Thanks to modern technology, the response “it’s a hair past a freckle” can now be an actual time, rather than just a flippant reply from a non-watch-wearing individual!

Background:

In the pre-smartphone era, it was possible for a person to not know what time it was.

This time-inquiring individual could have have asked someone else what time it was and then received the reply “it’s a hair past a freckle!“ (as the responder pretended to check a nonexistent watch on their wrist). (Details: https://www.google.com/search?q=hair+past+a+freckle+time.)

Proposal:

We have the option to make an actual “hair past the freckle” watch that displays the time using a synthetic hair (minute hand) and freckle (hour hand), as shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1: This watch consists of three concentric transparent discs: the outermost one is a minute hand (and has a single hair attached to it), while the middle one is an hour hand (and has a single freckle drawn on it). The inner disc does not rotate, and is adhesively attached to the wearer’s wrist.

The time shown in Figure 1 would be approximately 12:05 (reading the freckle as noon and the hair as approximately 5 minutes after the hour).

Conclusion:

This is likely to become the next new fad in timekeeping fashion!

PROS: Finally, after hundreds of years, “it’s a hair past the freckle” can become a useful response!

CONS: None!