Specs and designs for the first ever Blockheight Timepieces.

Given that Bitcoin’s Blockheight is the new global timestamp – the GMT of the Interneti – and also given that men’s jewelry can be both fun and practical, it’s high time that we outline the technical specs and possible aesthetic designs for the first ever Blockheight Timepiece. (Where else would you find such ballsy balderdash ? Nowhere I tells ya!)

The basic premise is a high-accuracy automatic timepiece displaying simply hours and minutes with a digital readout for blockheight as the only complication.ii The hours and minutes will be displayed using traditional analog hands and powered by the highest accuracy automaticiii movement available – Zenith’s ZO 342 movement using a silicon oscillator running at 15 hertz or 108`000 vphiv – while the blockheight will be regulated in a triply redundant manner as follows :

– Radio Wave at 40 kHz, 60kHz, 68.5 kHz, and 77.5kHzv
– GPS signal at 1575.42 MHzvi
– LTE with eSIM at 2600 MHzvii

This trio of signal emitters and receivers will update the blockheight onto the six- or seven-digit e-paper display using first the lowest energy frequency to ping the radio tower, geosynchronous satellite, or cell tower (in that order) once per minute. If no pong is received within 10 seconds then the timepiece proceeds to the next highest energy band and so on until blockheight data is received. The radio and cell towers communicate to a TRB node hosted outside of NATO jurisdiction and connected to at least 15 network peers ; the geosynchronous satellite hosts its own separate TRB node.

The entry-level sports watch, dubbed BT1, features an athletic 40mm case design based on the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711viii and is available in rose gold or white gold case with rubber deployant strap and a clasp using the same “precious” metal as on the case.ix The luxury model, dubbed BT2, is a 40mm dress watch based on the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon 6002x with hand-engraved case, crown, lugs, slide piece, hands, and fold-over clasp and crocodile strap.xi

Blockheight is displayed on both via a backlit e-paper screen. As the timepiece contains a battery, CR2032-sized coin cell will need to be charged or replaced once every… four centuries.xii

Marketing will consist of enlisting Rich ChiggaBjarke Ingels, and Rodrigo Duterte as brand ambassadors.

This is a living document and input from technically qualified persons will be considered. Thanks for reading.

___ ___ ___

  1. Did you know that this state of global affairs has already been the case for five-plus years ? Where have you been, man, living under a rock with the worms and ‘roaches ??

    Best practise is to use the blockheight when signing PGP messages, particularly those that aren’t also encrypted to a single individual in your WoT.

  2. Now this is a perpetual calendar! 
  3. Why automatic movement and not quartz ? Because romance! The same romance that makes you light wax candles at dinner. It’s a thing.
  4. As seen on the latest Zenith Defy Lab timepiece, the ZO 342 movement has no balance pivots and no conventional spring so positional rate variation is very near zero. With only 6 degrees of maximum amplitude variation compared to 300+ in a conventional balance, the 32.15mm x 8.13mm movement is accurate to ± 0.5 seconds over 48 hours, or twice the precision of the lauded Seiko Spring Drive.

    In-house movements, let’s face it, are overrated, and this boutique piece – like every other bit of hardware that Bitcoin is using to take over the world, from CPUs to power grids to paper and pens – is better served by using the best of the remnants of the decaying Empire than reinventing every last nut and bolt.

  5. As seen on Casio MR-G.
  6. As seen on Casio MR-G.
  7. As seen on Apple Watch Series 3, which uses a Qualcomm MDM9653M LTE Modem with Samsung K4P1G324EH SDRAM for its LTE connectivity.
  8. Blockheight timepiece - 1

  9. The rubber deployant strap for the BT1 is based on that of the Oysterflex as seen on the Rolex Yachtmaster 116655.  
  10. Blockheight timepiece - 2

    As you’ll surely have noticed, there are only six e-paper digits displayed in line with the lower crown. That’s because the leading digit is displayed as a physically rotating Roman numeral in-line with the upper crown and beneath the “XII” hour marker on the BT2. A “III” is shown in the sketch for display purposes but a blank space would otherwise be shown until blockheight 1`000`000 sometime in the mid-2020s.

