Almost ready: why I built a better stopwatch

It has taken me quite a while to perfect what I believe will be the last replacement of your professional handheld stopwatch collection that you'll ever need. That replacement — Herotime smart stopwatch — is now in its final polish, and it launches very soon.

Why a coder builds a stopwatch

I write software for a living. I have also spent more hours than I can count standing at the edge of a pool or a track with a stopwatch in each hand, timing athletes the way it has been done for decades: one watch per athlete, eyes flicking between the water and the display, times scribbled onto damp paper and typed up later — if they survive that long.

At some point the coder in me refused to accept that this was the state of the art. The device in my pocket has a precise clock, a big screen, storage for every time I will ever take, and a physical button I can press without looking. All that was missing was the right method for timing many athletes with it — a real multi stopwatch, not a clock app with a lap button.

The collection you can stop buying

Look at the handheld stopwatch market and you find the same tiers everywhere: the throwaway model for $10, the standard model for $20, a more decent one for $50, and the high-end model for around $150 with stride- and stroke-rate measurement built in. They differ in casing and button feel, but they all share the same fundamental limits:

• One watch times one athlete. More athletes means more watches around your neck.
• Times die on the display. Everything ends up transcribed by hand, or lost.
• Extras cost a fortune. Something as simple as a stroke-rate counter is reserved for the top of the price list.

Whichever of those models you use today, my promise is simple: once you have timed a training session with Herotime, you won't want to hold on to any of them.

Where things stand

The iPhone and iPod app is getting its last polish right now. Dozens of coaches and timekeepers have already signed up on the mailing list on the front page — join them if you want to be first to know when Herotime ships, or if you want to influence the final product through early feedback. That feedback matters to me more than you might think: this app is being shaped session by session, around how timekeepers actually work.

Not a mailing-list person? Also fine. Drop me a note at marco@bluemedialabs.com — I would love to hear from you, or even have a quick chat about your needs in handheld timing in sports, schools, and beyond.

More soon. It's nearly time.