Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch (EFNY)

[rp2014]

Hello RPF!

I joined as a premium member a couple of years ago and have been watching and learning from so many people in this community. I joined to try and learn how to best approach my project which I wanted to share with you and get some feedback. Escape From New York is one of my favorite movies of all time - I'm a massive fan and so I started a project to to reboot Snake Plissken's countdown timer from the movie. There was a thread here on the RPF a few years ago but it seemed to fade away so I thought I would try and make something really cool - I'm a software guy and never done anything like this before so it's been a really exciting journey and I've learned so much. Here are a few photos:



It's a countdown timer but it's also a watch (time, date, stopwatch). It's also got a Bluetooth radio and a bunch of other sensors and will pair with your phone. I'm launching a Kickstarter to raise funds to move this to production and I'll be sharing progress as I go. I've gone to great lengths to do this the right way and I'd really love to get some feedback and thoughts from you all. Thanks for the inspiration! I'll be posting more photos on my twitter/etc accounts as well.

Thanks!

Jonathan.

 

[cjchiu]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

That looks sweet. I assume you'll start a project run thread when you get closer to production?

 

[Vivek]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

Looks great Jonathan. I am looking forward to your Kickstarter next month. You also managed to get this officially licensed, is that correct?

The display width looks little more than in the movie or maybe it's just the photo. The brown strap looks good, but will you also be offering black strap to match the film?

 

[rp2014]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

Hi Vivek. Yes I have a license from the studio so it will be official.

Spent a lot of time estimating the size of the display based on the LEDs - it's a little wider - in the movie the LEDs come right up against the side of the enclosure but I needed the extra room mainly for the side buttons (two low profile buttons). There are no buttons in the movie - Hauk and Snake press the side of the watch but there's nothing there and I couldn't find a way to get capacitive touch working on a brass enclosure. Note that I could never source the original prop or connect with anyone who worked on it so all the dimensions were based on painful analysis of the movie/Snake's wrist and best guess on a workable size/balancing the components needed inside (of which I'll share more detail as well).

The strap is brown in the movie - at least it is to me. I'm definitely open to other strap options if I can make it work.

 

[propmainiac]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

I like it!

 

[madmusketeer]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

Put me down for one!!!!!

Snake is my ultimate hero. I have everything else - boots, pants, patch, the shirt and jacket, belt, pouches, walkie-talkie, Mac-10, scar (tattoo later this year), the hair and the stubble, and a nice fake tracer - BUT I DESPERATELY NEED THE LIFE-CLOCK!!!!!!!

Last Con I had a smart-phone strapped to my wrist with a coundown app playing on it with the correct size red digits. Looked pretty good, tbh.

But your version! MAN, I WANT THAT!

Nice work, keep us posted.

Cheers

Chris (Snake) McEneany

 

[rp2014]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

Thanks Chris!

Here are some more photos.



We experimented with laser cutting but it ended up being too inflexible so we went with CNC.



One of the early prototypes with off the shelf surface mount LED displays. We ended up building completely custom surface mount 11 segment LED displays that use a custom die.



We also experimented with many different types of glass displays - here are some different wavelengths - the goal here was to balance the diffusion of the main PCB with the total brightness - we settled on 640nm and went with SiO2 coated tempered red glass (we experimented with bonding sapphire crystal with red glass but the result was too unstable).



More photos soon. Just got back from the John Carpenter concept in MI - wow!

 

[madmusketeer]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

I'm loving the design. Definitely want one when they are up and running. I hope plenty more fans and Snake-lets come on-board too. I agree with the brown strap.

How did the gig go? I am going two nights in a row at the end of October - Liverpool on the Friday and Manchester the next night. IN FULL SNAKE GEAR - well, minus the weaponry, for obvious reasons. Truly cannot wait to see the maestro in person.

Cheers

Chris McEneany

 

[rp2014]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

Thanks Chris. Would definitely appreciate help spreading the word. You can sign up for updates at http://lifeclockone.com

You will *love* the concert. All of this classics and the way they play scenes in the background is really perfect. It's a really fun evening. Maybe I can get you an early production version before the show so you can wear it proudly - what a great field test! Please stay in touch.

- - - Updated - - -

So I've been researching this so I didn't sound stupid what is a 'project run' thread? Is that a separate thread in a different category in the forum?

 

[madmusketeer]

Re: Looking for feedback: Snake Plissken countdown timer

Jonathan that would be beyond awesome!

I would wear it to the next comic-con as well. In fact, I'd even wear it to work! I have gone into the office in full Snake mode in the past. Now I'm really excited!

Cheers

Chris

 

[Tiberius Kirk]

Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

Has anyone else seen this?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jonathanzufi/lifeclock-one-the-escape-from-new-york-inspired-sm

 

[karmajay]

Re: Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

Cool but current pledge to get one is $399! A bit much for a non Star Wars item for me.

EDIT: Ah smart watch functions make the price a bit more understandable.

 

[Vivek]

Re: Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

Kicking myself for not getting on the early backer offer sooner. The $400 version is currently out of my price range.

But I am glad the Kickstarter is getting lot of attention, as many sites have been covering it today. The video itself is top notch with its production value.

I been wanting to capture screencaps of the stopwatch scenes to look at the strap color, but never got around to it. Looking mostly at the start and ending scenes, the strap always appears black to me. But after observing it closely during the rest of the film, it appears brown. So I guess both colors works and both are screen accurate.

 

[Sundowner]

Re: Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

I would have definitely jumped on the $249 option had I been following. I would have to agree the video did an excellent job selling the product! Good luck!

 

[SciFiMuseum]

Re: Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

I shouldn't have looked at this...

 

[Prop Medjai]

Re: Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

Definitely in for the Snake version of this watch. Not sure if I like the skinnier leather on the buckle version but it might be unavoidable...

~Ron

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Re: Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

Super cool project and good luck with the Kickstarter. If I could afford it, and if I were the kind of guy that would wear a watch, I'd be all over this!

 

[Wes R]

Re: Snake Plissken’s Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

That's insane for any watch.

 

[rp2014]

Escape From New York: Lifeclock One - we did it

Just wanted to share with the RPF community that although our Kickstarter wasn't successful, we managed to push forward and we've brought the Lifeclock One to market. Check out http://lifeclockone.com.

Feedback so far has been extremely positive including a bunch of folks from the prop industry so we're feeling really good about what we've created. Thanks to all of you who supported us with great feedback and advice. Happy to answer any questions or queries. Thank you!

 

[Vivek]

Congrats Jonathan. I am glad you and your team managed to pull it off. It's a beauty.

I can't afford it right now, but I hope to purchase it sometime in the future.

I noticed the serial number, so is this numbered limited edition where the run size has been finalized or it's an open edition for the time being?