Nixie Tube Wristwatch by Cathode Corner |
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What
do you buy the techie who has everything? How about a wristwatch that
has a nixie tube display? I apologize for not discovering this little
gem of Nerdom a couple months earlier to be in time for Christmas, but
nearly everyone has a birthday, anniversary, graduation, or other special
occasion between now and next Christmas* for which the
Old
Nixie Watch can be presented. From the Cathode Corner website: "The
Old Cathode Corner Nixie Watch is the perfect way to show your retro-geek
cred. It is a two-digit wristwatch using Nixie tubes, a forty-year-old
display technology that is delightfully easy to read. The watch requires
no button-pushing to operate. Just hold the watch at your standard viewing
angle, and the hours, then the minutes, will appear in perfectly-formed,
14mm tall, glowing orange digits. It is water resistant and rugged.
The case is machined from aircraft
aluminum
and hard anodized to handle years of abuse and still look great." Be
sure to look at the accompanying pages on their website for
functional details,
development history, and supporting
technical documents (schematic, PIC code, user manual, etc.). The
price is about what you would pay for a
4th Gen iPad. Apropos accessories to complete your Old Nixie Watch
motif would be a pocket protector with assortment of pencils (chewed)
and pens (leaky), a slide rule with belt-supported leather pouch, a
small amount of masking tape for the nose bridge of glasses, a white
shirt with skinny monochrome tie (preferably black or a color not found
in nature), patent leather shoes (scuffed), and a manicure that makes
the fingernails appear chewed. I've got some photos of myself from the
mid 1970s if you need a visual aid ;-) The video at the bottom shows Apple's Steve Wozinak ("the Woz") showing off his Nixie Watch and saying how he likes to watch the reaction of fellow airline passengers when he starts playing with the watch. It could pass for a bomb detonator timer from a WWII movie. * The exception is potentially someone whose birthday is December 25th.
Nixie Tube Wristwatch w/Additional Nixie Tube Information
Steve Wozniak Showing off His Nixie Tube Watch Posted January 22, 2014
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