Arduino Steampunk Watch–With Monocles! [This Surprising Homebrew Watch Does More Than Just Look Cool--It Plays Breakout!]

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If you’re like me, you’re terribly fond of steampunk. The idea of putting marginally high-tech in a Wild West setting by virtue of steam power instead of gas-power, giving stuff fifty years ahead of its time a Victorian aesthetic besides, is pretty exciting when you think about it.

And that’s why I loved seeing this watch.

This particular rebuild is based around an Arduino Mini Pro 328, and tacks on a wide array of extras, including a block of wood. And lest you think this watch just looks pretty, you’ll be amazed by what it can do. It offers sensing of temperature and range, a drawing program so you can doodle on your watch via a trackball control, a copy of Breakout, and, in what may well be the strangest feature I’ve ever seen on a watch, three different time display styles: analog, digital, or BINARY. Yes, binary.

The original inventor says that other programs or parts can be added at will, and the whole thing can be built for just under three hundred bucks. If you actually own one of these watches, it’s safe to say your geek cred will go up three fold–and if you build one yourself, probably ten fold.