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Keeping Time: Whither the Wristwatch? |
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Dr. Samuel Says -
New Toys
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Tuesday, 11 December 2007 |
Let us consider the humble wristwatch. Adapted around World War I from the heavier pocket watch, the wristwatch is simple, functional and ubiquitous. Despite many underlying technological changes over the years -- mechanical to quartz to digital -- the basic design and function of the wristwatch has remained pretty much static. We're not going to count the calculator watch, because that idea was just goofy from the get-go.
 With holiday shopping season upon us once again, it is perhaps time to
reexamine what the wristwatch can offer. Turns out, with a little
digging, you can find lots of under-the-radar variants -- pleasing for
reasons aesthetic, clandestine and otherwise.
We'll start with clandestine. Check out this voice recording watch, for
sale now at Britain's always creepy Spycatcher website. Stealthy and
unassuming, the watch functions as a covert recording device via 1GB of
internal flash memory. The hidden microphone captures audio in .wav
format, and can record up to nine hours continuously. Conveniently for
those on extended stakeouts, the watch also functions as a standard MP3
player, with earphone jack. If you're interested in further shopping
along these lines, Spycatcher offers a nice selection of various
covert, body-worn audio and video recording equipment. (As you know,
I've done contract work for MI6 since the 1960s, and thus enjoy a
professional courtesy discount here.)
Then there are the still-evolving aesthetic variants of the common
wristwatch. This one is interesting in that it uses advanced digital
technology to replicate an old-fashioned appearance. The Ana-Digi Watch
uses a black-and-white e-ink system to appear as a standard analog
watch face, with hour, minute and second hands. (E-ink is the
technology used in e-book readers to present a more natural,
comfortable display for text.) Something about this is so gratuitously
perverse that I don't even mind the ridiculous name (Ana-Digi sounds
like a bad Star Wars prequel trilogy character.)
This is merely scratching the surface, of course. Google "novelty
wristwatch" and see for yourself how the market is evolving down many
strange, sideways paths. Reminds me of an old joke:
Did you hear the Italian government is going to put a clock on the Leaning Tower of Pisa?
They figure, "Hey, what good is the inclination, if you don't have the time?"
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