# Binary watch



## Danny McG (Nov 29, 2020)

I'm thinking of getting one of these watches, just for the 'geek factor'.

Has anybody got one?
Are they ok to operate/read?
Cheers


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## BT Jones (Nov 29, 2020)

Never seen that before.  Reminds me of a watch I had back in high school that could control video tape players - which was amusing in English class when I would randomly fast forward the film we were watching.


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## Foxbat (Nov 29, 2020)

I’m curious. Why is it called binary? I expected the time to be displayed in nowt but ones and zeroes.


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## Danny McG (Nov 29, 2020)

Foxbat said:


> I’m curious. Why is it called binary? I expected the time to be displayed in nowt but ones and zeroes.


I got no idea, I saw an ad on Amazon for binary watches, clicked on the link and thought "hmmmm, do I want one?"


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## Foxbat (Nov 29, 2020)

I’m thinking that it might be because the hours and minutes are in two columns, which maybe somebody thought they could market as binary. I think I would have gone a bit further and changed the columns to resemble a game of tetris (with hour and minute blocks dropping until at 1200, they reach the top and then  start again).


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## Kerrybuchanan (Nov 29, 2020)

If it’s the one I think it is*, it’s pretty cheap, well under a tenner, so I’d say go for it for a bit of fun.
If someone asks you for the time, just show them your wrist and enjoy their reaction!

*I went and looked it up on Amazon.


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## Danny McG (Nov 29, 2020)

Kerrybuchanan said:


> If it’s the one I think it is*, it’s pretty cheap, well under a tenner, so I’d say go for it for a bit of fun.
> If someone asks you for the time, just show them your wrist and enjoy their reaction!
> 
> *I went and looked it up on Amazon.


I'll have another look, I must have missed that, the one I saw was £23!


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## Foxbat (Nov 29, 2020)

I did a search on Amazon and there's one for around £20 that displays the time as binary code. Looks pretty neat.


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## AlexH (Nov 29, 2020)

Danny McG said:


> I got no idea, I saw an ad on Amazon for binary watches, clicked on the link and thought "hmmmm, do I want one?"


You didn't want one until Amazon showed it to you. Don't fall for their mind games! Unless you buy it via one of Brian's affiliate links.


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## Foxbat (Nov 29, 2020)

AlexH said:


> You didn't want one until Amazon showed it to you. Don't fall for their mind games! Unless you buy it via one of Brian's affiliate links.


I like to search for what I want on Amazon and then find a third party that’s also selling it.


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## Venusian Broon (Nov 30, 2020)

Foxbat said:


> I’m curious. Why is it called binary? I expected the time to be displayed in nowt but ones and zeroes.


It's definitely a duodecimal watch.  From a quick google there do exist binary clocks that just show ones and zeroes.


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## Matteo (Nov 30, 2020)

Here's a geeky watch I bought years ago.  Haven't worn it in ages but when I did it was fun to see people quickly glance down at it (to see the time) and then look puzzled and look down a second time - usually still looking a bit confused... 





And there are binary watches out there: https://www.amazon.co.uk/getDigital...606743206&sprefix=binary+watch,aps,474&sr=8-4


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## Judderman (Dec 1, 2020)

Looks quite cool, though may take you slightly longer to read the time than normal.
What are the red numbers 1-4 for?


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## Venusian Broon (Dec 1, 2020)

Judderman said:


> Looks quite cool, though may take you slightly longer to read the time than normal.
> What are the red numbers 1-4 for?



It has a 'Wk' setting, so I guess they are for weeks. Assuming that you also include all green lights off as 'week 1' then that gives you 13 green setting multiplied by the four will give you 'working weeks'. (Who knows what the watch does on day 365 or the extra day for a leap year which is in week 53 officially. Probably all the red numbers switch off?)


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## Dave (Dec 1, 2020)

This made my think of the _Gemini Man_ watch - not the recent Will Smith film, but a Ben Murphy 1976 series cancelled after only 5 episodes - which counted down the invisibility time remaining.


