Tags
clocks and watches of the future, cricketdiane, nano materials, nanotechnology, near future design
My thought about it –
The watch of the near future will be a tattoo style clock pad that tells time much like the way a cellphone sensor and call alert has been recently done by Nokia. The nanotech field has light up arrays of various materials now which can be used and it could be powered by light or by the human metabolism – heartbeat, pulse, minute electromagnetic charges in the skin or by the skin’s chemistry.
It would have either a digital face that would change or a clock hands type face that would move. This watch would actually hover barely above the skin or in its first layers as with a tattoo and it would change in the same way that lit dials change now – as a nano charge lights up the particles, it would appear to change the time shown although no real change in the tattoo or (if it were on a pliable membrane attached on top of the skin,) to the nano particles lined up on that membrane.
It could even glow in the dark or light up enough to shine remotely on a wall or surface when the electrochemical charge might be tapped by hand manually boosting its temporary power output. Would be very nifty. Could be worn on an ankle or wrist or just about anywhere someone would like to have it. Probably wouldn’t be easy to remove in the tattoo form, but as a thin tattoo like membrane, it could be waterproof and maybe removable or even, disposable to get a new one every so often. It would clock off the minutes, seconds, hours and other small fractions of time the same way a quartz movement does it, except that it would be on a nanoscale using the tiniest traces of energy to be powered. At each moment, the hands would move or the digital face would indicate the new time. Well, its a thought. In fact, its timekeeping would likely be as perfect as any other timepiece because the only real innovation is in the materials used and the scale to which it has been manufactured at a nanoscale in a flexible, breathable membrane or ink substrate and applied to the skin.
– cricketdiane
That was my answer to this – (which I posted over to them tonight) – very nifty thinking about it . . . I can almost see exactly how it could work in about a dozen different ways using the nano materials and nanotechnologies that I’ve been reading about the past three plus years.
After posting this, I realized it would work just as well not on the skin, but attached to clothing, book bags, the windshield or dash of the car or just about anywhere else with a bit of light or sunshine (or chemistry) – even by using a static charge like nylon and many vinyls and polyesters have such as make up our dashboards now (among other things.) Interesting . . .
Each month, we’ll propose a scenario and present some ideas and concepts. Then it’s up you: Sketch out your vision and upload your ideas (below). We’ll use the best suggestions as inspiration for a future Found page, giving kudos to contributors, and we’ll add our favorite submission to this story.
Your next assignment: Imagine the future of watches. Now that clock functionality is built into nearly every mobile and computing device, will the dedicated time piece disappear? Will they become simpler, or more complex? Will the Swiss fashion even more elaborate and luxe wrist accessories?
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