Brkn watch comes with pre-shattered screen to save you the bother of dropping it! (update)

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Design submitted by Justin from the UK.

Justin says: This watch is taken from my Smart-Watch design submitted a little while ago.

Part of that design was of a time-telling mode called “Shattered”…this seemed to be something that people liked the look of…so here it is…Brkn.

Brkn (Broken) is an analogue watch at heart. Hidden amongst the broken glass are two shards which have little lines across them, these are the hands…the biggest indicates the 10 x Mins, the smaller, the hours. Single mins 0-9 are displayed in the centre, shown in this design as a cracked hole.

The E-paper would also be beneficial in displaying new time modes. “Easy” (little cracks zig-zagging off to the hour & Min points) all the way up to “Hard” (A completely obliterated screen).

Its hard to say who would wear it as nowadays you cant be too sure. Maybe those who enjoy a prank now and then would find it entertaining due to its broken look and its ability to fool others into thinking its smashed. 8)

Id hope it goes further than that though as there is a beauty in its randomness when activated.

Speaking of which, to activate this watch there is a touch sensor in the centre of the screen! Upon pressing the screen, it would break and then the time would become visible. I personally would love to see this happen in reality as im sure if done right it would be a very exciting thing to behold!

It would also be a great talking point and would probably be something you would want to see again and again. Going back to the prank thing, it would be great to see someones face when you asked them to press it and watch their reaction.

Maybe if its possible to add a mirrored screen ontop of the E-Paper display then this would enhance the effect greatly!!

Lastly, a touch sensor strip on the side would be used rather than the usual A&B buttons.

Setting the time – slide finger up to move hands anti-clockwise or slide finger down to move hands clockwise.

I hope you like this one guys…justin

UPDATE: Version using centre digit for hours, dark crack for 5 min intervals & cracked shards for single mins 1-4

25 thoughts on “Brkn watch comes with pre-shattered screen to save you the bother of dropping it! (update)”

  1. Excellent, I love it 🙂
    I see a lot of people walking round with shattered screen on their smart phone, it seems to be a common modern-day problem. For the seriously fashion conscious; a co-ordinated watch! LOL

    I really like how the centre smash forms the digit, that works nicely. So nicely in fact that I would rather that digit be the hour.
    My suggestion would be to have the hour as the digit & then a wide black crack showing the minutes 5, 10, 15 etc. A couple of small lateral cracks as the extra 1-4 mins – something along those lines I feel would be easy to read & exploit the awesome smash effect to the maximum.
    Those precise 1-4 mins are the least important detail of the time. Most of the time I am happy to glance down & see “its roughly 12:45” – maybe thats just me, what do you think?

    Top marks from me, I would wear this.

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    • Firstly, thanks for posting.

      Secondly…wow! Thanks for the great feedback. Luckily i dont have that problem with my phone as my case could withstand a nuclear blast lol. Im not paying £80 for a new screen…ain’t nobody got time for that lol.

      I like the way youre thinking with your suggestions, Im so intrigued by this “cracked hour/5xMin cracks” etc that i may (if its ok with you) have to do a couple of test renders and if any good, ill send them your way for a blog update.

      I too am not really fussed by the exact time, I mostly just round off the time anyway regardless of the odd minute here and there so maybe those extra cracks on your suggestion could be purely aesthetic? Then again, they could be both?

      Practical cracks….cracktical…heehee. Damn, thats a better name.

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      • I don’t think mirror is possible with e-paper, but I get where you are going ~ it would look like an actual glass crack. Mirror can be silkscreened onto the underside of the glass, it wouldn’t change of course but it might work in conjunction with the epaper.

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      • Thats a shame, it wouldve been the icing on the cake.

        The touch screen is a must though!! The effect and feeling you would get when pressing your finger to it would be so awesome.

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  3. This is great, Justin.
    I loved the ‘shattered’ screen on your smart watch submission. I didn’t recognise this at first, as it is a bit different, but do like it. I particularly like the alternate time display.
    I think the hours and minutes look good in the current form, but understand the comments from TF. You should try 12 as the hour in their scenario to see if two numbers in the middle is viable.
    I also think that touch screen is a must and that it should seem like there are some cracks – maybe some display lines could always be there and the glass be ridged above them?
    A definite ‘must have’ – good luck and 5y.

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  4. This is a excellent take on a e-paper wristwatch Justin, I agree with Nev think change the display to a touch screen would only improve this design.

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  5. dzign – I completely agree, if the segmented E-paper display could allow for such convincing cracks/broken images then this would be epic! My apologies for the lack of decent looking shattered effects, I just couldn’t get it right, it was a constant battle to make it look realistic and yet not spend 3 hours on each time example.

    I think a little bit of imagination is needed to realize the full potential here but you get the idea.
    Thanks for your support buddy!

