ineedcaffeine.com | brian r stuckey

This tube is amazing.  It is made of 16 segments in a star burst pattern to allow it to display numbers and letters.  However, like the smaller number and symbol only versions of Nixie tubes - they were quickly replaced with LCD displays and LEDs.

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Four Letter Word

One of the best known uses for these displays was as a decorative art piece.  A device made up of four of these tubes would be used to display random word that it had programmed in.  Part of the appeal clearly was people hoping to see “dirty” words displayed in neon.  It is still possible to buy kits and New Old Stock tubes to make your own sculpture - but be prepared to spend a few hundred dollars on the tubes alone!

Zetalink makes the most popular kit: http://www.zetalink.biz/FLWKa.html

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Ultronic Systems Lectrascan

Zetalink has the only information I can find on this device.  Before LED based tickets became popular, Ultronic Systems offered one based on Nixie tubes.  The quotes were provided via a dedicated modem connection.  These devices were installed in small brokerages but as far as I can tell, did not acchieve a large install base.

I couldn’t find any video of this running but it probably looked something like this:

I got quite a bit of interest from the Kickass Clocks post so I thought I would do a follow up. Now, for the neatest watches in the world.

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The Nixie Tube Digital Wristwatch!

By Jeff Thomas / Resonant Instruments LLC

http://www.amug.org/~jthomas/watch.html

This is the really little brother of the NixiChron clock.  The fact that he managed to fit all of the components in to such a small packagaing - and fit four vacuum tubes in it is amazing.  They require about 180vdc to power…your average AA battery puts out just 1.5 for comparison.

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The Nixie Watch

By Cathode Corner - $395

http://www.cathodecorner.com/nixiewatch/index.html

This watch was inspired by the one above.  It uses an entirely different design - tubes and power supply.  It looks a little more like a watch than the above one but uses only two display tubes.

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Negative

by Tokyo Flash - ¥16,900 / $170

http://www.tokyoflash.com/en/watches/tokyoflash/negative/

If you want to show your geeky side with pride, this is the watch for you!  This is the first of the mass produced watches on this list.  Tokyo Flash makes some amazing watches.  They focus on innovative ways of displaying the time to make reading it unintuitive.  If this watch isn’t for you, check out some of the other ones they offer.

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Bling binary LED watch

By Todd Bailey - $?

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/05/concept_bling_binary_led.html

This watch is for the DIY crowd and would probably appeal to the BOFH-type personality.  You know, the guy who wants you to know that he is better at technology, computers, and anything else that uses electricity than you do.  This watch isn’t for the casual enthusiast - no only do you have to build it, but it tells the time in bianary.  Reading it takes a bit of practice but can become second nature to the true aplha-nerds

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Synchronar 2100

By Roger Riehl - $?

http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?p=1366081

This was an amazing device.  It was the first mass produced LED wristwatch and was designed never to need adjustment.

From http://www.soluhr.com/sync.htm

Independent inventor Roger Riehl designed the most advanced wrist timepiece devised up to that time. His goal was to built an extremely accurate timepiece that required no service, could withstand great variation of temperature, was shockproof, was waterproof to great depths, was visible in any lighting conditions, and had multiple functions. In short, his goal seemed to be to build the ultimate wristwatch that would simultaneously overcome all of the traditional challenges to the wristwatch.

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Look for part two in the near future. Suggestions on what to include? Post them in the comments!