I’m not a watch guy. At some point, I just got annoyed wearing a watch, and that was that.
My wife complains about this fact because watches make nice and easy gifts for men whose wives say they are difficult to give gifts. Ahem.
This watch, the ZIIIRO and its iOS app, is a watch I might actually wear.
ZeroWatch — Unreasonably stylish watch
I also really like the idea of a binary clock.
Same reasons, really. These representations of time are minimalist in design, quirky (even nerdy), and they’re beautiful.
Don Norman’s classic, The Design of Everyday Things, which I finally finished recently, has a section on analog clock design, and their arbitrary design.
Specifically, he questions the use of different hands moving around the same circle, each marking a different unit. Of course, all the units must be measured and taken into account together to obtain the right result.
Isn’t it odd that people must be taught how to tell time? Time is a such a fundamental element of our lives.
Anyway, I like these reimaginations of time. Thoughts?
Time is so fundamental to our lives that it has disappeared. Like you, I no longer wear a watch. I wonder if we can make it more useful by adding context instead of marking event starts. I love things like countdown timers and stopwatches. How long was I on that call with support? How much time left in the meeting to impress my peers? If I take the freeway, which movie times can I make? How many days until I must ship the product? How long since I last posted to my blog?
This is why I love data and visualization. Lots of cool things to do on a simple platform of time.
It’s funny how the watch has evolved from timepiece first, jewelry second as it was in our youth, to jewelry first and oh it tells time? People with watches inevitably spend more time poking and swiping their phones, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they used their phones more for time-telling than they used their watches.
You make an interesting point, as always. Given the frenetic pace of life, timers and especially time comparisons make a whole lot more sense than do boring watches.
Still, if I’m rocking a watch, I want it to shock and amaze. Or baffle.
I’ve taken to the cheapo but neato watches. Right now I’m wearing one that has front and back clear, so you can see all the little Chinese gears and springs.
I’m still astounded how few wrist straps there are for phones, all I see is big velcro things for jogging and a very few Dick Tracy style phones. I guess it must be because people want to use both thumbs to text? Plenty of phones are as small as big watches.
I really don’t like clocks that make you think to figure out the time. I do like the floating in air things. My cousin still has the clock he built in the sixties with… I can’t even remember what they are called, plasma tubes? Little tubes like mini yellow neon in a digital layout.
There is/was a Kickstarter project to get funding for a strap to hold the iPod Nano, which can display a clock. I wonder how a phone would look strapped to someone’s wrist, like a QB with a play-calling wristband?
You’re proving the point about figuring out the time 🙂 If it’s not digital, it’s an arbitrary (although standard) representation. So why not create a different one for giggles?
I can’t imagine strapping a HTC Desire HD to my wrist. It would be like attaching a wing. 🙂
Maybe you need a bigger wrist? I think Joel means bicep, where you see runners or gym people strapping their iPods. That would work, but it really hampers usability of the device. I do think wearable devices are worth more thought though.
I did mean strap to wrist, the big velcro things are biceps or upper arm. Of course, it would have to be a small phone, but I think a couple of strap attachment points and some way of attaching an earpiece when it isn’t in your ear are simple design requirements. Maybe a clamshell to the keys…
And when you consider what people pay for watches… http://hubpages.com/hub/Most-Expensive-Items-on-Amazon
My kids love time in a similar way, I will time them (using my iPhone of course – not worn a watch for 10 years) doing various tasks and challenge them to get dressed in under a certain time. However as I teach them how to tell the time on a standard analogue clock, I realize how absurd our time system is and how difficult to teach!
I wish Don Norman had included the roots of the analog system. I suppose I could find them. I just wonder how the system of hands on a circle became the standard. Were there other options?
I like the idea of timing and counting down, but I wonder if they promote nervousness and ruthless efficiency. One reason I stopped wearing a watch 20 years ago is that I was obsessed with checking the time.
Got it. So you do mean the forearm band like Wonder Woman wears. One thing I remember from wearing a watch is how often it banged into things. Maybe my arms flopped around more than most, but that’s a major concern if my phone is strapped to my arm.
On the other hand, this is an area perfect for those flexible displays we were discussing a few weeks ago.