Nixie Tube Watch

Master Electronic Tinkerer Jeff Thomas has created a modern masterpiece -- the Nixie Tube Watch.  Using miniature Nixie tubes from the 1970s, Jeff has developed the high-voltage electronics necessary to power the tubes and shrunk it down to fit on your wrist.  For those of us who know about the requirements needed to power Nixie tubes, this is quite a feat.  When calculators were first developed in the late 1960s, desktop models used Nixie tubes.  As manufacturers wanted portable/pocket size models, they had to use some other type of display (in particular, LED and fluorescent (VFD) displays) that could use batteries.

Jeff's website provides more details, but he let us show off his creation below.  Jeff does sell these -- although as of December 2002, he's sold out.  Each watch is carefully hand-made, and he's designing some improvements for the next version of his watch. 

On his new watch, Jeff reports "A new model Nixie watch is near completion that uses only two tubes in a multiplex scheme showing hours, minutes, seconds + date in sequence, and operation on one lithium coin cell. And it actuates the display using the Omron DB6 tilt switch with a wrist shake; similar to the Pulsar watch of old. The first Nixie tube watch wasn't practical for wear. This one measures only 1" x 1.2" x .750", so it could be a daily wear item. Having learned a lesson about obsolete tubes; I went with the very common B57xx, B58xx nixies that are plentiful. Production won't be limited to a few watches as the first version was."

Visit Jeff's site for more information.

This photo shows the circuit board with its surface-mount components.

Photo Courtesy Jeff Thomas