Written on April 17, 2008 – 8:08 am | by Bogdan Alex |
Mechanical watches anyone? Or maybe digital and mechanic all-in-one? Yep, I’m back with one more timepiece specially made for amateur astronomers. If you happen to be a professional astronomer working with huge telescopes on top of high mountains, you probably are familiarized with the ideal conditions for a perfect stargazing party. For smateur and hobbyist astronomers, however, peering the heavens could prove a bit cumbersome when they don’t exactly know the right times and conditions for such astronomical backyard escapades. This watch should provide all the data they need.

The LCD display on the inner dial features 96 separate sections arranged in a circular aray pattern. Each slice represents 15 minutes of time, which adds up to a full 24 hour day. You can choose your specific location from a list of 583 pre-programmed cities and the digital display will represent selectively shaded sections to depict the hours of sunlight and darkness throughout the entire course of a day.

A second circular LCD display around the edge shows the times of moonrise and moonset. There’s a single 24 hour hand that moves around a 12-hour bezel for telling the time, but the watch also features a standard digital time display on the top half. The mechanism is based on a quartz oscillator which provides accurate time keeping, and its stainless steel case employs double O-rings for the pushers and crown for a 10 ATM rating.

Interested in buying one? Check out Hammacher Schlemmer where you can find it for $495.95.