All Entries Tagged With: "cool watches"
Kenneth Cole Gives The Digital Watch Some Much Needed Style
Digital timepieces and class are two things that are rarely paired together. Seriously, how awkward would it be to wear a Casio to a fancy dinner? The Kenneth Cole Rubber Strap Digital Watch makes a strong statement marrying both, however, making it perfect for cats who want a LED panel watch with a little more flair than your regular G-Shock piece.
Managing to keep the geek factor away despite a pure digital display and a rubber strap, it’s as stylish a wrist candy as I’ve seen in a while. Even the fonts used to display the time and dates are downright sexy. It’s really one of the rare digital watches that you can picture on a suave but practical gentleman, who just happened to grow up on a steady diet of computer terminals and 8-bit gaming.
The Kenneth Cole Rubber Strap Digital Watch sports a stainless steel case, holding a stark-black LED [...]
Xetum Watches Bring Swiss Quality And Understated Class At A Reasonable Price
I can appreciate a complex timepiece just as much as the next guy. Given the choice, though, I’d just as quickly go for classy and sophisticated. Those two qualities are exactly what Xetum’s minimalist designs bring in droves.
Founded by San Francisco designer Jeff Kuo, the new watchmaker only started operations late last year. All designs are made locally, although the pieces are manufactured and assembled right in Switzerland.
Xetum’s initial models consist of the Stinson and the Tyndall, two timepieces with a well-defined appearance that keeps them distinct from your usual Swiss-designed fare. Both sport uncluttered functions and dials, displaying the time inside a sleek and clean 40mm-diameter, 11mm-thick circular case.
The Stinson, which clocks in at $995, keeps things basic. Design is strictly conservative, with three hands, pronounced markers (with Super-Luminova on the 12,3,6 and 9 indexes), and an uncluttered face. It uses Swiss-made ETA 2824-2 automatic movement with 25 jewels [...]
I’m Going Cuckoo For The Cuckoo Watch
Watchmakers call their designs “classic” all the time. Seriously, though, the Cwatch is the only wrist-worn timepiece I’ve seen that deserves such a label. A cuckoo clock on a wristwatch? Can you come up with anything more classic or legendary? You have to be cuckoo not to love it!
Designed by Belgian Thomas Cruyl, this looks way more interesting than those endless parades of LED-blinking Tokyoflash watches and insanely-priced European luxury brands. Who wouldn’t want a veritable Grandfather Clock strapped to their wrist? Anyone? Anyone? No, you only register a “1″ on the fashion scale, you don’t count. Anyone else?
One of the shorlisted entries in a recent Designboom Competition, the Cwatch is just a design, so you’ll have to pray somebody actually makes it before you can wear one. In fact, that Photoshop job is just horrible, don’t you think? The idea, however, is way brilliant. I’d probably like the actual [...]
Beam Light From Your Wrist With The Stanley LED Torch Watch
In the world of “mixing two unrelated things in one,” resulting products either work or don’t. Sometimes, though, they’re so bad you just can’t help but love the little buggers. That’s exactly how I feel about the Stanley LED Torch Watch.
If you always wanted to carry a flashlight along but found it too much of a hassle to keep one in your pocket, then consider the ramifications of putting it on your wrist. Actually, it doesn’t sound that bad. Just duct tape your torch light to your SpongeBob watch (free with every purchase of a 100ml toothpaste) and be done with it. We’ll sit by the sidelines and laugh at you all day, but you’ll have a torch away from your pocket while we won’t. See, you’re spectacular.
The Stanley LED Torch Watch sports a large face (60mm x 35mm x 22mm), which should be expected if you want to fit [...]
Tiret Gotham Collection: Watches For The Dark And Dreary
If Bruce Wayne wore a watch, what would it look like? Horology company Tiret New York tried to imagine the answer to that question and came up with this – the Gotham Collection.
Inspired by the Batman universe’s version of New York City, the timepiece looks every bit as dark as the setting that inspired it. Sporting art deco sensibilities and modernist flair, it’s a piece I can definitely see the millionaire vigilante rocking.
The Gotham Collection consists of two models, one chronograph (brown bezel and strap in the picture) and one power reserve (black bezel and strap). Both are decked in a variety of fine materials, including white gold, steel, ceramic and natural rubber. Buyers can also request precious gems (preferably stolen or cursed – hey, it’s Gotham City) to be added to the mix. They use Swiss ETA 2897 movements for the time-telling mechanism, with a Valjoux 7750 for the [...]
