Information About Talking Watches

Watches for the blind

There are large and small, plain and colorful, round and square watches, but not everyone can appreciate these watches in the same way. How do blind and visually impaired people tell the time?

One example that probably all of us know, and the first thing that comes to mind, is talking watches. At the push of a button, these watches announce the time and are especially practical at night: you don’t even have to open your eyes to have the time announced. Just as there are talking watches, there are of course other talking everyday objects too, such as scales or color recognition devices. However, talking watches are a relatively recent invention and have only come into use in recent years.

In the past, there were other ways for blind people to read the time. The watchmaker Abraham-Louis Bréguet was the first to make a watch that could also have been used by blind people, although in the 18th century it was unaffordable for most: the tactile watch. Tactile means something like feeling or sensing something with the sense of touch. In Bréguet’s time, the tactile watch was therefore only affordable for his wealthiest customers, but it was also especially appealing to them. In polite society, it was considered extremely rude to read the time in the company of others, and the tactile watch allowed its owners to feel the time in their pocket.

What exactly does a tactile watch look like? Tactile watches usually have a metal cover that flips open or twists open. Beneath it is a dial with raised dots where the time can be felt. Since tactile watches have no glass cover, the position of the hands can also be felt; however, there is usually no second hand, as it only gets in the way when reading the time. Naturally, the tactile watch is more durable than ordinary watches, since otherwise the hands would break too quickly. In the past, tactile watches were usually pocket watches; today, they are also available as wristwatches.