Antikythera mechanism in a wristwatch

Swiss luxury watch company Hublot has announced a version of the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek astronomical calculator, that is incorporated into a wristwatch. The mechanism is to be displayed at the 2012 Baselworld expo before moving to a permanent exhibit at Musée des arts et métiers in Paris.

Hublot painstakingly recreates a mysterious, 2,100-year-old clockwork relic - but why? (Thanks, Richard!)

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MORE: astronomy • Gadgets • greece • happy mutants • History • horology • Space

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http://twitter.com/slowtiger slowtiger

With all respect, but writing latin month names in greek letters is a Bad Idea.
- Dave Jenkins
  
  Wow! No doubt! Look at “February”– I am reading it as “GSVRARPSI”, which is a pretty cool name for a band, IMHO.
yri

Too cool!

I’ve been wanting to crochet a doily based on the antikythera mechanism, but I’ve decided I need new bifocals before I can manage all those gears…
UrbanUndead

The alethiometer industry has been having to do some work-arounds recently, due to the escalating price of gold.
awillett

Sigma-for-E and theta-for-O substitutions bug the hell out of me. It’s not clever and Greeky; it just shows you don’t know what you’re talking about.
- Crispinus211
  
  Amen on the lame-o alphabet substitution. Psi for a Y. Really?
  
  Mechanism: awesome.
  Orthography: *barf*.
chaopoiesis

” – but why? ”

A suffix applicable to a good 99.5% of Boing Boing.
Grey Devil

That looks really sexy ;)
http://twitter.com/Milerama Milena Benini

Actually, it’s closer to GSBRNLPS. Yes, I know, it’s petty. I blame all those years of Greek in my youth.
http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

Woah! That’s wonderful!
http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

To the nit-picky comments. Shall you show us what you’ve accomplished lately?
- noah
  
  I’ve written in English using the correct characters for the language.
  - Spriggan_Prime
    
    I suppose nowadays on the internet this is considered to be an achievement. I shudder to think of the current generation raised on LOL cats, misspelled demotivational posters and L33t 5p34k, while their teachers were busy rallying to keep their meager salaries and health benefits.
- kartwaffles
  
  The ability to read Greek, for a start?
demidan

I wonder if there is 2100 man hours in that design, one for each year since it was built. Even at Chinese labour prices I know I can’t afford one,,,damn.
noah

That said, it looks like the picture above is a computer rendering. The actual watch can be seen here. Note that they used Latin characters for the Latin month names (which are in Latin, e.g. Iunius, Augustus, etc.). The Greek words on the inner ring are in Greek.

A wise decision was made between the computer rendering and construction stages….
- http://twitter.com/flyingsquirl Dave M.
  
  Oh thank god
- eyebeam
  
  Except that Latin didn’t have a “U”…
  - noah
    
    Using a ‘u’ is pretty standard for modern Latin orthography, though. See, for instance, the Loeb Classical Library editions. Here’s their Ovid.
- http://twitter.com/slowtiger slowtiger
  
  Now that’s much better. I approve.
scionofgrace

” – but why?”

*looks at watch* You have to ask?

Man, that’s gorgeous. Anybody got a fortune laying around they’re not using?
http://twitter.com/flyingsquirl Dave M.

I hate to say it but that black detail over a plastic looking grey finish is terrible. (is that really the finished version?!)

This would have been beautiful if it was simply made of brass/gold with steel/platinum details.

Also, that pseudo Greek writing is the equivalent using Papyrus font on a recreation of an Egyptian relic
hazdaz

Will the English-language people of the world please, please, please realize that the capital letter sigma is NOT an “E”.
Its a damn “S” for Pete’s sake…. stop trying to directly substitute Greek letters for English ones just because they “look” right.
Roy Trumbull

Have you noticed that a major advertiser in magazines and newspapers are watch companies. That’s a sure sign of a soft market that has to be pumped, pumped, pumped.
RJ

Having an astrarium in a wristwatch would be cool, but wildly impractical. However, offer it in a spring-driven mantlepiece design? Oh lawd, yes.

What’s that? Did someone think “orrery” just now? Because I sure did. God, how I’d love to build an orrery into the bedroom ceiling, using the ceiling fan as the sun. And in the midnight blue ceiling, tiny fiber optics would simulate the pinpoint lights of the stars. A simple arduino design could even ensure the stars fade in and out at dusk and dawn.

Basically, don’t show me stuff like that watch. It makes me want to turn the entire house into a planetarium.
- Guest
  
  Yes, I did think that just then. There was a wristwatch orrery thread some time back.
rabidpotatochip

RJ, if you’re seriously looking into a starfield ceiling this is the best example I’ve found: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-create-a-fiber-optic-starfield-ceiling/

It’s very high on my list of crazy projects I’m totally going to do when my wife’s not looking.
- RJ
  
  That one does look pretty good. I see he used fiber optics, too. The first place I saw the starfield effect done with fiber was on a concrete countertop done by Fu-Tung Cheng. It looked incredible, so it was just a short mental leap from Cheng’s design to the bedroom ceiling. If you like the ceiling effect, check out Cheng’s work. You’ll either end up with a really wild, cool interior design or… y’know. Divorced.
echthroi

Now this is something Watchismo should carry!
Petzl

I was going to buy one, but as soon as I saw the Greek-mangling, its: KΘξBAI.
juepucta

It’s Kojak o’clock!
Peter Yard

If you can afford it I am sure they will change the character set and words to your choosing. My oh my though, isn’t it a sight to behold? *sigh*
Guest

Why is October all bumped out like that? It puts my birthday in a very unique location.
kartwaffles

The fake Greek is utterly retarded. If this is meant to be a sophisticated and intelligent watch, why did the designer go to such great lengths to demonstrate their illiteracy?