New Watch Has Live Ants Crawling Inside It

New ‘Ant Watch” comes with live ants…and of course tells no time

You thought you had seen it all, but clearly you had not.  Watch designer Analog Watch Co out of Philadelphia is set to release a watch that comes with an ant farm kit.  As they put it, “Now you can carry the miracle of life, wherever you go.”  This presents an interesting philosophical dilemma.  Are you celebrating nature or playing God in a sick way?  Oh, and can you really call this a watch given that it does not tell time?

When I first read about this I thought it must be a joke, a marketing ploy for an April Fool’s Day release.  I asked bay Area watch distributor Watchismo.com if they planned on carrying the “Ant Watch” this April,  they left me a message saying, “We think it’s awesome, but unfortunately right now we can’t sell it because we don’t have a way to store live ants.” Go Figure.

So you have to pre-order the Ant Watch from Analog Watch Co, because THEY know how to store ants properly.  On their website there are AMAZING instructions on how to knock-out and insert fresh ants into your watch:

“The Ant Watch houses 3-5 live harvester ants at a time carried on your wrist in a refillable watch-like enclosure with specially designed shake resistant nesting material.

Each purchase comes with a vial of 5 live ants, sand, a food/water dropper, tweezers, a case opening tool, and simple and easy care guide.

To add the ants to your farm, place tube in refrigerator for 10 minutes to put the ants to sleep – then handle them with tweezers as you move them to their new home.”

I can’t decide if this is a sadistic play by Jean Paul Sartre (No Exit) where three people are locked in a room together that is essentially ‘hell’, or is this a great gift that will make your friend’s head explode.  I emailed Analog Watch Co and asked them: “Do you believe ants have feelings?” (they have not yet responded).  To be fair, that may take some thought to answer.  In the 17th century it was widely declared by prominent thinkers (like Descartes and others) that animals had no souls, and therefore had no real thoughts or feelings.  And if so, who cares if they are mistreated?  Now that we understand how brain chemistry works we have groups who protect animals…but it’s puppies mostly, and cats, and maybe a lizard now and again, but insects?  I’m not sure anyone stands up for insects.  Where is the line drawn? I can’t decide if I want to call Animal Protection Services or buy 10 of them for stocking stuffers.  The watch costs $59 and you can sign-up to pre-order one…depending on where you stand…or whether the ‘watch’ exists at all.