#HTE

Yea or Nay? A Wristwatch That Conveys the Time Non-Visually and Silently

I’m generally down on new ideas for watches, which I often find too enamored of technology, but this here is a novel approach that I’m curious to get your take on.

An object called Prompt, which its creators are branding an “anti-watch,” is for those who need to be somewhat aware of the time, but are tired of glancing down at their watch every few minutes. It’s also for people who interact with others a lot, yet need to maintain a schedule, and don’t want to be rude or unintentionally give signals by eyeballing their watch mid-conversation.

So the Prompt is not meant to be looked at. It has no screen, no face, no speaker, no connection to Bluetooth or WiFi. Instead it works haptically and, by design, without precision. What it does is indicate through vibrations, when you discreetly tap it, what quarter of the current hour you’re in.

Admittedly, the watch does have a cheat. For those times when you do need the precise time, if you press down on the “lens” for three seconds, LEDs illuminate around the circumference to communicate time down to the minute. This part I’m not too crazy about, since you have to look at multiple places and do a little math:

The Prompt is up on Kickstarter, and at press time its likelihood of launch is anyone’s guess: $30,000 goal, $1,551 pledged so far, 29 days to go.

So my questions are, do you think Prompt’s unique approach would work for you? And/or ought they have just designed the haptic feature into a conventional-looking watch, avoiding the tech-y rigmarole with the LEDs?