Binary Shinshoku LED Watch Design

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Design submitted by Logan from the USA.

This watch design is a continuous-band watch like Tokyoflash Fire or Shinshoku, but the pattern of the holes/LEDs is essentially a binary tree.   This makes it easier to read the minutes by comparing to the obvious locations of minutes 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32.

In the “how to read” illustration, you can see that each row represents a minute written in binary, with holes/LEDs in place of 1s.  If the rows counted the minutes 1-59 from bottom to top, the watch would have to be too narrow, so instead, most rows are used for two different minutes, depending on whether the left-most LED (32) is lit.  The hours are not written in binary, but simply counted 1-12 near the top left.

There are no buttons on this watch.  Instead, the sides are touch-sensitive.  Three color combinations are shown: metallic blue with white LEDs, silver with yellow LEDs, or black with red LEDs.

This design appeals to lovers of binary, continuous-band watches, and patterns.  Even when the LEDs are off, the hole pattern reveals this watch’s binary side.

binary_shinshoku_led_watch_design_readingbinary_shinshoku_led_watch_design_touch_featurebinary_shinshoku_led_watch_design_color_variations

22 thoughts on “Binary Shinshoku LED Watch Design”

  1. Hi Logan,

    I’m not usually a fan of binary watches. My brain can’t work it out quick enough, and the time has changed by the time that it does. But I do quite like this one, once you know the values. Its also a good way of getting more usage out of an existing product (maybe TF can re-work the existing tooling from the original Shinshoko) 4* from me 🙂

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  2. Binary: yes! Continuous band: yes! Pattern: yes! Touch activation: ohhh yes!

    I like it. Could be a geeky revival of the Fire. Looks stylish.

    I made a minute animation as overview about how to read them, because I like it 🙂 And it might help people to get access to binary, cause it’s not everyone’s taste.

    With a cool animation before and after each time telling, with a date mode (that works similar) and an array of color variations this could be cool in the shop.

    Supportive 5*/Y

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    • Wow, Sam. Thanks for making the animation! If anyone is confused about how to read the minutes, please see Sam’s animation linked above.

      The animation also makes clear that, to manufacture this watch, you do not need an LED for each hole, since, for most of the rows of holes, all of the holes except for the 32-hole are always on or off together, not independently. So, most rows only need two LEDs (exceptions being the rows used for counting the hours).

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  3. OK. I started to write a good review of this, i do like it. I like the pattern of holes & the binary.
    However, I changed my mind. Its too similar to Shinshoku & Fire. I mean with some re-programming fire could do this same thing right?
    Logan, you are ticking all my boxes for things i like, wrap around strap, binary, pattern of holes. but I already have shinshoku, so its too similar.
    I will say that I would like to see a remake of shinshoku that was thinner, black metal & had several modes like binary, regular digits & 12-5-9. date & alarm. usb charging. shinshoku, although i love it, is also quite imposing to wear. You cant wear it without it screaming “what the hell is that on your wrist” to every passer by. So a touch of subtlety would help there.
    Thanks Logan, sorry I chnaged my mind, but I do like checking in here to see the ideas.

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    • Onisan, thank you for your honest comment. If you already have the Shinshoku, I can see why you might not want this, too, but it isn’t really the same as the Shinshoku or Fire, because here the pattern of the holes makes it easier to read the binary time. If you have holes everywhere, it’s still possible to display binary time, but it’s more difficult to read without markings. The idea of this design is that you can see at a glance where the 32, 16, 8, 4, and 2 minute locations are, making it easier to read the time, without the need for any markings (which I don’t like).

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  4. Damn cool design dude, Its seems like a technical ressurection of tokyoflash Shinshoku!.
    The time telling method is really ‘Tokyoflashy’. xD…I would buy this watch, because I like watches that If I wore them and showed people…they would say “What..how the **** do you tell the time on this!?” haha…damn futuristic dude! 5 stars and yes

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  6. Nice design, reminds me of braille , maybe there is a possibility it could be? looks realy cool and minimal would definately buy one. Although it is similar to shinshoko, it is also similar to many other TF watches, so I personally think this is positive. 5*/y

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    • Thank you for your comments, Keiron. I guess it does look a little like Braille, but I think that making some of the holes also readable by touch, to truly display Braille, would add too much complexity to the watch. You could use the Braille encoding as an alternative display method, with lit LEDs instead of raised dots, but that wouldn’t help anyone with visual impairment.

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  7. OK Logan. This watch is cool, no doubt about it. but I hope, from now on you should forget about complicated time reading system as TF is looking for easy yet creative way of reading time.

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  8. Logan, have you considered doing a watch based on the film of your namesake Logan’s Run? That could be quite cool.

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