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Caterpillar Watch Crawls 'Round Your Wrist to Tell Time
Posted by Kit Eaton at 6:58 PM on July 14, 2008
With timepieces embedded into every electronic gizmo nowadays, the humble wristwatch is on its way out, you might think. That's until you see this bizarrely cool prototype watch from designer Nicolas Lehotzky. Driven by a caterpillar-tread-alike drive, it turns the time-telling process inside out, from a virtual display into a sedate physical crawl around your wrist once every 12 hours. Brilliant! Forget the fact it looks slightly uncomfy... it's such a neat design I'd practically chop my arm off to own one, though that'd then complicate wearing it. [Gizmag]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Bitstuff
Posted 7:41 PM 14/7/08
If anyone ask for time, you could say, "It's almost eleven" or "sometime between five and six"
Bitstuff
Gilbert
Posted 7:21 PM 14/7/08
I adore this; it's brilliant.
Part of the reason why I love Giz so much is it shares my obsession with time pieces.
Gilbert
Satorical
Posted 7:10 PM 14/7/08
And the best thing is that it doesn't look like fetish wear at all.
Satorical
Yousty
Posted 9:05 PM 14/7/08
What the hell?! I work for Caterpillar as an electrical engineer and I haven't heard anything about this.
Looks sweet though.
Yousty
Curves
Posted 10:05 PM 14/7/08
Pretty cool design, but it would feel weird to have something moving on my arm all day.
@Yousty: That is because companies never give cool stuff to the employees, they save it for upper management and customers. They save those lame baseball hats for you guys and you have to perform some miracle to get even that.
Curves
ajile
Posted 10:34 PM 14/7/08
I wouldn't chop my arm off to wear this...but on the other hand it looks like it would chop my arm off if I do wear it.
ajile
scrag
Posted 10:16 PM 14/7/08
I would fear for the hair on my arms.
scrag
zenpoet
Posted 11:30 PM 14/7/08
sweet unusable beauty. I love it, and would never wear it, all at the same time.
zenpoet
godwhacker
Posted 11:25 PM 14/7/08
@Yousty:
i am pretty sure this was not an in-house design.
nice idea, but looks pretty uncomfortable. but what do i know i haven't worn a watch in 30 years. (too clunky when working on stuff, dangerous too)
godwhacker
Y2KGTP
Posted 11:20 PM 14/7/08
It might be more interesting if it had a minute and second 'hand'.
Y2KGTP
GeekyNerdGuy
Posted 11:13 PM 14/7/08
What this show up on the plot of Saw 5, but with a chainshaw blade, and over 12 hours it cuts your arm off for you ...
GeekyNerdGuy
rsquared
Posted 11:56 PM 14/7/08
Looking at it, I'm guessing only the fabric 'tread' moves and that the metal frame stays put. Still, would feel very strange on your wrist, like real caterpillars were crawling on you. Creepy.
rsquared
sluzzuls
Posted 11:47 PM 14/7/08
looks a hundred time better than those oversized nippon mechoclocks. id wear this if i could be assured of its durability.
sluzzuls
frigg
Posted 11:44 PM 14/7/08
If you had one on both wrists and were somewhat tired, you could lie down and let these slowly pull you across the floor, one foot every 24 hours or so… nice.
frigg
Duc
Posted 12:16 AM 15/7/08
Can I get mine in CAT Yellow pls.
Duc
Yousty
Posted 12:53 AM 15/7/08
@godwhacker:
Yeah, I know it's not an in house design. I just figured I would have heard from somebody we were having something cool like this made.
Yousty
Hodinkee
Posted 12:57 AM 15/7/08
Definitely an interesting design. If you like more vintage, unique watches you should check out www.hodinkee.com. Pretty cool site for rare vintage watches.
Hodinkee
randomher0
Posted 12:30 AM 15/7/08
@Y2KGTP:
Adding a "minute hand" is simple just embroid every fifth minute or something like that on one of the sides of the "hour hand"
You're usually rounding up or down to the closest 5 minutes anyhow;)
randomher0
davidfbecker
Posted 4:21 AM 15/7/08
@scrag: Seriously! I don't even wear REGULAR watches, let alone watches that tread around my arm on purpose.
davidfbecker
D0rk
Posted 6:06 AM 15/7/08
@Purple Dave: The face side of the cloth ring does not touch your skin. Still, you do provide a valid point that the cloth would probably wear out or get pretty nasty over time.
I'd be most worried about pinches and hair getting caught, but this is still an awesome design and I'd gladly buy one.
D0rk
Purple Dave
Posted 4:56 AM 15/7/08
So, a fabric cloth "watch-face" that comes into regular contact with your skin? Wonder how long before those numbers turn all sorts of nasty...
Purple Dave
pneublet
Posted 2:38 PM 16/7/08
This was designed at Art Center by a very talented designer for a sponsored project (I think. CAT did a sponsored project with Art Center but I don't know if this was part of that or just a personal project). Either way, that's why people who work at CAT probably have never heard of it. Either way, great design! Go Nicolas!
pneublet