Tableturns Watch Puts A Shrunken Turntable On Your Wrist
When watches attempt to look like other items, it usually ends up campy. I wouldn’t go that far with Flud’s Tableturns watch but you’ll have to be naïve not to find it just a bit cheesy.
A timepiece for DJs clad as a mini-turntable? Yep, the idea’s a tad cheesy. That’s like a mainframe programmer (I seriously want to know if this job description still exists for one of you guys) wearing a watch styled as a terminal. Or one for degenerate gamblers made out like a roulette table. Oh wait, somebody made that one.
The Tableturns watch looks like a shrunken turntable, complete with an arm (stationary) and the spinning record as the actual watch dial. It’s beautifully done, looking more like exquisite arm candy than a corny miniature. It comes in various finishes (gun metal, gold and silver) with options for either steel or [...]
The 2010 Winter Olympics Get Their Own Luxury Commemorative Item With The Richard Mille RM011 Americas White Watch
Swiss watches rarely get special editions geared strictly for North American audiences. That’s why the new Richard Mille RM011 Americas White timepiece is some kind of special. Celebrating the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, it’s a limited edition design with only 30 examples to go around.
Why Americas White? According to the watchmaker, the dark sheen of the case makes for the perfect complement to the bright white chapter ring and white ring around the crown, making for an excellent contrast to push forward the winter athletics theme. I’m honestly not convinced, but I’ll buy it.
The transparent design of the RM011 Americas White, which sees the inner mechanisms exposed, simply can’t generate anything else on first glance except a thundering awe. If the mass of gears playing a backdrop to the lume-filled arrow hands aren’t enough to overwhelm you, the numerous complications should provide even more distraction – a 60-minute countdown [...]
Iron Samurai LED Clock Puts A Faceless Watch Around Your Wrist
“Hey, look, that guy is wearing a watch bracelet with no watch. Idiot.”
That’s probably how people will react when they see you wearing the Iron Samurai LED Clock, a “stylish” (really, now?) men’s bracelet that looks like it’s missing a watch case. Of course, if you want to change their minds, simply tap the first button on the right side of the piece to make the time appear in red LEDs. Suddenly, it’s awesome. Idiots.
While the Samurai reference totally goes over my head (Tokugawan style and Shogunate design my ass), the Iron Samurai LED Clock sure looks grand. It’s supposedly built using Samurai sword material (i.e. carbonized steel folded 1000x over), but I wouldn’t count on it.
Consisting of one full steel bracelet that wraps around your wrist, it uses the gaps between the links to display the time in analog mode, two digits on each line. In watch mode, the [...]
Mirror Watch Lets You Check Your Lipstick, Nosehairs And Zits On Your Wrist, Tells Time Too
Need to check if your fake moustache is in place every couple of minutes? Ditch your favorite timepiece in favor of the Mirror Watch, a stylish LED watch that doubles in function as a wrist-mounted mirror.
Let’s face it. You don’t need a watch. Your cellphone, your music player and your laptop can all tell the time. All your wristwatch really does is look good. Now, you can look good with it too.
The Mirror Watch uses the dial as a mirror by default, allowing you to preen at your own visage anytime you feel like it. Need to check the time? Just press on the reflective surface to activate the LED module, which displays the glowing numbers clearly on a black background. While big and chunky, it’s especially stylish, making for a good replacement to your regular wristwear.
Whether you need to retouch your make-up, check on a zit or fix up [...]
Brittanic and Vanguard Precision Watches Boast Automotive Roots, Awesome-Looking Cases
While I don’t exactly get the automobile influence, these new timepieces from car designers Andy Shaw and Robert Silkstone sure look like glorious items to wrap around your wrist. Called the Brittanic and Vanguard Precision, both models will be limited-edition releases with a very scant run (only 15 units apiece).
Under development from Industrial North Design for close to two years now, the watches are produced using both traditional manufacturing techniques and modern precision engineering methods. Drawing inspiration from automotive development, Geodesic domes and various other influences, the timepieces are unusually unique while looking decidedly attractive.
Both models use a 26 mm-wide 316L stainless steel body that’s been spark eroded and wire-EDM machined, with a CNC-machined inner case held by six 10 BA screws (the rare variety used in the days of the British Empire, believe it or not) and laser-cut dials. The Brittanic model features a sterling silver face with a [...]
