel that it is my business to tell others what to do, I reserve the right to comment on it when it affects me.

        There are a few ways in which it affects me.

        There is the obvious point about emissions and overconsumption of resources. But also, when money is needlessly spent on an overly expensive car, it empowers the auto industry, whose vision of the future is contrary to mine. When people run out and buy the latest version of MS's entire line of vomitware, that empowers MS to even more effectively hold back the entire computer industry.

        I really wish that all of the MS-haters out there would boycott the XBox. The only way to defend ourselves is to make their revenue stream dependant on their behavior.

  • Casio [casio.com] has a whole catalog section for geek watches. My brother got the Wrist Camera [casio.com] and I have to admit it's pretty neat.

    As a minor eco-freak, I prefer the Seiko Kinetic. No more watch batteries for me.

  • Most advanced watches (Score:3, Interesting)

    by michaelmalak ( 91262 ) <michael@michaelmalak.com> on Monday February 18, 2002 @01:56PM (#3027374) Homepage
    The Casio scientific watch [earthlink.net] 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 [ibm.com] when it becomes available. As for current state-of-the-art, there is:
  • This watch was designed for the military. It has markers for the numbers and minute/hour hands that are made of glass tubes that contain radioactive tritium gas and a phosphorescent material. It has a quartz movement and an analog display. It is very easy to read in the dark. You can find these watches at some military surplus stores.
  • If your an outdoorsy/sailing person (most geeks seem not to be), you should check out Suunto's [suunto.com] line of watches. The company is specialized in outdoor technology, and make some pretty sweet watches, with various outdoor functions such as compasses, altimeters, barometers and heart beat monitors.

    Available from various stores, including Amazon [amazon.com]
  • 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*
    • I have been looking for an automatic watch in this price range (in the US)-- everything I have found seems to be in the $400 range, which is more than I can spend.

      Any pointers you might have as to manufacturers/places to purchase would be appreciated.

      A simple, functional automatic would make me very happy...
      • I have been looking for an automatic watch in this price range (in the US)-- everything I have found seems to be in the $400 range, which is more than I can spend.

        I'm wearing a Timex automatic, with a list price of about $35, though I think it cost me more like $20. It's about five years old, but I think they may have discontinued the model not too long afterwards.

        Which is a shame, really. Automatics are perfect for geeks. No winding, no EMP vulnerability, easy to adjust*, impossible to overwind, environmentally-friendly. What's not to like?

        * - maybe not that easy to adjust. Another post in this thread mentioned taking a watch to a shop to have the battery changed. Are we not geeks? All you need to do is crack the back, and to tune an automatic, tweak a lever. It's not rocket science!

      • Vintage [joseph-watches.com] watches are by far the most affordable. There is a dizzying array of them out there. For new models, Invict, Revue-Thommen, Glycine and Poljot are the most common. Poljots [poljot.de] are Russian and are regarded as true bargins. There are about half a dozen places to buy them on the net. The thing to remember about a mechanical watch is that they have a life span measured in decades, with proper maintenance. Don't think of them as disposable and you can justify a much more expensive one [ulysse-nardin.com] than you otherwise might consider.
      • Mine is a Seiko 5, was US $130, after spending $30 on a black leather strap because the included bracelet pinched my wrist hairs. Seiko 5's, when new, range in price from maybe 70 to over 200 bucks.

        Citizen and Orient also make new automatics in this price range; I had my eye set on a US $160 orient automatic, titanium with display back, but I went for the Seiko because I like the brand better.

        Also, someone mentioned vintage watches which are a good way to get a good automatic at great value.

        Finally, as someone also mentioned, you could justify spending maybe a thousand dollars on a good automatic watch (among those in the know, $1000 is not considered a lot of money for a watch), knowing that the watch is likely to outlast you.

        There's plenty of watch information on the net, visit timezone [timezone.com] for tons of information and discussion forums.
      • Thanks a lot to everyone who took the time to answer my request for information.

