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Ask HN: What are some geeky wrist watches?

46 points by theinterjection ↗ HN
I'm looking for a digital watch that has functionality like an hourly chime, alarm clock, and reminders. When looking purely at functionality, I have no trouble finding this, but there are some aspects of regular watches that I don't want to give up either.

Functionality-wise: I want to hold on to the long battery life of regular watches. It doesn't need to last a year on a charge, but longer than a month would be nice.

In terms of style: a lot of the watches are designed to look expensive. I'm talking about things like glossy screens, fancy modern designs, and metallic bodies. These are things I want to avoid. I like the retro designs of the watches listed here[1], for example, with black, plastic bodies, and low-resolution screens.

Basically, I'm looking for a computer watch, which was the precursor to smartwatches. Is anything akin in that vein still being produced?

1. https://www.pcmag.com/feature/265834/12-ultra-nerdy-watches-of-yore

48 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 136 ms ] thread
danieltillett
I have a Hamilton Pulsomatic [0] in my collection and for geekiness it is pretty high up the tree. A digital watch that you don’t need batteries for is very nice and it gets a huge amount of (male) attention.

As an aside I have never had a woman ever comment on any of my watches - it really is a male thing.

0. https://shop.hamiltonwatch.com/hamilton-collection/american-...

dagw
Or, if you have happen to have infinite money lying around, a Hublot MP-07 :)
danieltillett
Well I am a few zeros short of infinite, but my hamilton does come with a 120 day power reserve :)
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begemotz
Casio still makes many versions of the databank watch and, imo, you cant get geekier than that. https://www.casio.com/products/watches/databank
theinterjection
This is what I was looking for, thank you. I'm getting the DBC-32-1AES. It gives me extra nerd cred for having a model that ends with "AES".
sova
Elliptic Curve Cryptography is the only standard I believe in :P
colinbartlett
Does anyone remember Timex Datalink? You held it up to a CRT (only works with CRT!) and the screen would flash some kind of coded lines which the watch would read to transfer your data.
vram22
This is not the same as what you want, but I'm mentioning it here because it is about watches, and a bit cool (IMO):

A while ago I needed a new watch, walked into a Tata Titan showroom (India) and saw some kids watches of a Titan brand or line called Zoop. Liked the bright colors and the simple designs of some of them (they have more complex ones too), and bought a couple of them to use.

Googling for "Titan Zoop watch" and clicking the Images tab will show some examples.

Might be able to get them outside India too, via Amazon etc.

mtmail
I used to have the Casio Flip-Top Database watch (first entry on the pcmag list). The flip mechanism wore out after a couple of months so I wouldn't recommend such a mechanism.
workmandan
An old school Casio is a great choice. I've had a F91W for ages and the battery last years. Cheap too.

https://www.amazon.com/Casio-F91W-1-Classic-Resin-Digital/dp...

It has an hourly beep and an alarm but no reminders.

mcjiggerlog
What I'm really waiting for is the F91W of smartwatches. I want subtle smart integrations like sleep tracking, heartrate monitoring etc but with a simple, always on screen and hardware buttons.

The Pebble watches were getting close but they were still way too big for my taste, and still too expensive.

szemet
DIY? Found this: https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto

But they've made different design decision:

Q: Why is there no accelerometer? A: Accelerometers are the most useful when they're permanently active for applications like sleep trackers, pedometers or features like "shake to do something". Unfortunately, even accelerometers marketed as "ultralow power" draw approx 30 µA when running, draining the CR2016 coin cell in less than half a year. So we decided to dedicate the available space to a digital compass.

dagw
Casio's g-shock line of watches should have something that matches your needs. Or perhaps a Casio Protrek PRW 2500. These watches also have solar cells so the batteries last for ages.
joekinley
Currently on IndieGoGo which I am totally rooting for: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/watchx-wearable-developme...
TomK32
Looks awesome for hackers, specially if you add some decent case and protective glass to it.
joekinley
They will provide 3d case data to make your own cases
palyancodr
We will provide the exact 3D model of watchX. 3D model has everything including resistors and capacitors on the real watch. We encourage you to draw the case you need based on your application. Please see this video: https://youtu.be/bHaP2b0yczk it's an interesting use of watchX. You can also see the 3D model on the video. We will provide different reference designs on our web site as well.
mxuribe
Wow, that's cool! Though I second the request on some sort of protective case or something.
palyancodr
Thank you, we are glad that you liked watchX.
brudgers
What could be more geeky than a red LED Texas Instruments $9.95 watch from the 1970's?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Texas-Instruments-Series-500...

https://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/timeline/eps/19...

HeyLaughingBoy
Hmmm. I wonder if there'd be a market in recreating that style of push-button LED watch.

Nah.

/me thinks about how much volume it would take to make it worthwhile selling at a $100 price point.

mpcovcd
Casio still makes the "casio classic" which is exactly what you're thinking about and is still a pretty popular watch.