Ordinarily, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) might not necessarily be the place where you would expect to find the latest in wristwatches. However, after having previously shown you the Pebble watch, it was the turn of the CST-01 to catch the eyes of watch lovers and gadget junkies alike.
The CST-01, according to its makers, is the world’s thinnest wristwatch, weighing in at less than 12 grams, with a thickness of just 0.8mm, which makes it thinner than a credit card!
The result of a collaboration between Central Standard Timing and E Ink, the watch features a series of flexible components which have been laminated to a flexible, yet highly durable piece of stainless steel, which is of course much thinner than the type of movement you would expect to find on a quartz or mechanical movement.
The CST-01 uses an E Ink display, which is the same display technology used in Amazon’s Kindle. The watch is driven by the Epson Microcontroller chip from Seiko.
You might notice that the CST-01 features no buttons or knobs, which helps in ensuring that the watch is as thin as possible. Its battery is charged via connection to a base station and is embedded with a Thinergy Micro-Energy Cell which is capable of being fully charged in less than 10 minutes and which is said to have a 15 year life span. The base station is also used to set the time, as well as to change the time format between 12 and 24 hour, depending on which you prefer to use.
The design and production of the watch has been financed as part of a Kickstarter funding campaign. At the time of writing this article a total of $561,058 had been pledged from 4101 backers, which far exceeds the initial target of $200,000, with 34 days of fundraising still to go.
Between the CST-01 and the Pebble watch, it’s clear that there is a definite desire to utilize E Ink’s monochrome technology. According to the latest coming out of E Ink HQ, the company is already working on developing colour versions of its ink display, which could perhaps herald a new dawn in the design of digital watches. Watch this space.
Is the CST-01 the ‘future’ on your wrist, or just a fancy hospital name tag? With its release expected later this year, its $129 price tag is sure to be revised upwards before hitting the market.
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