Cool clock
At Smith and Wollensky’s in Columbus, Ohio. It wasn’t running, though,
which drove me crazy.
Usability in Clocks and Watches
I’ve been subscribed to the Watchismo Times blog for quite some time now after noticing links to it from Boing Boing, one of my staple blog reads. Watchismo describes their content as being “a reliquary of obscure timepieces from bygone eras as well as the cutting edge designs of today.” I’d say that’s definitely the case; there are some truly amazing watches that show up on their site, like the Kilfitt spy watch/camera prototype from 1969. Something about that watch is really aesthetically pleasing.
The thing that bugs me, though, is that so many of their highlighted “cutting edge designs” may be visually interesting, but they aren’t very usable. For me, a watch needs some key things – if it’s analog, it should have all 12 numerals in Arabic (NOT roman). If it’s digital, the numbers should be large and high-contrast. Also required are the date and a light so the time can be checked in the dark. Anything else is just a pretty bracelet, IMHO.
The 12 Arabic numerals (or at the very least, 4 Arabic numerals) is a criteria for analog clocks for me, also. I have a weird fetish for clocks (which is part of the reason the change to daylight savings time makes me really grumpy; we have lots of them to change twice a year) but you’ll never see me buy one with Roman numerals. Why they even make them is beyond me.
Good.
Good.
Not as Good.
Menorahs and clocks made out of crazy old junk
I’ve posted several things recently about cool stuff made out of old junk, and here’s another… Roger Wood at Klockwerks has expanded from making super-cool clocks to making super-cool menorahs out of old stuff.
I LOVE stuff like this. I have several old parts of stuff that I bought at the salvage yard with this kind of thing in mind. I love clocks, compasses, windmills, weather vanes, thermometers, barometric pressure measures, and any antique science thingy or doo-dad. At one point I was scouring eBay for monocles, science beakers, and glass eyes. Unfortunately, glass eyes are expensive. If I were going to be a sculpture artist (and I’d like to be) this is the kind of thing I would make; something cool looking but also kinetic. I need a workshop.