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Comment by biztos | Hacker News Reader

This is probably off topic for the S5 release, but I keep sort of hoping for a smartwatch I don't have to wear as a watch.

Because I wear a nice watch already. It only tells the time, but it's also jewelry. A lot of us still want a mechanical watch on our wrists.

So where does that leave us if we also want what the Apple Watch offers, but aren't willing to displace our nice analog timepieces?

Sure, I could make an Apple PocketWatch (and it's tempting, since iPhone is now available only in "big" or "huge") but one of the most interesting things is the sensors on your skin and vibration as notification.

Maybe you could wear it on your ankle like a convict under house arrest?

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Can’t you just turn off the auto-lock and remove the straps? I think you can even get “amputated “ strap ends.

Boom - timepiece.

That's what I was thinking of for a PocketWatch more or less. Take off the straps, somehow attach a chain to the spring bars or whatever the Apple Watch uses.

Probably needs more fashion-hacking than that, but as the phone is more stand-alone capable... one day I'm sure it'll have some ride-share apps built in, and at that point it'd be enough for a night on the town, right?

Those exist, and that's actually what's kind of fun about the watch - you can play with the strap structure:

https://www.bucardo.com/collections/pocket-watch

Wear an Apple watch on the other arm?

Or wear it right next to the mechanical watch?

I can't remember the name but when I was a kid, there was a children's book with a gorilla that sold stolen watches, always had a bunch of them on his arm. That look might work, and then I could have a Garmin too in case the battery dies on my Apple.

I do this; I also wear the Apple Watch on the inside of my right wrist instead of the outside, since that makes it FAR more usable for train fare gates and Apple Pay in general.

Whenever people ask about the two watches (and it has been EXTREMELY rare), I just point out how convenient it is.

Also, check out Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf: https://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/27/16866f394f281e17a80...

Swatch Group founder Nicolas Hayek: https://i1.wp.com/beirutnightlife.com/wp-content/uploads/200...

Fidel Castro: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/46/c4/41/46c441dfbc92a5d0d748...

Buzz Aldrin: https://hodinkee.imgix.net/uploads/images/1493225029494-v5fg...

It sounds like you're thinking of Bananas Gorilla[1]. That got pretty real in high school when some kids wore half a dozen Swatches[2].

[1] https://everythingbusytown.fandom.com/wiki/Bananas_Gorilla

[2] https://www.stay-tuned-to-sw.de/old_ad_lendl.jpg

& https://www.stay-tuned-to-sw.de/old_ads.html

Assuming you're being serious, this would look absolutely goofy as all hell (do you want to look like a goddamn kleptomaniac gorilla?), which is a dealbreaker for someone who wears watches as jewelry, i.e., someone who cares about watch aesthetics.

Completely with you. I used to wear a vivosmart® HR+ [1] next to my mechanical. With the vivosmart rotatet 180° to wear on the inside of the arm, it was an acceptable look. But I was not happy with garmins privacy policy, so I stopped wearing it.

Still looking for a replacement, ideally no display (even longer battery life, smaller), heart rate monitor, motion tracker and everything just pushed into iOS health app or a cloud-less app.

In the meantime I will give the Apple Watch a chance.

[1] https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/548743/pn/010-01955-36

Sort of misses one of the biggest points of the Apple watch, it’s health features oriented around heart rate monitoring. I actually had no interest in this bauble until I realized it could seriously help me with my workouts.

In the somewhat-related space of fitness trackers, there are alternatives to watches: keyfobs, ankle bracelets, rings. You get heart rate, sleep tracking, alarm clocks; I don't know if any do notification buzzes as well.

I think companies will continue to explore this space because there's potential to find a big winner. But they're contending with the difficulty of miniaturisation on top of the challenge of usability.

p.s. an idea that just crossed my mind was a smartwatch in a pen. Sure, pens are too easy to lose, but it could do some interesting things with input.

I really wish Apple would make a standalone fitness tracker. (They'd rather upsell me a Watch, but, still...)

Just give me all of the Health-related aspects of the watch without anything else. It doesn't even have to have a display — I can view Health data on my phone. I LOVE my Watch but there are circumstances where a mechanical watch is the way to go.

Wear OS devices are often quite bulky, I think they'd be fitting for a house arrest bracelet.

Perhaps one day we'll get a wearable device that replaces the wristband of your existing watch.

> a smartwatch I don't have to wear as a watch.

AR smartglasses.

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