Hacking with Claude on a $27 Smart Watch
- Project Overview:
- The author took a $27 PineTime open-source smartwatch out of storage to build a custom Casio-style watch face inspired by recent posts on social media.
- The PineTime platform proved well-suited for AI-assisted development due to its low cost, open-source firmware (InfiniTime), thorough documentation, and the InfiniSim desktop simulator.
- Development Workflow & Tooling:
- Despite referring to "Claude" generically, the author primarily used OpenCode with open-weights models, including Kimi (K3 & K2.6) and DeepSeek (v4 Pro & Flash).
- Initial setup was fast, but image-to-code generation produced a rough layout with overlapping text elements.
- Rather than automating end-to-end visual feedback loops (to save token costs), the author iteratively guided the model on discrete, scoped UI adjustments.
- Technical Constraints & Implementation:
- Static elements were offloaded into a 240x240 full-screen background image to minimize layout code complexity, leaving only dynamic metrics to be rendered.
- Hardware bottlenecks surfaced on physical hardware: low RAM required streaming background assets directly from flash, resulting in ~10-minute Bluetooth transfer times and a 1–2 second refresh lag during screen swipes.
- The full project and setup instructions were documented in an
AGENTS.mdfile and published on GitHub.
Hacker News Discussion
- "Claude" as Generic Terminology: Commenters noted that "Claude" is increasingly used as a generic term (like "Kleenex" or "ChatGPT") for AI coding agents, pointing out the irony given the author used open-weights models via OpenCode.
- Custom & "Home-Cooked" Hardware Projects: Participants shared similar experiences using coding LLMs to revitalize obsolete gadgets (e.g., Pebble Time 2, M5Stack, Lilygo T-Watch, FB Portal, and Garmin devices) without heavy upfront time investments.
- PineTime Hardware Bottlenecks: Discussion highlighted the original PineTime's tight RAM limitations (64 KiB) and expressed anticipation for hardware upgrades like the upcoming PineTime Pro.
- Semantics of "Hacking": Users debated whether customizing open-source hardware qualifies as "hacking," concluding that tinkering and creative adaptation align with the historical definition of the term.