Then, my friends, the Fortis B-47 Calculator watch is the one for you!  As Mr. Adams said over in his post, this is an “amusingly busy dial.”  If you ask me, I’d change out the word “amusingly” for “distractingly.”  However, I realize others have different tastes than me (shocking!), so let’s have a closer look-see.

As you can see in the picture above, you get a watch that is much busier looking than their B42 Black-Black model.  You also manage to pick up the following:

  • GMT Functionality
  • A Second time zone
  • A slide rule
  • A conversion table from Fahrenheit to Celsius engraved on the caseback

Now, I’ve never used a regular slide rule, let alone one that’s been crammed into a 47mm watch case (and that just seems to up the difficulty level).  That said, they claim you can do twenty simple calculations, including the following:

  • Division
  • Multiplication
  • Multiple conversions
  • Speed per hour
  • Fuel consumption
  • Height calculations
  • Distance during ascent / descent
An impressive list, but if I had to rely on my watch to calculate how much fuel I burned as I descended through the atmosphere, I doubt I would be making a three-point landing.  In other words, when it comes to math, I’m quite happy to defer to digital technology.
Aside from all this mathematical wizardry, you do get a solid automatic mechanical watch from Fortis.  It has an ETA 2893-2 movement, a date display, three time zones, and a sixty-minute countdown function.  It is a limited edition, and as such, will run you approximately $3500 – $4000, depending on the particular variant that you choose.  If you do pick one up, I can just about guarantee that the dial will draw attention and comments – but good luck using that slide rule!

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Last Update: October 7, 2011