The real story behind the crazy watch Tony Fadell helped invent

Fast Company:

That seed of inspiration 10 years ago eventually spawned Ressence, a watch company that has accomplished the rare feat of earning adoration from design nerds and horology snobs alike despite being a start-up. But Ressence’s previous watches may only be a prelude to its newest, the Type 2, which manages to solve some core problems that have bedeviled wristwatches ever since they were invented. The creation of that timepiece was abetted by none other than Tony Fadell, the so-called godfather of the iPod.

Fadell’s involvement was catnip to tech blogs that rushed to publish news about the Type 2, which is slated to go into production sometime this year and is expected to cost around $40,000. They all missed how strange an object the Type 2 actually is. After all, what other watch has the same photocells that power orbital satellites and an origin story intertwined with Fadell’s own forgotten experiments in creating a pocketable MP3 player?

What a fascinating story about the technology behind a $40,000 butt ugly watch.