A Watch for the Blind
A watch for the blind. A watch that doesn’t disturb peace with an electronic voice: “the time is 12:21 AM.” A watch where you don’t have to work to find the time. Surprisingly, this watch doesn’t currently exist. That’s why I set out with Polymer Braille to produce a minimal Braille watch designed specifically for the blind.
Backstory
I’m an only child, but since I was a kid there has always been another voice in my family… a small electronic voice that creaks out the time every so often. My dad is fully blind and for years has been wearing a small black utilitarian talking watch. Not the same one per se, but honestly I can’t really tell the difference when he gets a replacement.
To be completely blunt, I’ve become habituated to the voices of his talking watches. But, its still really easy to pick out situations where reading the time out loud can be irritating, alarming, annoying, and sometimes downright disrespectful (moments of silence…).
Recently, probably two years ago, the talking watches were ousted and tactile watches that exposed the minute and hour hands came trotting in. These came with their own flurry of problems. Most notable of which: it was way too easy to brush the hour/minute hand to a different spot while trying to determine the time. This made it quite the challenge to find the time, the correct time that is.
Now about a year ago, 2017 Fathers Day was highlighted by the prettiest timepiece I’ve seen on my dad’s wrist: a Bradley watch made by Eone. A different take on tactile watches, the Bradley is impervious to miscalculated finger brushings- relying on two ball bearings to show the time, one for the hour and one for the minute. Although one couldn’t accidentally add 3 hours to the time, it still wasn’t easy to tell the time. The ball bearings are held in by weak magnets that release their hold on the bearing with only light finger brushes.
The most recent watch but probably most expensive watch that I’ve seen my dad wear is the Dot watch. A revolutionary watch for the blind that can connect to a smartphone and uses Braille to tell the time. With new Braille technology, the Dot watch is able to fit 4 Braille cells into a watch. However, this comes at the cost of accuracy. Many times the Braille dots don’t lock and can be pushed down, resulting in an inaccurate reading of the time (“no dad… it’s not 1:32 AM”). Furthermore, this technology doesn’t come cheap.
This brings us to a gap in the watch market. What my father and many blind people wish for is a simple watch that is quiet, easy to use, affordable, and well designed.
The Watch
With these wishes in mind, it was clear that the best way to show the time would be with Braille. And, because only 4 dots are required to represent numbers in Braille (instead of 6 for letters), the first design choice was to constrain the time mechanic to 4 cells of 4 dots.
Next fitting the horizontal Braille into a circular watch body left lots of vertical space above and below the Braille. In order to bring function to this space, a digital crown sits at the head of the watch, acting as the multifunctional command center. This intuitive digital crown, pictured in Aurelian blue below, spins vertically to toggle through modes and features, and clicks down into the watch to signal confirm intent.
A slight inset chamfer ushers the fingers to the clean and flat watch face adorned with the horizontally and vertically centered Braille dots. Holding the watch to the wrist is a supple leather band that terminates flush into the watch body.
The side profile reveals how thin the watch is. This is possible only with Polymer Braille’s new Braille technology that doesn’t rely on cantilevers or bulky mechanisms that electronic Braille technology on the market right now rely on. Our new Braille cells can be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of the current cheapest cells and have proven to be more reliable than similar competitors such as Dot. Aside: The main reason Polymer Braille is working on a watch is to work on its novel Braille technology in parallel. The watch acts like a jumping stone for more impactful products such as a low cost affordable Braille display to increase Braille literacy rates, which is lower than 10%! Please follow me to stay updated with our journey!
Final Design
This is my vision of a watch for not only my dad but all blind users. We are working hard on bringing this concept to reality and can use all the help we can muster. If you would like to learn more, donate, or get involved please reach out to me at kyang6@stanford.edu! I would also really love to hear your thoughts and critiques!
Lastly and maybe most importantly, we are currently raising money, so if you know any investors that would be interested… *hint,* we would love an introduction!
Without further adieu:
Wait… I’m not Blind!
Don’t worry! Anyone can learn to read Braille numbers. I promise you. Learning to read 4 dots is not as hard as you may think, it might even be a fun weekend goal. Personally, I have always wanted a way to check the time without having to look at my watch/phone! Most times, a glance at my watch makes friends feel like I’m getting impatient or bored….
