HOW TO – Make a “Dot • Watch”

HOW TO – Make a “Dot • Watch” by Dave at Pop Sci, nice!

Trying to squeeze some new life out of the tried-and-true clock paradigm can be a frustrating design challenge. Likewise, creating a clock from the absolute minimal number of parts (e.g., no more than 6 components) can lead to some sleepless nights. Finally, trying to shoehorn everything into an itty-bitty space (roughly 2-x3-inches) and make it a portable, battery-powered clock can make even a seasoned project builder scream “Uncle!” Getting everything to work like, err, clockwork, priceless.

The Dot • Watch is a new spin on the classic microcontroller clock project. It’s small, portable, low cost, and sports a unique timekeeping function. If this method of timekeeping interests you, you can purchase a more “refined” watch with a similar time display function from Tokyo Flash.

Driven by an Arduino microcontroller clone, called Freeduino, Dot • Watch forces you to do some fast number cypherin’ to tell the current time. Rather than displaying numbers on a screen, Dot • Watch uses an 8×8 LED matrix to depict the current time. In this context four columns of “dots” are used for displaying time in a 24-hour format.