When you stuff a pair of Nixie tubes into a wristwatch the resulting timepiece looks a little like Flavor Flav’s necklace. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends on your taste and if you’re comfortable with the idea of wearing 200 volts on your wrist, of course.
As a build, though, [prototype_mechanic]’s watch is worth looking into. Sadly, details are sparse due to a computer issue that ate the original drawings and schematics, but we can glean a little from the Instructables post. The case is machined out of solid aluminum and sports a quartz glass crystal. The pair of IN-16 tubes lives behind a bezel with RGB LEDs lighting the well. There’s a 400mAh LiPo battery on board, and an accelerometer to turn the display on with a flick of the wrist.
It may be a bit impractical for daily use, but it’s a nicely crafted timepiece with a steampunk flair. Indeed, [prototype_mechanic] shows off a few other leather and Nixie pieces with four tubes that certainly capture the feel of the steampunk genre. For one with a little more hacker appeal, check out this Nixie watch with a 3D-printed case.
Woz’ sports somethign similar https://hackaday.com/2009/11/03/wozs-watch-makes-air-travelers-nervous/
I like this part –
“There must be an accelerometer in there because the display is switched off unless the watch is held at a certain configurable angle”
um or perhaps a simple tilt switch.
yeah, it’s an accelerometer.
Did I just wake up in an alternate 1985?
No, you woke up in an alternative 1955.
Whether this is good is very much a matter of taste. It is a nice piece of work — but I would have made a bolo tie out of it, not a wristwatch.
How the heck are you going to read a clock on top of your sternum?
Having 12 amber LEDs around the face to indicate hours and using the tubes to indicate minutes might’ve made this more practical, trying to figure out if it’s telling one the hours, minutes, or seconds, would be a pain.
But nonetheless, it’s a nice looking, if impractical, timepiece.
Love it, tanks for posting! Subscribed.
Love this, one of them things where the idea just needs to be followed to it’s conclusion how every silly it may sound. :) Very nice build too.