Lifeclock One Is The Only Watch Snake Plissken Would Wear

Lifeclock One: The Escape from New York Inspired Smartwatch

Ever find yourself in your local electronics retailer, gazing down at the collection of smartwatches and other wearable devices, and agonizing over the question: “Which one would Kurt Russell wear?”

If so, you almost certainly already placed your pre-order for this Kickstarter wearable device, created by Escape From New York uber-fan Jonathan Zufi to resemble the Lifeclock One countdown timer from John Carpenter’s cult movie.

If not, let us explain a little bit more about it.

“A couple of years ago I was surfing late-night TV when a classic movie favorite of mine, Escape From New York, came on,” Zufi told Digital Trends. “This was right around the time that the Apple Watch had just been announced and I was doing a lot of work looking at wearables in the marketplace. The scene came on where Lee Van Cleef’s character Bob Hauk straps a countdown timer onto Snake Plissken’s wrist and tells him he has just under 23 hours to complete his mission. It’s such a cool, retro and enormously gaudy LED watch that I knew immediately I wanted to get one for myself.”

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This began what essentially amounted to a disappointing scavenger hunt for Zufi, as he tried to track down a replica of the sci-fi wearable device — only to find out it did not exist.

But that was not the end of the story as he was eventually able to convince movie rights holder StudioCanal to give him permission to bring the gadget to life. “They absolutely loved it,” he said.

Because this is 2016, Zufi realized it might benefit from some modern technology, however. In addition to a vintage dividual display and leather strap, the Lifeclock One includes various smartwatch functions like Android and iOS app notifications, push messages, step counting, weather updates, various smart sensors, and even camera controls.

“The big question on our part was whether we could create something that was true to the movie but also had some other capabilities and functions that would make it attractive as a modern watch,” Zufi said.

If you are a vintage tech fan, you may already be familiar with Zufi as the author of Iconic, an image-heavy book filled with retro Apple computers. That same attention to detail looks to make the Lifeclock One measure up to the high design standards Zufi admires.

If you’re convinced, you can pledge $399 for it, with shipping set to take place in May 2017.