We tend to get floored by excellent precision and crafting skills. Those features are best apparent for consumer items, in our opinion, in good old watch making and horology masterpieces. Urwerk EMC (Electro Mechanical Control) has a built-in “Artificial Intelligence”, well as much of an AI as a mechanical system can afford. It uses this AI to keep its measurement of time precise. Common variances like temperature, position and shock can reduce the timing regularity of a wristwatch.
Make way Cuckoo Clocks, the the watch can now go miniature enough to include its very own miniature tweeting bird. The miniature masterpiece was created to celebrate the 275th anniversary of clockmaker Pierre Jaquet Droz opening his first workshop. While tweeting birds inside watches isn’t totally unheard of, this mechanical bird can flap its wings and move its beak to accompany the sound. That’s a whole new level of mechanical miniaturization. Christened The Charming Bird, this watch is limited to 28 pieces only.
Not many people wear a wristwatch or carry lighters these days, but hey, this one let’s you do both at the same time. It is for all purposes a butane lighter because the wrist watch is non-functional, working only as a body for the lighter. Still, pretty decent for a novelty item, eh? Costs $14.99.
In an age where miniaturization is everywhere, it does not suit well that the Doctor should still need a telephone box to go about his business. Wearing a cool looking watch should do the trick. The watch collection from Zeon has two watches based on the Doctor Who universe. The first is based on the Tardis, keeping the appearance elements of the public phone box in as good a shape as a watch can afford.
A master woodworker and carpenter, Valerii Danevych has the skill in his blood. Coming from a long line of cabinet workers, Danevych certainly would be comfortable around lumber. He felt a need to challenge himself and push his skill, to that end he started studying watchmaking. Starting with his first watch in 2005, Danevych completed it after three years, with the result being a completely functional watch made solely out of wood.
Design student Shea Draney spent a good amount of time coming up with this concept watch. Taking some inspiration from space and astronomy, the designer worked the visualization to suit his ideas. The face of the watch is intended to represent a black hole, while the number rings represent an entirely different idea from astronomy in the shape of orbits.
Getting on with the business of smartwatches, and among rumors that smartwatches are the next big thing to come through several tech giants. Androidly, follows the line of smartwatches, carrying a 320×240 pixel display and the ability to run several apps from the Play store. That allows users access to some of the most popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and Angry Birds.
If you’re rich enough, you can buy all the luxuries and expensive materials that can be on offer. Even so, it is not often that one gets to have an audience with something that represents a milestone in human achievement. What I’m talking of here, is steel taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the first ever successful manned flight to moon.
For automobile enthusiasts, the Porsche 911 alarm clock has to hold a special value, mainly that of being super cool. The dial and the casing follow authentic Porsche style, and are a good impression of what you can find in a 911 dashboard. Costs $215.
Watchmaker Ulysse Nardin teamed up with HBO to create a special limited edition watch inspired by the Game of Thrones series. The watch isn’t particularly high on Game of Thrones, except the name and the licensing. It is based off the Ulysse Nardin “Black Sea” rugged diving chronograph.