        Roadmaster-- I ordered my Seiko 5 (with nylon band) this morning. It had been a while since I looked, and the less expensive watches definitely don't seem to get the billing that the other watches do.

        The plan is to wear this one for a while, and if it turns out to be as neat and wonderful as I think it will then possibly buy an heirloom quality watch "down the road". Of course, this assumes I end up having kids at some point...

        There is something beautiful about a well designed mechanism, and in the electronic age it seems like this is becoming a lost art. Maybe this is an ironic comment from a mechanical engineer turned system administrator, but I call them like I see them.

        Anyway, thanks again! I'm sure I will enjoy the watch.

  • The coolest watch I ever had was one I owned for a couple of years in the late 1980s. It was made by Casio and looked like a typical analog watch with a single-line LCD at the bottom for date, time, etc. However, it was actually a calculator watch. You just pressed the mode button a couple of times until "CALC" showed in the display, then you'd draw the numbers and operators on the glass with your fingertip and the results would show up in the LCD. It was almost like Palm Grafitti on a smaller scale.

    Does anyone else remember these? At the time I figured it was the Next Big Thing and they'd be available all over the place within a year, but as far as I know Casio never made another. Mine got stolen and I've missed it ever since. I search eBay for them from time to time but have never been able to find one. If you know any relevant model numbers that would help me locate another, please respond.
    • Wow. That casio sounds very cool, and way ahead of it's time.

      My favorite watch, for the wow factor of it, was my dad's old watch (can't seem to find the name of it). It was an aviator's chronograph, with a calculator interfaced to the rotating bezel (which had 100 ticks in it).

      There were 3 buttons on the right side of it that put the watch into a different mode (add, multiply, divide, one to clear the memory also, IIRC). To do a calculation, you moved the bezel to the initial value, and hit one of the buttons, then moved to the next value, and hit another button to get the answer.

      The cool thing was--to subtract, you added negative values, same analogue for the other operations. Since there were 100 ticks per rotation, with a bit of practice you could do calculations without even looking at the watch.
      It was a strange watch, because most chronographs only rotate one direction, but it was damn cool.
  • recently on the History channel's "Boy's toys" week they talked about a >1lb. pocket watch that not only contained a face that told time in like 3 timezones, the opposite side contained a siderial time ([time around the sun]/365.25.... as opposed to rotation of the earth) clock with integrated realtime nighttime sky cart. It went for > $5e6 at auction recently. personally I would love some company to make a 'clone' of the watch. like quartz/electronics based , still with analog faces, tho' it would be hella cool!
  • right here i've got a clock on my cell phone, the computer, the vcr, my alarm clock, another computer, and another alarm clock sitting here for no particular reason. not to mention anyone that's got a pda, or a beeper (or three), or a laptop, ad nauseum.

    aren't most geeks already so decked out in gadgets that a watch would be redundant?
  • Mine isn't by any means an "ultimate" watch. But it has features I couldn't find in any other watch for a reasonable price.

    I have a VibraLite 3 medical alert watch. It has a vibrating alarm mode like you find in pagers or cell phones. It's intended for the deaf or people who need notification that it's time to take their medication without an annoying beep telling the whole room about it. I use it for cooking, laundry, running long batch jobs or downloads on the computer, or anything else that I can leave running unsupervised. It's also good for street parking, if all you can find is a 1 hour spot. And also to be notified of the passage of time without having to interrupt what I'm doing or keep checking the clock.

    It has an hourly chime (feeling the watch shake against your wrist every 60 minutes really helps keep track of the passage of time when you're working on something that requires heavy concentration), a 2nd clock (for another time zone -- I set mine to GMT), two daily alarms, a stopwatch, and a countdown timer. All of them run independantly of one another, so you can have the stopwatch and the countdown timer running at the same time.

    The controls are also fairly simple and consistent. Most medical aids are designed to be usable by both the very young and old, and possibly infirmed, so the controls mind-numbingly straightforward. You won't have to refer back to the manual to find out the magic key sequence to do something. You can teach someone how to key all they features in under a minute, so it's an easy watch to loan to someone temporarily.