  11. Why both Patek-based designs ? Because they’re utterly gorgeous and really nail dat heirloom quality.
  12. Sum maffs :

    A typical 2-inch [e-paper] module that integrates the display with an external timing controller requires 2.33 mA for 2.32 seconds to completely refresh the screen. That’s a daily power consumption of 32.43 mAs, or 59,191.32 mAs over five years. This is 8.5% of the nominal capacity of a single coin cell. If you only need to update part of the information on the display, even less energy is needed and e-paper displays consume no energy at all to maintain a static image.

    As a conservative estimate, we specify our 2-inch e-paper modules to support at least 50,000 updates on an energy budget of 25% of a CR2032 coin cell. This takes into account that coin cells are normally warranted for 5 years, exhibit some leakage and that other components within the module draw some current. In theory, that’s an operating life of 22 years, based on the operating conditions described.

    via PSD. Now figure that the screens on the BTs are only about 15 mm in width and 5 mm in height for a surface area of 75 mm² compared to the 1290.32 mm² of a perfectly square 2-inch e-paper screen. As such, the BT screens could be powered by a single CR2032 coin cell for 378 years!

11 thoughts on “Specs and designs for the first ever Blockheight Timepieces.

  1. Pete D. says:

    More spec theory from teh logs :

    pete_dushenski: asciilifeform: how’d you approach the problem of frequently updated blockheight on the wrist ? well, “problem”…
    pete_dushenski: it’s gedankenexperiment
    asciilifeform: shortwave. from festung mircea_popescustein’s 500kW transmitter.
    asciilifeform: wearer’s body as antenna.
    pete_dushenski: so wouldn’t update if owner took off to, say, take a shower ?
    asciilifeform: nope
    asciilifeform: why wouldja care what it does when yer not wearing it
    asciilifeform: it’s a clock.
    asciilifeform: connect to stationary antenna if you must have it show output on yer desk.
    pete_dushenski: aha
    pete_dushenski: ya, i was thinking of desk scenario
    pete_dushenski: stationary antenna worx

    We also can’t ignore transmission via parasitic p2p relay networks!

  2. JN says:

    It sounds like you don’t have a purpose in life other than bragging about things you may or may not actually have. In short, consuming. I despise consumerism.

    I got out of my Ferrari F40 right now and told my servant to tell his servant to find me an 18-year-old bitch to fuck. I just gave an 18-year-old bitch a house. Sometimes bitches try to give me money. I laugh, a ha ha ha. I got a ring for my servant that cost more than your life. I only fly private jets, Concorde so I can shitpost faster. I’m above you plebs circlejerking. Call me on my other phone that I don’t own, I have people who own things for me.

    • Pete's Servant's Servant says:

      Dear John,

      On behalf of all of us here at PD Industries, thank you for writing in. We’re nothing without our fan community and we sincerely appreciate you taking the time to share your ideas and opinions. You’re what fuels us!

      That being said, you seem to have a mistaken impression of Fearless Leader. While he certainly enjoys a dram of fine port and the occasional sporting drive, he remains committed to his family, his work, and the causes he supports, all of which add beauty to his life and the lives of those around him. To compare his considered and thoughtful patronage with base consumerism is therefore misplaced at best. Consumerism is, recall, focused on quantity rather than quality. Suffice to say that you and Mr. D share the same distaste for unchecked consumption of quantity, so perhaps you’re actually on the same team after all ?

      It’s worth considering, and once again, thank you for taking the time to write in.

      Yours,
      Tim

  3. Vexual says:

    Could this be a pocketwatch with patent chain ant.?

  4. Vexual says:

    keyboard people dont wear wrist wtaches

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