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Comment by Osmium | Hacker News Reader

I'm a big fan of 'accessibility first' design. Beyond the obvious benefits to those who need them, it also creates affordances for people without disabilities too.

An aside, but the Bradley watch[1] mentioned looks great. Shame it's so big.

[1] http://www.dezeenwatchstore.com/shop/the-bradley-stainless-s...

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>Shame it's so big.

40mm is actually on the smaller side for watches. Divers start at 42mm typically. The Apple watch she purchased is also 42mm.

Increasing watch size is a trend. Watches have not always been comically large.

See:

http://www.ablogtowatch.com/whats-deal-big-watch-sizes-large...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/fashion/trends/watchmakers...

42mm tall but not wide. Most watches are 42mm in diameter... the Apple watch looks puny on most men's wrists, especially when compared to a "traditional" divers watch.

That's a bad ass looking watch too! I want one!

I assumed it was big to allow easy tactile reading.

> I assumed it was big to allow easy tactile reading.

Braille is quite small though? Perhaps it's just a stylistic choice, or the mechanism/durability constraints demand a larger size.

Many blind people tell the time by feeling the machinery on their watches. This is simply a watch which is designed for that and I would imagine, less prone to the issues usually experienced: e.g. a blind person might have a watch with the face removed, and touch the hands in order to tell the time. The problem is the hands can move slightly, so it throws off the watch's accuracy.

That's right. The magnets that keep the balls in place are on the inside. You can move the balls and they will just roll back into place[0], eliminating the chance of setting the time.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiNHDF2e54s

Watches for the blind are called Braille watches but (almost?) never use Braille to indicate time digitally (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_watch)

A normal analog watch with a sturdier mechanism and stronger hands, that can be flipped open to feel the location of the hands is cheaper and smaller than anything with refreshable Braille cells.

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