The Tikker is a wristwatch that counts down your life so you can make every second count. The Tikker allows you to watch as a dot-matrix screen displays the seconds you have left on earth as they disappear down a black hole. Your estimated time of death is, of course, just that—an estimate. Tikker uses an algorithm like the one used by the federal government to figure a person's life expectancy and then converts that into a countdown of the years, months, days, minutes, and seconds you have left on this earth. The effect is sobering, a sort of incessant grim reaper reminding you that time is running out.

Tikker's inventor is a Swede named Fredrik Colting. He says he invented the gadget not as a morbid novelty item, but as an earnest attempt to change his own thinking. Colting, a former gravedigger, said, "The occurrence of death is no surprise to anyone, but in our modern society we rarely talk about it. I think that if we were more aware of our own expiration I'm sure we'd make better choices while we are alive." That's why he calls Tikker "the happiness watch." It's his belief that watching your life slip away will remind you to savor life while you have it.