The Quarter Hour Watch
The Quarter Hour Watch (QHW) is a time aid for people with intellectual disabilities. The QHW does not show the actual time like ordinary clocks. Instead the time remaining until an event starts is graphically displayed by dots (or, in the timer mode, the time remaining until an event ends). Each dot corresponds to a quarter of an hour.
If the remaining time until an event starts is two hours or more, all eight circles are filled with black dots. When the time arrives, the QHW beeps. And when the time has passed the circles scroll on the screen.
To see how much time is left until an event starts, a picture card is placed in the QHW. On the front of the card there is a picture that symbolizes the event. On the rear of the card the start time is programmed.
Programming the start time is simple. It is punched out on a disposable clock face made of plastic, which is clipped on the rear of the picture card.
The example to the right shows the start time 10.15 AM. The following segments are removed: AM to the bottom left, the hour segment "10" and the "15 minutes past"-segment.
Read more about the principles of the QHW.
Read about user experiences of the QHW.
Download a program to test the QHW below.