Ever since the newer, smaller iPod Nano was introduced, the market has been flooded with wristlets that make the little square MP3 player into a stylish watch. A lot of those are pretty cool, but we’ve seen so many that they aren’t very interesting anymore. The iPocketWatch Case designed by Edwin Conan is something we’ve never seen before.

Just like the name says, this case turns your iPod Nano into a spiffy pocket watch. It’s a fair bit classier than those wrist versions, in part because it is meant to be used with the Nano’s classic Roman numerals watch face. There is a square fascia and a round one; they are interchangeable depending on how you want your sweet new pocket watch to look.

The case is constructed of aircraft-grade aluminum and allows access to all of the Nano’s regular buttons and functions – so if you want to use that multi-functional machine as something other than a watch you’re still free to do so. The case comes with a long 12″ security chain to keep it firmly attached to you.

Edwin Conan is raising money for his project through Pozible (kind of like the Australian version of KickStarter). For about $100 US, you can get a black case with both the square and round fascias.

The post Classy Case Turns iPod Nano Into a Fancy Pocket Watch first appeared on Gajitz.

When the Swan, a small warship, sank off the coast of Scotland in 1653, it took with it a cache of fascinating items. To the men who lost their lives in that wreck they were simply everyday objects that they carried – but when the wreck was discovered in the 1970s and then excavated in the 1990s, those objects were the cause of great excitement. Unfortunately, many of the treasures were so damaged and barnacle-covered from their centuries in the water that they looked like little more than rocks. Among the items recovered, all of which were donated to the National Museum of Scotland, was a pocket watch completely covered in barnacles and corrosion.

Previous attempts to get a peek at the watch’s interior involved conventional X-rays, which did not provide much detail. But when museum researchers heard that CT scans had been used to investigate the Antikythera Mechanism, they were inspired. They took the watch to a company that had recently developed a CT scan method allowing detailed interior views of objects, even when thick metal covers the outside.

The results were stunning: much of the watch’s interior mechanisms were intact. The steel components are long gone after so long in the salty water, but the brass bits are nearly untouched. The researchers were even able to see what the clock face looked like and get a glimpse of the intricate floral engraving on the case. But perhaps the most amazing find was the watchmaker’s name on the exterior: Niccholas Higginson of Westminster. A bit of further research confirmed that Higginson was a watchmaker in London around the time the Swan was swallowed by a storm. Given the overwhelming success of the scans, National Museum of Scotland officials now hope to use the same techniques to examine other shipwreck artifacts.

The post Timeless Craftsmanship: Inside a 300 Year Old Pocket Watch first appeared on Gajitz.