Time Is Right for a Talking Watch

by Ann Brenoff (RSS feed)
Mar 10th 2011 at 10:01AM

Eyes, they say, are the first thing to go. And with the first wave of Baby Boomers turning 65 this year, the timing is perfect for the Reizen Radio-Controlled analog Talking Watch, sold through Hammacher-Schlemmer. What a great retirement gift: A watch that will tell you the time instead of making you squint to read it.

The beauty of this beauty is that the watch face is sufficiently large that you may not actually even need the watch to verbalize the time for you. But the easy-to-use watch feature -- you just push a button -- has a pleasant and clear male voice that is happy to help.

The watch ranked highest in every category when it was evaluated by the Hammacher-Schlemmer Institute. Remember, these are the people who test the products in America's Longest Running Catalog and to quote them, they've been offering "the Best, the Only and the Unexpected for 163 years."

I'd have to say they struck a winner with this one. I've been replacing my watches for the past 10 years, buying bigger faced ones each purchase and still becoming frustrated with my inability to read the time clearly. It's a delight to not have to squint at my wrist with this product. It was easy to set up, came with straightforward instructions and automatically synchronizes itself nightly with the atomic clock in Fort Collins, CO.

Plus, the nice man in the watch announces not just the time, but also the day and date. It has an alarm and can sound a chime on the hour if you want it to; I don't. The product retails for about $100 and is available on-line and in Hammacher-Schlemmer's Manhattan store.

The watch's face is set within a stainless steel case and is 1 1/2 inches in diameter. It has a 3/4 inch black leather strap and fits wrists up to 8 1/2 inches.

Tags: hammacher schlemmer, talking watch, watch