25 nerdy watches that do more than just tell time
Gadget-stuffed watches have been a science fiction staple since the days of Dick Tracy. If you can miniaturize it and put it in a watch we've got it here for you, along with some other gadgetry/science fiction themes that are sure to please.
Here are 25 of the coolest things you can slap to your wrist, and they make great gifts, to boot.
Like this list? Check out our Holiday Gift Guide, which is an easy place to find all of our holiday gift lists as we head on into the end-of-the-year gift-buying blitz.
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1. Spy Camera Watch There are a whole bunch of these out now in varying styles and capacities. They capture video and audio, in some cases hours. They are also available in some good looking watches. They vary in price from $30-$100.
2. USB Drive Watch Safer than the cloud is having your files with you at all times, secretly hidden in your watch. There’s a whole variety of these around in different styles and capacities.
3. Night Vision Watch This is just your usual watch with a spy camera and night vision. The Full set is about $70 from ThinkGeek.
4. Doctor Who Pocket Watch How many other watches contain a Time Lord? No other for under $50.
5. Bluetooth Watch Put your phone on vibrate, then discretely glance at your watch if it rings during that important meeting to see who is calling you. Convenient and useful for $70.
6. Beat Watch This watch looks incredibly cool! It does a light show that will make others think you’re showing off your vital signs. It doesn’t actually show your heartbeat but it does look very cool for a mere $35.
7. Relativity Watch So you can tell time on a watch with no numbers. Can you tell time on a watch where the numbers keep moving? This is a $35 exercise in relative patience.
8. Backwards Watch Do you have someone on your holiday gift list that marches to the beat of their own drum? For under $30, this watch will either delight or confound you.
9. Design Your Own Watch For a mere $12, you can be wearing a work of art. Designed to be drawn on by pen, pencil or marker, you can make this watch anything you want it to be.
10. Sundial Ring There's high tech, there's low tech and now there's no tech. This cool little gadget has no moving parts or batteries.
For $35, youâÃôll have a timepiece that will run forever.
11. Classic Star Trek Watch As you watch the classic Enterprise NCC-1701 orbit the seconds, you can treat yourself to the original Trek theme song at the touch of a button. Oh, and it tells time. Easily worth $20.
12. Media Player Watch 4GB of space isn't a lot, but we're talking a watch here. It's under $50, and it may take a little tech know-how to get it working right.
13. Binary Watch They say there are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don'. If you're of the 01 variety, then this is for you. Only $1000110.00.
14. Astronomy Watch Find the relevant stars and constellations with this tiny little mechanical wonder. Not bad for about $65.
15. Wi-Fi Finder Watch We need precious, precious Wi-Fi to keep almost all our gadgets going these days. The "WiFi Finder" will let you know if there's a signal being broadcasted where you are, though getting access to it is your problem. It's a hard watch to find these days, but this is the manufacturer's website.
16. Walkie Talkie Watches These $44 two-way radios are sure to bring hours of fun! All you need is a buddy you don't mind having a direct line to your wrist.
17. Faceless LED Watch A fast look would identify this as a band with no face. Embedded LEDs frame out the time with a definite Tron-like feel. Not bad for under $10, and it comes in multiple colors (linked is blue).
18. Universal Remote Watch Never search between the couch cushions again. This simple and practical timepiece can be found for under $8 here.
19. Kisai Console Watch This one reminded us of the control Pannel from Mr. Spock's thruster suit in 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The USB chargeable Console tells time with lots of style for $180.
20. Watch Phone The watch phone has been a quintessential science fiction gadget since the beginning. There are loads of varieties in the quad band GSM flavor. You can find them for as little as $65.
21. Infinity Invaderz Watch This watch puts on a really cool 8-bit-video-game-like show before the dots settle to the correct time. More style than substance for $35. Still, really cool.
22. The Data Bank If the battery in your smart-phone dies, how many numbers do you have committed to memory? This is still selling for $45, which is about what I paid for mine in 1986. It's a classic and a good backup.
23. Touchscreen Watch True to Tokyoflash form, glancing at the Kisai Rogue Touch won't tell you much about how to read it. To set the time, an alarm and more you just tap different hot zones on the watchface, though good luck reading it! You can learn all about it here.
24. Lighter Watch This is clearly a new one from Deal Extreme. I don't think James Bond had anything as cool as being able to light a lady's cigarette from his watch. Not bad at under $10, and it tells time.
25. Neewer New Blue LED Watch Bracelet You might need to be a native of Arrakis to see this properly. For only $8 it's just so… blue. (It's hard to tell in the image, but looking at it straight on you'd see some numbers.)