Watching the candidates
Inventor's whimsy lets buyers support their choice for all time
Inventor Steve Edelson plays a little pop political psychology game every time someone buys one of his latest creations. His e-mail pings when he makes a sale and he looks at the buyer's information, trying to guess if the person bought a John Kerry wristwatch or the George Bush version.
Edelson wants a reporter to give it a try: A Massachusetts man -- he thinks the ZIP code might be Weston -- made a purchase using an
Wayland resident Edelson, an electrical engineer, computer scientist, and MBA with degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, stumbled upon the inspiration for his kitschy wristwear while on vacation. Now he's fielding calls from the likes of "Good Morning America" after the watches, which feature the candidates' waving arms, were spotlighted in a short Newsweek article.
After about 2,000 watches sold out in a couple of weeks, he is now taking orders to be filled at the end of the month.
"I hate to say it, but we'll be really, really prepared for the Republican convention," said Edelson. "Kerry is kicking butt in watches."
So far, Kerry watch sales are far outstripping demand for the incumbent timepieces by 67 percent to 33 percent. And he suggests that the sales data on his website (Electionwatches.com) might even be a better means of divining November's outcome than traditional polls.
"Can watch sales predict the election as well as Gallup and the others?" he asks on the website. "Let's put it another way, which is more reliable -- honest, hard-working Americans voting with the fruits of their labor or slack-jawed stay-at-homes giving 'free' opinions to strangers on the phone?"
The watches represent more to Edelson than just political puffery -- they are a high-tech disciple's homage to the quaintness of low tech. These watches are mechanical and actually have to be wound.
Edelson, who holds several patents and is normally found working as an independent marketing consultant on things like laser modulation, got the idea for the campy collectibles when he was touring in China. He fell in love with some antiques from the Cultural Revolution -- wristwatches showing Chairman Mao waving with a moveable metal arm.
"I always had this thing in my mind about how cute it was to have watches that waved," said Edelson, who with his wife, Lori, has a patent pending on the jolly gesturing politicos.
But as any inventor knows, moving from brainstorm to marketable product is the real challenge.
For Edelson, that process included securing rights to the candidates' images, finding an artist to make it all look nice, and locating a watch manufacturer that would take on the project.
As fate would have it, he ended up making a deal with one of the same Chinese factories that used to fashion the wristwatch tributes to Chairman Mao. Those watches were no longer being produced, but the machinery was still in place.
Those foreign origins were actually a deal-breaker in trying to get the Democratic and Republican convention committees interested in offering the watches to supporters, according to Robin Raskin, a longtime friend and business partner on the project. It turns out both sides like their partisan accessories made in America.
Raskin, a former editor of PC Magazine, is helping Edelson with marketing, and she said the watches would be on sale at both political conventions through a deal made with some of the political button hawkers.
"It really is so whimsical -- people just want it, the same way they'd want a Mickey Mouse watch in Disney World," said Raskin. "You have all sorts of people with strong political feelings now looking for ways to show them."
Raskin is a Kerry supporter, but Edelson would not reveal where his political allegiances lie. "I'd lose half my customers," he said.
Another friend helping out is Beverly resident Pat Lucci, a former technology reporter at radio station WRKO.
"I thought it was hilarious -- the very fact that these guys are just standing there like goofballs waving at you," Lucci said of the final product.
So has he put his money where his vote is?
"I told Steve I really do want one," said Lucci, "but I don't know which one because I don't like either candidate."
Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@globe.com.
