Time Words

Tell the time with charm: Time Words shows you the time in words—approximated with wit—in English, Spanish, Japanese and Catalan.

Time Words is a labor of love—born from years of obsession with the idea of a watch face that tells the time with words. No numbers. No hands. Just words, approximating time the way we humans speak it: “almost five”, “just past ten”, “quarter to three”… always rounded to the nearest five minutes, with a touch of charm.

I made this app for my Apple Watch—and now it’s yours, too.

It’s available in four languages, each carefully adapted to their natural way of expressing time:

English, the lingua franca of the modern world.

Spanish, my native language—and half a continent’s.

Japanese, because many of us carry an inner otaku, and its kanji and hiragana make time beautiful.

Catalan, with its wonderfully quirky system of fractional hours—like “dos quarts de” or “tres quarts i mig de” the hour to come, not the current one—is a fascinating and elegant twist on timekeeping.

How to switch languages: Simply tap anywhere on the main view—on your Apple Watch or in the iPhone app—to cycle through English, Spanish, Japanese and Catalan. Your selection is saved instantly and automatically updates across all widgets and complications on that device where you choose to display Time Words.

Use it as a full Apple Watch app, as a Lock Screen or Home Screen widget on iOS, or as a watch-face complication. Tap to change language, and enjoy the gentle rhythm of time in words.

Time Words is lightweight & elegant. All for the symbolic price of €0.99—though time told beautifully is priceless.