    Nev – glad you like it, I’ll be doing a few renders based on TF’s suggestions so expect an update later on. Touch screen has got to be on this, one little touch sensor in the centre of the screen is easily done so shouldn’t be too much trouble, plus as it’s E-paper it would make the watch quite small/thin so I’d imagine there’s be enough for for other tech to be shoe-horned in there like the slide sensor.

    Ooh I like your thinking with the raised/ridged glass. Kinda like a 3D effect to make it look as though the glass has actually shifted upwards upon breaking. But only the lines between certain shards…Am I right?
    This could be a possibility as if this based on the segmented kind if E-paper then it’s my understanding that the activated sections (shards numbers and lateral cracks etc) would have to be a permanent non-movable fixture like on an LCD screen and so having ridges on certain sections of the screen would work for the enhanced aesthetic effect!
    Cool!!

    Thanks for the vote!

    Andrew – glad the touch sensor idea is popular, thanks for your support buddy. By the way…have you looked at the renderers on google sketch up to enhance your designs, it’s super easy and really adds extra dimension to your designs. It’s what I use. If you need a hand let me know.

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  6. Oh yes, I remember this.=) You’ve managed the adjustment of the display very well, I’d say.
    I usually don’t go for ‘single digit in the middle’-layouts, but here it works very well, hiding in plain sight.

    E-paper seems a good choice as it’d be a terrible headache to layout LCD segments for it, I suspect. =)

    As TF’s suggested there are possible variations, and why not have them as different modes? It should only broaden the appeal.

    A small detail that would make it look even better to me would be to make the crosswise indicator lines a bit slanted. As they are now (parallel to the case sides) they kinda break the illusion of cracked glass, no pun intended.

    Good luck Justin!

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  7. Hi Justin, Im afraid this one isnt for me. Im not a fan of the broken product look, I must have a little OCD (had to resist typing ODC to temp others into correcting me lol) That said I can appreciate the work, the time telling and the presentation. I would agree with Toky that the digit should be the hours, 10s of minutes and single minutes analogue.
    I have given you 5stars for support but I wouldnt buy, but best of luck anyway sir! 😀

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  8. Anders – thanks for the kind words. Glad you like the re-jigging of the design and that it not only pleases your eye but also quite possibly has converted you lol. That can only be a good thing.

    E-paper would be the only way to go with this one , I can’t see LCD being as effective…although it may have to be re-shuffled around slightly to see how the shards and cracks can co-exist with 1-12 as the centre digit. It being a segmented E-paper display I’m assuming I would need to be arranged in a way similar to an LCD display as a dot matrix display would be too big.
    So yeah, a little headache but hopefully worth it. Thanks for the support.

    Pete – awww man…me and you gonna have a falling out lol
    Nah just kidding! You can’t please everyone in this game and I appreciate both that fact and your honesty.
    It looks like the center hour variation has the votes so far and that’s no bad thing, I just can’t understand why I never saw that style earlier. Once I get so caught up in a specific method of time telling then I become tunnel visioned until the end lol.

    I think it’s lack of flashy lights and spinny things is what fails to excite you…I’ll have to try harder lol

    Thanks for your support bud!!

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    • haha yeah you got me bang to rights there! If my inner “Stewie” isn’t bouncing around the room like he’s just been told he’s going to Disney land due to shiny, glowing or spinney things then your fighting a losing battle lol

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  9. Thanks for the update TF. If im completely honest I think I prefer this new method better than the original. Given the fact its Epaper though it would be nice to have both for preference sake.

    Sorry that the “segmented” 1-12 looks a little rough. I hope ive done enough of a job to convey what my intentions are regarding this center digit area and how this could be implementable in a segmented Epaper piece of technology.

    I still also think that Nevs idea for a raised “cracked” screen over the top of the epaper shards would be a great addition and add more of a 3D life to the theme.

    Anyhoo…im off to bed…

    Peace out…

    Justin.

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  10. Hi Justin, there is some time, I had thought of a cracked dry earth ground, with much the same idea as you, but it stuck in my sketchbook.
    The “broken” effect of the glass is an option, but the idea is there.
    5 * / Yes.

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    • With any luck Aim Hans, if Tokyoflash decide to create it youll probably be able to buy it here in about a year….fingers crossed huh.

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    • Not sure if its something that would be technologically feasible but im interested to know what silk screening the screen would do ontop of an E-paper display.

      Thanks for the positive comment!

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  13. I didn’t like the shattered version on the smartwatch. I like the idea to use a broken screen effect & using a central digit for the single minute. The only display I like is the 2nd but it seem too complex, at least for me.

    I like the 12-5-9 animation. It could use that as ‘all on’ & have the current inside OFF, leaving an outline. Or all the outlines ON & have the current inside ON. Or 1 all OFF or ON. Or 1 segment completely OFF/ON.

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