Hasta La Gadget!

For as long as watches have been made, most of the analog watches have had hands of some sort. Granted, there are plenty of digital watches that eschew hands altogether, but I have trouble naming any analog watches that didn’t have any hands. This one takes the ‘no hands’ concept to a whole new level.

Designed by Benoît Mintiens, the Ressence Type 3 watch goes for extreme minimalism thanks to engineering. It has a display that’s filled with fluid and gravitational gearing. The refractive properties of the liquid make it seem like the dial is sitting right near the surface of the crystal. This watch has no crown. There’s nothing to push, or twirl, or pull. The adjustments are driven by rotating the watch itself thanks to the gravitational-responsive gearing system. It’s truly a marvel of modern engineering.

If you have to ask the price, you probably can’t afford it, because the Ressence Type 3 watch will sell for for €23,000 (~$29,500 USD) when it’s released later this year.

[via Cool Hunting]

Seiko is going to release 2 models of new feminine watches for Mother’s day in a limited quantity.

An elegant model collaborated with popular apparel brand “MICHEL KLEIN” has a round shape with a ribbon motif design and 3 diamonds on it. It comes with a handkerchief in a special box. It’s ¥14,700 (including tax).

Another model that is from one of Seiko’s watch series “ALBA INGENU” and has a salmon pink colored dial and 10 Swarovski parts on it. It’s 10,500 yen (including tax).

Only 1,000 watches are available for each model.

They can be ordered here.

There’s something to be said about watches that cost more than cars. Needless to say that this analog wonder of a watch will cost you a pretty penny, but it will probably last you a lifetime. But how about watches that cost as much as your house? Or two?

The MB&F HM4 Final Edition Watch isn’t just any old watch, it’s a “horological machine” which has 311 components. It’s coated in plack PVD titanium and its design was inspired by the F-117 Nighthawk. The turbine-like pods for time and power reserve indicators are connected to the power reserve using unique vertical gear trains.

This watch looks simply amazing, but get ready to mortgage everything you own, because they sell for $230,000(USD) apiece and they’ll only be making eight of these.

[via Uncrate]

Some Pebble owners were understandably perturbed when their smartwatches seemingly went dead after a shutdown — that’s not the best first impression of an emerging technology. Some credit is due for a rapid turnaround, however, as the Pebble team just delivered a 1.9.1 firmware upgrade that should tackle the problem. It fixes a bug that occasionally prevented the microcontroller from reconfiguring itself before the watch went dark, leaving the buttons unresponsive on wake and the Pebble more of a paperweight. You’ll still have to swap out for a replacement if your watch has already fallen ill and won’t recover, but the experience should be more reliable for already functional watches from here on out. Let fellow owners know how well the upgrade worked in the comments.

[Thanks, Daniel]

Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables

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Source: Pebble

If you’ve been waiting for a smartwatch ever since Apple released the super-cute iPod that fit perfectly on a wristwatch strap, you may be in luck – Google is reportedly making one running Android. But then there’ve been reports of Apple making a smartwatch too. And LG is making one as well, and Samsung, and who knows which other companies – smartwatches from every angle, I tell you! But today’s report about Google comes from the Financial Times where they’ve got an inside contact, so it’s best we listen.

If you see what the Financial Times notes, they’ve got a “person briefed on the project” who says that though larger projects like Glass are being created in the Google X laboratories, this supposed Google smartwatch is being developed for by the Google Android unit. What we must assume here is that, if the watch were real, it’d be created by one of Google’s hardware partners – perhaps Motorola? Meanwhile the Google developers on-staff creating Android would be taming a version of Android tailored specifically for an ultra-tiny display.

“While Glass is being created in its X Lab, home to experimental “moonshot” projects such as the self-driving car, Google’s smart watch is being developed by its Android unit, according to a person briefed on the project, to act as an extension to the smartphones using that operating system. The project is separate from Samsung’s efforts, the source said, although there is no indication of when it might launch.” – FT

It’s not as if it doesn’t make sense for everyone and their grandmother to be creating a smartwatch at the same time with essentially no warning and no pre-cursor or need, but what if? What if Apple and Google decided, separately, that they’d both create a wearable computer that wrapped around your wrist at once?

That once-utilized watch-loving arm will once again be home to a timepiece, only this time, you’ll be able to do a whole lot more than you were able in the past. Then it’s time again to get rid of the cellphone and the smartphone, right? Seems only logical!

Of course, then again, there’s always that Google Smartwatch patent.

Google Smartwatch is latest in essentially baseless claims of wearables is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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