No, this isn’t a piece for collectors or us high-end watch snobs. This is a gadget watch and I felt it was worth sharing because of how useful it is to the right people. Most of us have somewhere along the line (or at times) forgotten that watches are about telling the time, and timing purposes. Weird right? The unbelievably straight-forward name of the ‘Time Timer” watch shows what this company is all about – “timing time.”
According to Time Timer, the concept of their watches was to produce timing devices that were more visual, especially for children or people with learning disabilities. Having said that, it has been my experience that visual interpretations of time are excellent for people who have time management problems or when tasks needs to be completed within a certain amount of time (such as a test, presentation, performance, etc..). Why? Well it has to do with our minds conceptualizing the remaining time of an event as part of a whole. Pie chart or bar style indicators or time elapsed allow us to understand how much time we had/have total, and how much is left as a function of the original time. That is a much easier concept to grasp than saying we have “5 or 10 minutes” left… unless your mind has a perfect appreciation for exactly how long that is.
Time Timer has created some desk clocks, computer and iOS apps, and other items designed around this concept for both children and adults. As a mere indicator of the time, the Time Timer watch is nothing special. It offers both a digital and LCD based analog read out. However, the alarm and countdown timers are the important features. As a tool it is cool, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a regular wrist watch.
As Time Timer suggests, I think tools like this are good for young children or those who have trouble with time management. It takes a surprising amount of foresight and chronologic understanding to finish things within a set amount of time or to not be chronically late. In fact, you might want to think about getting one of their clocks to plant in the homes of people you know who are chronically late. You know who I am talking about. Set the red pie to one hour and say “you have this long to get ready you unorganized disaster of a human being!”
One good feature that the Time Timer has (not unique to this device though) is an audible (beeping) as well as vibrating alarm. If you are doing a presentation or something like that and need a reminder of when your time is up or when you have just a few minutes left, this vibration alarm is a good option because it is easy to set the alarm as a function of a predetermined amount of time versus having to use the actual time. This minor distinction is sort of a big deal and watches with these functions are actually quite rare.
As for the watch itself – nothing fancy. There are two size choices – for adults and kids. The Time Teller has a squarish plastic case with silicon strap. Quartz movement inside and two-tone LCD screen. A good choice for a young kid and for you.. tucked under your sleeve if you are in public. Price is $69.95 – $74.95. You can buy them via the Time Timer website here. Oh, and Time Timer wanted to extend a 25% off discount to aBlogtoWatch readers who use the coupon code “NewYear” at checkout.