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## Matteo (Dec 1, 2020)

Judderman said:


> Looks quite cool, though may take you slightly longer to read the time than normal.
> What are the red numbers 1-4 for?


Thought you were referring to mine for a moment...then read on.  

Anyway, the hands moved anti-clockwise so the time was just what it said it was.


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## Vladd67 (Dec 1, 2020)

Judderman said:


> Looks quite cool, though may take you slightly longer to read the time than normal.
> What are the red numbers 1-4 for?


The green numbers are hours, the blue numbers are for every five minutes, ie the numbers on a watch, and the red numbers 1 - 4 are for the minutes in between.


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## Vladd67 (Dec 1, 2020)

Dave said:


> This made my think of the _Gemini Man_ watch - not the recent Will Smith film, but a Ben Murphy 1976 series cancelled after only 5 episodes - which counted down the invisibility time remaining.


With the pilot, there were actually 12 episodes.




__





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## TomMazanec (Dec 2, 2020)

Reminds me of a sitcom I saw in the Seventies. The character had a huge wall clock that had multicolored geometric figures on it. She explained at length how the figures said (say) 9:12. Then the figures totally changed and she said “See, now it’s 9:13.”
Later in the show a visitor looks at the clock, says “Look at the time, gotta run!” and leaves.


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## Danny McG (Dec 2, 2020)

TomMazanec said:


> Reminds me of a sitcom I saw in the Seventies. The character had a huge wall clock that had multicolored geometric figures on it. She explained at length how the figures said (say) 9:12. Then the figures totally changed and she said “See, now it’s 9:13.”
> Later in the show a visitor looks at the clock, says “Look at the time, gotta run!” and leaves.


It was one of the episodes of Rhoda starring Valerie Harper


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## TomMazanec (Dec 2, 2020)

Thanks, Danny McG!
The late Sixties and early Seventies had some "futuristic" technology in popular culture. Maybe it was all those "special" sugar cubes and paper blotters!


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## Danny McG (Jul 3, 2021)

Guess what I got!
(It came with no user guide so I'm still trying to work out how to set the time)


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## Danny McG (Jul 3, 2021)

I contacted the supplier to try and get a user guide for the watch....


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## Parson (Jul 3, 2021)

Errr, no! But cool geeky watch.


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## Wayne Mack (Jul 4, 2021)

Danny McG said:


> Guess what I got!
> (It came with no user guide so I'm still trying to work out how to set the time)
> View attachment 79789View attachment 79790


Is this the same watch? This video explains setting date and time at 1:37.


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## Danny McG (Jul 4, 2021)

Wayne Mack said:


> Is this the same watch? This video explains setting date and time at 1:37.


I saw that but sadly no, the one I got has only got one button you can press - and nowhere else to press on the face or whatever


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## Toby Frost (Jul 5, 2021)

It looks like the kind of medal you'd get in the Galactic Empire for shooting a lot of rebel scum, so proper SF credentials there!


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## Danny McG (Jul 5, 2021)

I'm just gonna spend a couple hours pressing the button in various sequences (and taking notes) and seeing what happens.

If I do get it sorted I plan to write it out as a step by step guide .... Then probably PDF it.
I'll post in here and then it's handy if anyone gets a similar watch

If I can't get it sorted I'll pass it to the 3 year old - together with a small hammer


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## mosaix (Jul 5, 2021)

Danny McG said:


> I'm just gonna spend a couple hours pressing the button in various sequences (and taking notes) and seeing what happens.
> 
> If I do get it sorted I plan to write it out as a step by step guide .... Then probably PDF it.
> I'll post in here and then it's handy if anyone gets a similar watch
> ...



The 3 year old will probably work it out in 5 minutes.


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## Danny McG (Jul 6, 2021)

It's turned out to be very easy!


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## mosaix (Jul 6, 2021)

Danny McG said:


> It's turned out to be very easy!



It was the 3 year old wasn’t it, Danny?


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## Trevoremoma (Jul 12, 2021)

Hi, can you tell me how to upload an avatar?


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## Danny McG (Jul 13, 2021)

Trevoremoma said:


> Hi, can you tell me how to upload an avatar?







__





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