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This Raspberry Pi Pico watch has been upgraded to 'hack' couture
We knew it was only a matter of time before we found an haute couture Raspberry Pi accessory, and this is it. Maker and developer Kim Paulsson has shared an amazing update to his Raspberry Pi Pico watch that was so gorgeous, we had to share it. If this project looks familiar, it's because we covered an earlier version of this Pico watch a few months ago while completely enamored by the LEDs and custom RP2040 PCB. Today, however, we're excited to show off a couple of new features that really bring the design home.
Before we dig into that, it's important to know what exactly he's created. The watch consists of a round, custom PCB that Paulsson designed. The perimeter is covered in 60 LEDs that are used to tell the time. A different color is used to indicate the hour, minute and second in real time. A Winbond 25Q1281VSQ is thrown in for about 8MB of flash storage.
(Image credit: Kim Paulsson)
Let's get the elephant out of the room, this is an RP2040-based project. But there's no reason you couldn't create something similar with the newly released RP2350 which is the heart of the new Raspberry Pi Pico 2. That said, we've covered a couple RP2350 projects already including a tiny keychain console and a DefCon 32 badge that plays Doom if you want to see some of the latest creations to come out of the maker community.
As beautiful as the design of the original PCB is, we're stoked to see the hardware mounted inside gorgeous new housing. The watch is now completely portable and functions inside a sleek, metal case with a matching wristband. Paulsson has also included a charge port for the battery that sits flush with the back of the watch.
This watch is absolutely stunning and knowing how much work went into its creation makes it that much more impressive. If you'd like to see this Raspberry Pi project in action, Paulsson has shared a video clip over at YouTube showing off the LEDs as it tells the time. For more details about the project, you can check out the original thread shared to Reddit. Be sure to follow Paulsson for more cool creations as well as any future updates to this one.
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
