Cesium 133 - True Atomic Wristwatch
/cesium-133-true-atomic-12165.jpg "Cesium 133 - True Atomic Wristwatch")
What's so special about an "atomic" wristwatch paradoxically struggling to work itself down from prototype sizes as big as the wearer's wrist? Well. In tracking time, it loses just 1 second every 1,000 years. Because its foundation is a self-contained cesium atomic clock. And it needs no radio signal from the US Government to keep proper time, and it's actually even more accurate than the satellite signals that beam hours and minutes to our phones and other devices. Bathys Hawaii's Cesium 133, named for the most stable isotope of cesium, is basically The Most Accurate Watch in the World.
And Bathys will make only 10 of them. Company owner John Patterson had planned to offer the first 6 at $6 grand a pop on Cesium 133's Kickstarter crowdfunding page. Last night, in disbelief that all 6 were claimed within days, Patterson issued an update stating he has decided to put the remaining 4 on the pledging block as well. So if you've got the cash and the inclination lying around, act fast and you too could be a rare owner of an encased atomic wonder able to function at unprecedented levels of temporal accuracy.
Designed by Patterson and George Talbot, the Cesium 133's single time-producing chip/oscillator houses a laser, a heater, a sealed cavity of cesium gas, a microwave filter, and a photodiode detector. These components work together to count hyperfine lines of excited cesium 133 atoms--1 second is divided into exactly 9,192,631,770 vibrations of a cesium133 atom--thereby producing time calculations in the exact same way the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) does. Again, this is a completely self-contained atomic watch, and it is precise to the second, with no more than a 1 second loss per millennium. The prototype, shown in the metal cases in the above photos, is powered by rechargeable li-ion batteries, with time displayed on an analog clock face with moon phase indicator. Its size: a honkin' 2.4" x 2" x 0.9".
But that's the original prototype. A 2.0 version modified the watch's shell to a carbon fiber case, as depicted in the featured photo, which reduced both its dimensions and weight, the latter down to 3.1 ounces, or on par with a non-atomic, non-awesome wristwatch. Sketches for the Kickstarter edition of Cesium 133s envision a 3D-printed stainless steel case, with weight reduction techniques used to bring the piece to the slimmest and lightest point possible.
Get in on the atomic frenzy by pledging for one of the last 4 Cesium 133s by May 9, 2014. Bathys Hawaii is also offering up some of their other timepieces to backers interested in funding the project.
Muchas danke to Manny for the Dude Product Tip.
/chronodevfd-cyberpunk-18152.jpg?mode=crop "Budget Your Time: The 10 Best Men's Watches Under $100")
Budget Your Time: The 10 Best Men's Watches Under $100
Wearing a watch gives you one less reason to check your phone. Wearing a watch that costs less than $100 gives you one less reason to ask your girlfriend if she could maybe pick up dinner. For the next 6 months. Here...
/worlds-thinnest-watch-11386.jpg?mode=crop "World's Thinnest Watch")
World's Thinnest Watch
The new name in ultra-thin? It's...no, not the chick who's playing Carrie in the prequel series to Sex and the City. Hint: It's an inanimate object. It's...no, not Nicole Kidman. Mom, stop trying to guess! You're messing...
Anti-Kidnapping Watch Band
Mark Greenman has seen the TIHK and raised it a ceramic razor blade, a 4' Kevlar friction saw, and one trip to the lower hemisphere. In his own words: I designed the A-K Band because I plan on traveling to South America...
Iron Samurai Blue LED Watch
As if the opportunity to wear a segmented steel LED-lit wristband that might make people wonder if you're under house arrest isn't reason enough to complete this purchase, the fact that the Iron Samurai also possesses...
Recon 6 Utility Watch
The Recon 6 may be the only useful thing ever to come out of watching reality TV. Tim Ralston created his utility watch following a conversation he had with friends about being stranded on a remote island. A conversation...
/ritot-projection-watch-13323.jpg?mode=crop "Ritot Projection Watch")
Ritot Projection Watch
August 2014 Update: Sadly, it appears that the Ritot watch is yet another crowdfunding scam. Thanks to commenter Bea Foroni for posting this article summarizing why Ritot technology isn't currently possible, and the bizarre...
iWatch 2
It's sleek, it's svelte, and it will make your wrist look a mile long. It even redefines the concept of little black box with its glide-to-reveal top lid. The iWatch 2 has all of the classic features of the iWatch: WiFi...
Tesla Watch
Induction motors, X-ray experimentation, the world's first RC boat. Nikola Tesla's contributions to the world were numerous and thrilling during his nearly 6 decades of scientific pursuit in New York. So it's strange...
The Bradley Tactile Watch
Although I'm largely an insensitive bastard, even I was puzzled to hear that visually impaired people currently have only 2 types of watches available to them: those that talk, and those with removable covers that allow...
Grindrite Weed Watch
I thought it would do something cutesy like stay frozen on 4:20, but nay. The Grindrite keeps real time too! Though usually after a few tokes of the good stuff my friend Victor procures I'm not really able to comprehend...
/rhei-liquid-display-clock-19323.jpg?mode=crop "Rhei Liquid Display Clock")
Rhei Liquid Display Clock
First thing's first: if you want to see what's so special about Rhei, fast forward to 1:50 in the above video to bypass the dramatic buildup and jump straight to the action flow...
/hm6-space-pirate-watch-14859.jpg "HM6 Space Pirate Watch")
HM6 Space Pirate Watch
You gotta have some balls to call your watch an "horological machine" and charge over $200 grand for it. And MB&F's HM6 Space Pirate is definitely a watch with balls. Five of them, to be exact. The timepiece's transparent...