14 DAY TRIAL // As the world becomes increasingly dominated by smartwatches that are popping out of every major tech company and crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter, we noticed an ever-present need to impress the customer crowd.
Smartwatches like the original Samsung Galaxy Gear are already obsolete, as people are moving towards more stylish products like the Moto 360 or HP Chronowing.
But some folks like their technology odd. In an earlier piece we told you about SuperDuino, which is a smartwatch based on an Arduino board that comes with a touchscreen.
Want a geeky watch? The HDD Watch has you covered
We have stumbled upon another kooky watch belonging to the same family, which that aims to remind you of the past. Well, sort of.
As the world moves towards the adoption of flash storage, old-fashioned hard disk will soon be forgotten. But what if there’s a chance of offering them another way to live?
Industrious Frenchman Jean Jérôme came up with a peculiar but fun idea after seeing a gag photo on a watch forum he was browsing.
He took some Microdrives (brand name for miniature 1-inch hard disks designed to fit in CompactFlash (CF) Type II slots) which he quickly and artfully transformed into a bunch of watches.
Even if since 2011 Microdrives are viewed as obsolete, mister Jérôme offers a viable solution to keeping these terribly adorable hard disks breathing and living.
What’s even more endearing is that the watch’s hands have been designed to look exactly like the reading arm of a hard drive, while the band boasts a printed (fake) circuit board.
The Microdrives are actually the real deal and once they were home to a total capacity of 4GB, but sadly they don’t store data anymore.
Brace yourselves, more HDD watches are coming
The device is simply called HDD Watch and its creator has set up an Indiegogo page for them, hoping to fund the building of 500 models.
He has built several of them by hand, but given the fact that the project already surpassed its funding goal, the HDD Watch will be replicated in more models.
But that’s not where the adventures end. The Frenchman has other plans for the future, as he wants to build a hard drive with portrait orientation, because in the current state of affairs the timepiece looks a little too big. He also wants to create a hard drive watch with a mechanical movement.
By the way, you too can get your hands on one of these models by pledging $120 / €97 to the cause.
