While attending the Timex Multisports Team’s camp last weekend at the New York Giants stadium and training center, I got a sneak preview of a new spring product from the sports watch giants themselves: Timex’s soon to be released Ironman Race Trainer Pro.

With all the watches and heart rate gadgets already out there, it must be hard to dream up something that will raise eyebrows anymore. But if you’ve ever found it annoying having to twist your wrist to view your heart rate or splits on a long run, this watch will bring “why has nobody ever thought of this?” sentiments. Timex, the wrist-twisters out there thank you.

While a Rolex might look sexy secured on a wrist top, that’s not the angle runners and cyclists usually see their hands from. The Ironman Race Trainer Pro is a unique “sideways watch” designed for arms bound to aerobars. It does double duty in a spin class or trainer ride (where our hands are seldom in a straight-grip position), and while running.

With a suggested retail price of $199.95, this watch will be a good middle of the road option for those who want to keep their watch upgrade from digging into their new bike fund. It’s got all the regular training watch functions, including customizable zones and displays, time-in-zone, and a 50-lap recall per workout. It’ll talk to your computer (and vice versa) thorugh a USB dongle, so you can keep all your digital training records in sync.

For no-frills triathlete who doesn’t worship GPS, this watch is a sleek, minimalist heart rate monitor and training partner. It comes in black and “Apple made it cool” white, and its Flex Tech fabric chest strap is as comfy as it sounds. So, if you’re still wearing the watch that introduced you to the M-dot (come on, admit it), there’s no better time to upgrade. You’ll just have to wait until March.

Other features not mentioned:

-10 workout downloadable memory
-5 linked interval timers with heart rate zones (5 custom, 5 based on Max HR)
-recovery timer options (off, 30-sec, 1, 2, 5, and 10 minute durations)
-100 m water resistance rating
-replaceable wrist strap