So Many Clocks, So Little Time When Out and About in the World

If time flies when you’re having fun, these souped-up clocks and watches should be zipping all over the place. Prices do not include shipping.

Wake up, jock: First there was the Sound Soother, a battery-powered travel clock-radio that could be programmed to coo you to sleep or wake you up with the sounds of nature--babbling brooks, falling rain, ocean waves, chirping crickets. Now, sports fans, here comes the Sports Soother, a 7-inch-by-2 1/2-inch variation on the theme that gets you going with a choice of sports sounds: baseball fans chanting as the pitcher winds up, the crack of a bat, the crowd cheering. Or switch to football and hear the quarterback calling a play, bodies thumping against one another and the crowd roaring. Golf’s your game? Wake up to the plop of a well-placed putt rolling into the cup. Or rise from hoop dreams to the whoosh of a slam-dunk as the crowd cheers. In your “off” season, you can program your wake-up call to a selection of nature sounds, an AM or FM station, or that old standby: beep, beep.

AM/FM Sports Soother (SI537) is $155 from the Sharper Image; tel. (800) 344-4444.

Tuning in anywhere: Camping in the Jordanian desert, 50 miles from anything resembling civilization, my husband was dying to get some world news. No problem. He just pulled out his little radio and fiddled with some dials, and the Voice of America and BBC beamed in from beyond.

Shortwave radios have been around a long time, but this one is extra cool. Designed in collaboration with those classy Porsche sports car folks, the Grundig digital G2000A radio has a compact 5 1/2-inch-by-3 1/2-inch-by-1 1/2-inch aluminum body with a snap-on leather cover and mini-earphones. It pulls in AM, FM and shortwave broadcasts and has a dual alarm clock with a sleep timer. A button switches the display between home and local time. Using the keypad, you can punch in any station directly, lock 20 stations into memory or use the auto-scan to find a station you like. Runs on three AAA batteries (not included), but that’s about all that’s missing.

Grundig G2000A radio is about $150. Telephone (800) 872-2228 for a nearby store.

Keyed to time: On a quieter note, the Sharper Image’s most diminutive battery-powered gizmo will organize your keys--and give you the time of day. Five swiveling rings can be popped in and out of a metal base that also contains an analog clock and push-button LED light. The battery’s included.

Key Organizer/Clock (SI447) is $39.95 from the Sharper Image; tel. (800) 344-4444.

Pocket this clock: Victorinox, maker of Swiss Army knives, has carved out a niche in the watch business as well. New this season, to go with its line of rugged wristwatches, is an equally tough pocket watch encased in a leather belt pouch with a strap.

Victorinox pocket watch with belt pouch is $150. Tel. (800) 243-4057 for a nearby store.

Mega-data at hand: Does any wristwatch just tell time anymore? Casio, which pioneered timepieces with alarms and stopwatches, has outpaced itself with its Touch Screen Databank Memory Protect 200. That’s a mouthful, but then, this is a watch-full. The screen lights up neon blue and goes to work with the touch of a fingertip on one of the eight icons. The watch stores names, phone numbers, appointments, and short notes in three modes: business, personal and private. There also are five multi-function alarms and a calendar programmed to 2039.

Casio Touch Screen Databank Memory Protect 200 is $119. Tel. (800) 962-2746 for a nearby store.

Gear & Gadgets appears the first week of every month.