Who can compete with Apple? We have the answer at last: Waterstones. Leave it to a bookseller to attempt the impossible. The company has just “announced” the Waterstones watch, “a new page in wearable technology.” So how does it work?

Just like a book. …Because it is a book. Taped to a watch.

The Waterstones press release boasts:

The screen is flexible and multi-layered to create a compact stacked effect. It looks exactly like paper because, if you look closely, you’ll see that it is paper.

Each Waterstones Watch includes our patented Brain and Optics Optimal Konnection System System, or B.O.O.K.S. System, featuring 26 individual characters which, when put together into ‘words’ and ‘sentences’, delivers a unique reading sensation.

The watch is fully backwards compatible. It supports every model of book created since the invention of the printing press over 550 years ago.

This is a pretty good joke from the big UK bookseller. They even put together an ad to demonstrate its many uses (er, one use, but for an infinite number of titles):

Hope they’ve sent around a few beta versions. A gold one would look great on Beyonce.