Bathys Goes Atomic

Do you want an accurate watch?  Is a certified automatic too inaccurate and a quartz too, well, uninteresting?  How about an atomic clock.  Not a quartz watch that uses the atomic clock broadcasts, but an honest to goodness atomic clock that you can wear on your wrist?  Well Bathys has the Kickstarter project for you, the World’s 1st Atomic Wristwatch.

The image of the prototype in the first shot is a little different that the final design, which is wireframed above.  But since the project is being backed by an honest-to-goodness actual brick and mortar watch company, Bathys Hawaii Watch Co., the finished product should look very nice, regardless of the design changes.  The watch itself is quite an engineering feat, linking a chip scale atomic clock (CSAC) that utilizes the precise vibrations of the cesium 133 atom (9,192,631,770 vibrations per second) to a Ronda 509 quartz movement.  The watch itself is quite power hungry, so the CSAC can only run in atomic mode for 5 minutes every 2 hours with a 28 hour battery life.  This mode does degrade the accuracy somewhat; you get ± 1 second every 300 years.  There is a lot more information on the Kickstarter campaign page, so I recommend you go check it out.

The atomic wrist watch needs a commitment of $6,000 per watch, so it is not going to be for everyone, but Bathys has the less well heeled covered with this project as well.  The company is offering discounts on several models to raise the funding needed for this project.  Starting at $175, you can get a Bathys Lunar (our review) with the bronze dial, and for $475, you can score a Benthis Ti Watch with a black or bronze (above) dial.  The watch retails for $545.  For $10,000, you get airfare to Hawaii, a 3 night stay, an Atomic Wristwatch and bunch of other goodies spelled out on the project page.  bathyshawaii.com

Watch Overview