DiY for reconciliation with smartwatches
Published 10 March 2015 by Carine Claude
Is there an alternative to the Apple Watch in DIY terms? Makers are having a field day proposing watches nothing like the luxurious models. Some serious, others far less.
Who does not own a smartwatch? Between the Mobile World Congress that laid out the red carpet for them and the outer space launch in-orbit of the Apple Watch on Monday the 9th of March, difficult to escape the tsunami of smartwatches. The Pebble Time, V2 of the Pebble and its promise of a 7 day autonomy, smashed its objective of 500,000 dollars on Kickstarter in a few minutes and clearly exceeds M$ 17, 17 days from the end of its campaign. Even Swiss watchmakers are starting to produce them, saying luxury does not stop a watch from being intelligent. Nice family reunion.
Except that. According to a recent survey, the conquest of the wrist is shouted from the rooftops a little rashly: in France, 65% of respondents say they do not intend to buy a connected watch within the next six months, 60% of the people surveyed not seeing its usefulness. Better: 87% of respondents do not imagine paying more than €200 for a connected watch. Given that the Apple Watch will be commercialised as of April between €399 and €18,000 for the high-end version made of gold…
In order to reconcile with intelligent watches without mortgaging their home, makers are being twice as ingenious. Small compendium.
The most minimalist
![](http://www.makery.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Nowwatch.jpg)
Exit mechanical watchmaking and electronics with Do it NOW. On Instructables, Emily Grace King turns an old watch into an anti-procrastination tool. Minimalist.
The most geek
![](http://www.makery.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/montre-Nokia-Arduino-Nano.jpg)
Still on Instructables, Kenyer distorts a Nokia 3110 screen with a Nano Arduino to create a watch with a stopwatch and a decimal time display. Considering that a decimal minute translates into 1.44 sexagesimal minute… Have fun with conversions!
The most DIY
![](http://www.makery.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Retrowatch.jpg)
Still Arduino, this time associated to an Android smartphone, for the Retrowatch that displays a few notifications, including the number of unread emails.
The most fun
![](http://www.makery.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/biopunk.jpg)
The “Biopunk” edition of Matthew Garten’s Arduino watch incorporates several little fun programs, including a breakout game and a 16-bit colour drawing game. Connected to a glove equipped with sensors, it also serves as a thermometer.
An overview of what can be done with the Biopunk edition of the Arduino watch:
The most nerd
![](http://www.makery.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Nerd-watch.jpg)
The super Nerd watch displays time in binary. When pressing a button, it gives time by making 2 LEDs flash according to a sequence that represents two binary numbers in 4-bit.
Apple Watch, the real thing
![](http://www.makery.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/la-vraie-apple-watch.jpg)
The original Apple Watch was first launched on Instructables…