Rotating Earth Watch

Atlas used to hold the entire globe on its shoulders and the Greek gods thought that was cool. But you can be cooler than Atlas. No need to strain your shoulders with Earth’s immensity, just buy one of these watches.

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->Instead of holding the Earth on your shoulders you can now wear the globe on your wrist. This watch from ThinkGeek incorporates a small rotating Earth that makes a full rotation once every 24 hours. It was actually designed in Japan and made by Seiko Instruments.

What kind of crazy concept might this be and how does it work? Well, it’s quite intuitive and works fine. There is a small time zone indicator for the hour on the rim of the dial and a small orange dot to indicate the minutes. The movement mechanism is made of Quartz with a custom set of 3 reducing gears in the drive train and the included Lithium battery lasts for 10 years. The bezel is 45 mm in diameter and the entire case is made of light weight Titanium.

The crystal that powers the mechanism is super tough Hardlex and is of optical quality to create the effect of the Earth floating inside the frame. You can easily tell the time by identifying your time zone on the globe which, by the way, spins counter clockwise, just like our planet. I wonder how people from the Southern hemisphere are able to use this, though. The watch is also water resistant up to 100m.

You can find this watch at ThinkGeek for $599.99.

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LOLTUB Concept

I guess we tend to associate the look of some gadget with an actual human face once in a while. Looks like somebody’s really digging this idea and tries to make a fortune out of happy-faced utilities.

The bath tub you see above was nicknamed the “LOLTUB – the bath tub with a face” for obvious reasons. It’s not your regular tub, it’s some sort of pimped up Jacuzzi. Apparently, this tub is issued by Whirlpool, the renowned household utilities company. I guess it’s still in prototype phase, as I can’t find any details on the structure. From what we can see, this looks to be a tub for two. It could also include some bubbly technology.

Anyhow, the concept is pretty hilarious. I reckon it would be more appealing to kids rather than matures. In this case, the price should be calculated accordingly. Alright now, let’s take a picture around that smiley-faced Jacuzzi. Everybody say cheese! That includes you, miss tub!

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Astronomer Watch

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.

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Opus8 Watch

Looks like people start to enjoy mechanical watches once again. Retro style, baby, yeah! Here’s a watch that displays the hour with the aid of a cool 3D effect.

Designed by Harry Winston, the Opus 8 is using a complicated system of mechanical pixels that rise up from the display when the user activates a mechanism on the side of the case. It also utilizes hand-wound mechanical movements to integrate a modern, digital time display. The 3D display works on the principle of pin art games, which create 3D impressions of objects pressed against them. Similarly, in Opus 8’s case the numbers in the display will only appear “upon request,” activated by a bolt on the right hand side of the case. No #d impression is created until the mechanism is wound.

Here’s a detailed explanation from the press release. A plate joins together small segments, both mobile and fixed. Just underneath is a disc driven by the movement, which turns independently in real time. When the mechanism is wound, the pieces adjust to display the time. As the plate descends, the small segments remain visible, “blocked” by the crystal, allowing the hour to be read for 5 seconds. Technically, all functions are related, enabling everything to be displayed on demand – the minute hand turns the hour that then turns the AM/PM function.

Unfortunately, the series is limited to 50 watches and rumor has it is that they were sold out before the actual press release. Geesh, how greedy can they get?

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Steam-punk Watch

This spring, there’s an abundance of new collections of watches. That’s because one week ago, Geneva held some sort of watch expo and the most renowned timepiece designers in the world gathered to present their latest inventions.

One of the weirdest designs seems to be a steam-punk named Dewitt Incognito 2008. Looks to me like a sort of sci-fi bracelet that hides an entire arsenal of destruction. The design resulted from the collaboration between DeWitt and French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte.

Only by taking a closer look at this hulk can you understand the true grandeur of it. Technical specs include a flying tourbillon which is used to counteract the force of gravity and keep the watch accurate, five barrels and a power reserve that ought to keep you covered for up to three weeks. This watch really transforms you into a steam-punk maniac who bares it all only for the exact sense of time and place (‘cause you know you belong in a loony bin if you really want to wear this).

The “watch” is practically made of heavy metals, leather and fine clockwork and costs you a fortune. So if you are willing to wear like a ton of whacky metal on your wrist and proclaim yourself a steam-punk initiate, keep it real with 400,000 Euro or $632,941.

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