WatchMaker - highly configurable

There's loads of great default functionality in WatchMaker, stuff that can be easily added in to your watch.  Basically it works in layers, so you add a background image, and then say the hour/minute markers round the edge, then the numbers, then the hands, etc., building it up as you go.  You can reorder the layers, duplicate them, delete them, etc.  It's really easy to do, and very intuitive.

When you click the big plus icon to add a new layer, you get the following types...

• Text
• Curved text
• Watch background
• Shape
• Numbers
• Hour+minute markers
• Freeform markers
• Watch hands
• Image
• Animated GIF
• Date
• Time
• Weather
• Moon phase
• Battery
• Compass
• Wifi signal
• Calendar
• Countdown
• Stopwatch
• Expression

They are all very customisable, with the ability to reference many different tags.  For example, just for time you've got so many options (using 18:49 as the example time)...

• {dh} - Hour in the day (1-12) - 6
• {dh11} - Hour in the day (0-11) - 6
• {dh24} - Hour in the day (1-24) - 18
• {dh23} - Hour in the day (0-23) - 18
• {dht} - Hour in day text (1-12) - six
• {dh24t} - Hour in day text (1-24) - eighteen
• {dhz} - Hour in day (1-12) (with leading zero) - 06
• {dh11z} - Hour in day (0-11) (with leading zero) - 06
• {dh24z} - Hour in day (1-24) (with leading zero) - 18
• {dh23z} - Hour in day (0-23) (with leading zero) - 18
• and 29 other tags!  Just for time!!

As you can see, there are just so many options, you can choose whatever you want.  

And if you can't find what you're after, check out the Feature Requests - this allows you to search for features that others have requested, and vote on the ones you like, as well as adding your own, for others to vote on.  You can vote on as many as you want, so please feel free to vote on all the stuff that I want :)

Next I want to talk about the conditionality that is simple and yet so powerful.

Job one - the watch face

For me, the first job on getting the watch was to find a watch face that I liked.  And I've found way too many that I like, and not enough time to try them all!  But what I really like is designing and building my own.

There are two main apps for that; Facer and WatchMaker.  I've played with both, and I have to say that the later is my favourite.  There are many discussions online, with people arguing either way, but at the end of the day I think it comes down to personal preference.  However, here's my list of reasons...

1. WatchMaker can import Facer files (.face) as well as it's own (.watch) and Facer can only handle it's own
2. WatchMaker has many more customisation options than Facer
3. WatchMaker has Tasker integration (that's a whole other post in itself!)
4. WatchMaker has support for animated gif images

I'm sure there are more, but those are the main points for me at the moment.

There are lots of ways to get watch faces, included buying them from the Play store, but one of the best free repositories I've found is FaceRepo.  The site can filter on round/square faces and Facer or WatchMaker files, making it easy to find ones suitable for your watch.  It also allows you to create an account and upload your own watch faces.  

I love downloading watch faces, importing them into my WatchMaker app, and then customising them to suit my own needs.  Maybe I want the date formatted differently, or 24 hour time instead of 12 hour time, or whatever - easy!  

You can either view the site and download the files directly, or you can browse on your computer and then use a QR reader on your phone to quickly and easily download.  You can also get the .watch files from other sites and import them, as well as exporting your own creations as .watch files to upload and share.

Here are the top 3 watch faces that I've uploaded...

Zooper Dark - 258 downloads

Teal Hands - 122 downloads

Bar Mod - 111 downloads

 

I've done 16 so far, including a range of Ron Swanson ones, and some Andy Fairhurst ones as well... http://facerepo.com/app/faces/user/trixmoto/1 - I hope you like.  Feel free to provide feedback, either here or on the FaceRepo site (requires a Disqus account).

I've learned some interesting watching making tricks already, and I'm sure there's more to learn as well, so keep a look out for some future posts on this subject!