As the world becomes more and more online, so too increases the desire to completely disconnect. Like some sort of digital Highlander, our phones have consumed all other gadgets and there can be only one. Which is theoretically great, not having to carry around a phone and a calculator and a gaming device and a map and a watch etc etc etc. The downside is that once you kick on that black screen, there’s no telling when you’ll come out the other side.
Hence the need to unplug. To go analog. Because how many times have I gone to check what time it is only to lose 30 minutes to Instagram or some other wretched hellscape? Too many. That’s why I want a watch. One that you wear on your wrist. To tell time. And because I am a coffee person physically unable to not covet anything even loosely coffee-related, I know exactly which one I want. It’s the Metric Digital Blend by Brew Watches, featuring a cheeky built-in espresso shot timer.
As reported by Shortlist, Brew is a New York-based watchmaker who have coffee in the DNA of their design. The watches in their Metro line are equipped with a chronograph, which is more or less an inset stopwatch. Brew states they are included for espresso making, primarily a shot between 25 and 35 seconds. Really, it’s just a 60 second timer, but I do appreciate the spin.
With the Digital Blend, though, there’s no escaping the coffee influence. Along with an analog dial, it features a digital, LED espresso timer that does a 30-second countdown and flashes a “playful percolating coffee cup animation.”
The stainless steel watches features a very reasonable case diameter of 37.5x43mm with a total thickness of 13mm.
The Digital Blend, within the watch world at least, comes at a pretty user-friendly price point, around $400. Which is a lot of money in an objective sense, though doesn’t really seem all that bad when a Hublot made of Nespresso trash will run you $24,000.
All I’m saying is, $400 seems like a small price to pay to not continue to lose precious minutes of life to the infinite hole that is phone. And you get a neat accessory out of it. Though if I’m being honest, I think I’m more of a Retrograph Espresso sort of fella than a Digital Blend.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
