Crave

By now, you've probably gotten used to expecting a lot more from a smartphone than just the ability to place calls. Do you know that watches can now do a lot more than just tell time?

To wit, watch maker Timex announced on Monday its latest evolution in outdoor time-keeping instruments, the Timex Expedition WS4.

About the size of a normal wristwatch, with a wide-screen dashboard, the WS4 includes an altimeter, barometer, thermometer, and compass. It can also serve as, of course, a versatile timepiece, chronograph, alarm, and timer.

The WS4 is designed to perform under extreme conditions and help navigate any terrain with a long list of features:

(Credit: Timex)

• Target altitude setting and altitude alarm helps set goals and warn of exceeded limits
• Four altitude-reference settings for one-touch calibration and improved accuracy
• Graphic altitude and barometer displays for at-a-glance review of trends
• Weather-condition forecast with real-time temperature and future alerts
• Digital compass headings and digital needle
• 100-hour chronograph; 100-hour timer with repeat function and 99-lap count with display of lap or split time
• Daily, weekday, weekend, or weekly alarms
• Water-resistant to 165 feet
• Night light for easy viewing in low-light conditions
• Highest, lowest altitude; total ascent, descent
• Time spent at or above target altitude
• Altitude, barometric pressure, temperature graph
• Highest, lowest, average barometric pressure and temperature

The WS4 is sealed in a lightweight composite casing, and is fortified with a stainless steel bezel. You can can choose between a rubber strap for traditional usage or an expandable XL elastic strap to wear over performance gear.

The new timepiece will be available in May for $199 in six colors, including black, orange, yellow, blue, and white.

(Credit: Technabob)

In the course of everyday duty Crave has witnessed some ghastly laboratory experiments that have made for some unnaturally grafted appendages, but there are some gadgets that are deformed from the outset. This combo remote watch falls squarely into that category.

There have been other watches that double as remotes, some of them even featuring a touch screen, but this one looks like it has a goiter sticking out of it. The watch is made in China, according to Technabob, which explains its price--$7.25. That even includes the faux jade-looking buttons, putting it on par with none other than the Buddha phone.

(Credit: Tokyoflash)

It's been a long while since we've posted about unreadable timepieces, and for good reason: We can't stand them. But Tokyoflash, the most shameless purveyor of these maddening devices, has truly outdone itself with the "Infection."

As best we can tell, the face of this wristwatch is supposed to symbolize a colony of bacteria or some other disgusting microorganisms, with LEDs pulsating along the way to resemble their movement. And tell time, of course, though we defy anyone to figure that out at first glance.

It's unclear what kind of statement this is meant to convey, other than perhaps to warn others to stay away because you should be quarantined. We won't even attempt to guess the message if it's worn with Tokyoflash's other well-known model, "Pimpin' Ain't Easy."

(Credit: TimeZone)

It never fails. Everytime we vow not to get sucked into another mystery marketing campaign, we end up giving in. We're not sure if it's sheer nosiness or plain stupidity--probably both.

Just as we were drawn against our will to Lenovo's secretive "Reserve Edition" ThinkPad site and B&O's "Serenata" countdown page, we're now hooked on an ultra-exclusive watch appropriately called the "Incognito 2008." Still only a concept that won't be delivered until next year, the watch nevertheless appeared at an auction in Monaco where the bidding started at 100,000 euros and eventually sold for 400,000, or about $566,000, according to BornRich.

What little we do know about the elusive timepiece, which was reportedly purchased by well-known Hong Kong distributer, is that it's made by House of DeWitt, features rare materials with a lithium-aluminum alloy case and is accompanied by its own "flying tourbillon" regulator. Oh, and it's expensive.

(Credit: Newlaunches)

Talk about cruel irony. Just as some companies are finally developing smart watches that perform a multitude of functions ranging from video to phone features, reports persist that people may be giving up on wristwatches altogether.

But if products like the "iMobile C1000" continue their rapid development, it could forestall the death of the wrist timepiece indefinitely. This multimedia watch phone claims to be much less bulky than other models while still offering video, audio and Bluetooth, as well as a 1.5-inch color touch screen, according to Newlaunches. Before it can take the world by storm, however, it will have to travel beyond the Chinese market.

(Credit: TubeClock.com)

One of the tragic victims of the cell phone's widespread popularity are good, old-fashioned timepieces. Everyone has a do-it-all, pocketable device that makes calls, tells time, and surfs the Internet, so clocks and watches have fallen by the wayside.

Thanks to these retro Nixie Tube Clocks and DIY kits, you can reclaim time-telling in the name of the clock. Not only that, you can also bring your desk's fashion sense back to the glory years of the standalone timepiece.

These hand-made clocks and clock-making kits display the time with old-fashioned glowing orange numbers in Russian Nixie tubes. According to the site, the numbers fade in and out as the time changes.

(Credit: TubeClock.com)

Depending on the style, the clocks run from $135 for the toaster-like Four-Tube Nixie Desk Clock to $495 for the solid aluminum Six-Tube IN14 Clock.

The 'Silhouette' model

(Credit: Gadget Candy)

Lithium-powered watches have been around for ages, but many versions have tended to look like something produced a former Soviet Union factory: basic block numbers in black and white. Citizen is remaking that image, however, allowing shamelessly capitalistic pigs like ourselves to enjoy fashion jewelry while assuaging our environmentalist guilt.

The watchmaker's "Eco-Drive" line features timepieces with jewels and dials that absorb natural and artificial light for their internal energy supply. Their rechargeable batteries last eons longer than earlier generations, with "enough juice to keep you ticking for up to five years, even in the dark," Gadget Candy says. No one ever said that being green had to be ugly.

(Credit: Vavolo)

Until we saw this watch, we were almost convinced that all personal timepieces were headed toward the infuriating trend of unreadability. But Chip Chick has restored our faith in human nature by posting an item on a new OLED watch that not only has an analog-style face (gasp) but even some high-tech features to boot.

Made by Vavolo, a Chinese company that has shown a penchant for products with multiple uses, this timepiece can also show video, play MP3s and even display e-book pages, though the last feature may be a bit tricky on its 1.5-inch screen. It can also obviate the need to carry a silly or expensive USB drive, storing up to 2GB of data.

And with the leather band, it looks a lot swankier than most other Dick Tracy watches we've seen. Unless, of course, the iPhone morphs into a one.

(Credit: Tech Digest)

The only thing surprising about this watch is that it didn't come from Tokyoflash, the site known for such indecipherable gems as the "Jive Turkey," the "Pleasure Seeker" and the ever-popular "Pimpin' Ain't Easy" series.

But it certainly could have, for it seems equally baffling. As Tech Digest says, the "Guru" timepiece from Black Dice Industries has LEDs positioned in a "peculiar, eye-bending pattern." If you do manage to figure out how to read this $250 watch, though, you can take it diving up to 50 meters.

In an odd way, though, we appreciate the monochromatic style of the gold Guru. If we're going to be confused by a watch, we'd just as soon not have a bunch of colored lights flashing at us the whole time.