    You can find it at any medical supply store for about $50 if you shop around. The vibrating alarm does run down the battery faster than a plain digital watch would. But you can disable the alarm, or the hourly "chime", before you go to bed or won't be needing it to save power. I've had mine 8 months so far without having to change the battery. The vibrations are very, very weak now, but it still keeps fairly accurate time.

    Downsides? The vibrating alarm at first feels like a large insect has landed on the back of wrist and is rooting around on your skin looking for a place to lay its eggs. It's pretty disconcerting until you get used to it. If your mind has a tendancy to wander, getting bit on the wrist every hour on the hour will cure you of it really quick. I also would have liked even more alarms than it has, but I couldn't find better even at REI or the big-name watch company web sites.

    Oh, and an embedded teleport bracelet would be handy. I'd pay a few bucks extra to be able to escape any situation instantly by shouting into my watch "TELEPORT! VILLA!! NOW!!!" I'd pay even more if the teleport operator wasn't Villa...

    Beware of Sig:

  • For ages I was a big fan of Swatch Access, but here in Perth, Australia I never got to actually use the features. My current favourite watch that I own is a Casio WristCam -- the original black and white version. If I didn't already have this version I'd probably buy the new colour one. So instead the watch that's temping me is Casio's GPS watch, having dropped in price from A$1395 to A$899. If I had a job I'd have bought it a week ago when I first noticed the price had come down.

    Funny thing is, I don't wear a watch anymore, not since I got my first mobile phone. Most of my friends are the same. (Actually, come to think of it, if you're after something funky and you don't need it on your wrist, the re-released Nintendo MiniClassics -- Game & Watch -- clip on a belt loop nicely. Try www.gameandwatch.com [gameandwatch.com] for some info.)

  • The Wenger Swiss Army watch is a rather atomic timepiece. You can get it in Titanium, and NOTHING will harm it. It'll look just like new for, um... ever.

    Personally, I have a steel one. Light, simple, runs forever, invulnerable to radiation, RF (RF has killed a Timex DataLink of mine. the joys of Amateur Radio.), water crush, pressure, impact or scratching from abrasives. It looks as good as new.

    And it doesn't give me an address book or anything else besides time, and day of month. I carry a PalmPilot. I don't need to duplicate functions.

    As a poster above said, do one thing, and do it well. Money very well spent.
  • My old Casio Wingman (built in slide rule, both analog and digital displays) gave out after almost 10 years of great service (ignoring the crappy watchbands that crumbled to dust every two years), and I got a Shark tide watch. It shows a cool little graph of the tides at your favorite beach (I have mine set for Oahu's south shore). Multiple alarms and time zones, chrono, etc.

    There's nothing geekier than a graphing watch, but surfing is not a geeky activity.

    Is it?

    Here's a picture [weatheraffects.com], but you can find a better price if you shop.

  • By far, the coolest watch I've seen is my prof's (Dr.Steve Mann) videoconferencing watch running Linux.
    http://wearcam.org/wristcam/
    Of course, he also wears his Linux box on his belt. For our lectures, he just hooked up a projector to the computer he carries on his belt.
    http://wearcam.org/ece385/

    http://kickme.to/debian
  • Another analog watch that I think is kinda cool
    (I bought one) is the Luminox titanium. It's
    not an automatic (uses a batter) but it's a
    diver's watch so it's completely watertight
    and it has tritium tubes so it's very easy
    to read at night.
  • It would have to be the Ruputer [ruputer.com]. If only I could read Japanese and could operate one...
  • I like the Suunto observer [suunto.com] which includes altimeter/barometer/compass. If being able to specify the declination from true north to magnetic north isn't geeky enough, then my spouse doesn't know what is. I've been learning quite a bit about weather since I can more easily correlate barometric pressure and the current weather.
  • Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
  • I tape my Palm VIIx to my wrist and run xdaliclock on it. Looks great and always gets comments from the ladies.

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