Black Belt Watch: Cheesy Martial Arts Gimmick, Sexy Timepiece
Got a black belt in some obscure martial art that no one else has heard of? Doesn’t matter how prestigious it is. If you’ve got the cash, you can be among the “elite” scores of folks who are qualified to buy the Black Belt Watch, a sexy-looking timepiece exclusively for black belt holders in any discipline.
The official press release references the seven virtues of Bushido and the samurai code, neither of which have anything to do with time-telling. Yep, the black belt gimmick is a little trite (seriously, there are McDonald Dojos everywhere), but it’s tough to deny the attractiveness of this timepiece.
Clad entirely in black, the 100% Swiss-made Black Belt Watch features a satin-finished and PVD-treated steel case. The dial sports a black belt engraving over a kimono-like background pattern, with hands based on the Shinai (those traditional bamboo swords used for practice in Kendo). As placeholders for the [...]
MJW On Foot Watch Puts World Speed Records On Your Arm
Digital watches with unusual time-telling functions always look geeky. Analog ones that do the same, however, are just plain cool. Crispin Jones’ latest two-handed timepiece is particularly snazzy, displaying world speed records for running different distances in place of the traditional hour placeholders.
Called the On Foot Watch, the piece sports three arcs on the dial, which details world record times (down to the hours, minutes and seconds) for various running events. It’s supposed to provide the novelty of being able to tell the best time for a particular distance with one glance at your wrist, for however that information might serve you (my bet is none).
After fifteen minutes of reading the description (several times over) at the Mr. Jones’ Watches site, I’m convinced that I’m too stupid to figure out how the whole thing works. The outermost arc is supposed to show distances with world records of under 60 seconds [...]
MJW Cyclops Uses One “Eye” To Tell The Time
Three hands on watches too complicated for you? Simplify your life with the Mr. Jones Watches Cyclops, a new analog watch that uses a single hoop to tell the time.
Created by British designer Crispin Jones, the Cyclops foregoes telling the exact time and lets you approximate the minutes instead. With a single “eye” traveling from one colorful circle to another (each of which represents one full hour), it allows for a “relaxed kind of accuracy” (his words, not mine). Basically, you tell time like a sundial, with only one hand cluing you in on the actual time of day.
The wristpiece brings an elegant aesthetic with a whitish silver color all around, from the rounded frame to the mesh-style bracelet. Dial consists of 12 differently-colored circles, set in a white and fading gray background, along with a black-edged stationary hoop in the middle and a moving one that lets you make [...]
Social Networking Watch Hints At How Connected You Are
Is it time to log on to Facebook yet? You don’t have to forget again with the Social Networking Watch, which sports the logo of popular social media destinations as a placeholder for the time. That’s if you log on to Facebook at exactly 12 0′ clock, of course.
If you don’t particularly like to schedule what sites to visit at which time (especially since you can’t configure the arrangement of the watch face), the media-centered gear should play nice as a cute wristpiece that shows how clued in you are on the latest internet trends. “Oh that’s Twitter, I like, have 250 fans there now,” you say nonchalantly when your mom asks you what that little symbol at three o’ clock stands for. When the guy at the desk behind you asks about that logo at 11, you can feel marginally superior by going, “Seriously, [...]
URWERK UR-CC1 King Cobra Brings Sportscar Displays To Timepieces
Got enough money for a high-end sportscar but would rather buy a wristwatch instead? Try URWERK’s UR-CC1 King Cobra, which sports retrograde linear displays that bring to mind overactive dashboard panels from barreling high-performance classic roadsters.
Borrowing from the Patek Philippe Cobra prototype watch from 1958, the King Cobra tells time by way of a jumping cylinder for the hours (bottom of the face), a retrograde cylinder for the minutes (middle) and a rotating disk for the seconds (top). URWERK claims investing three years of research and development into the timing mechanism to ensure that the decidedly car-inspired fly-back design doesn’t get in the way of accurate time-telling.
Curious owners can watch a vertical, self-lubricating honeycomb-patterned rack that rotates the minutes on a 300-degree angle from a window on the side of the case. A linear spring reverses the cylinder back as soon as it hits the 60-minute mark [...]
Chronofighter Tourist Trophy Is Huge, Manly And Looks Like It Has A Grenade Pin On The Crown
Some folks like colorful watches, while a few prefer difficult timepieces. My personal favorites are big watches with lots of moving components like the Graham Chronofighter Tourist Trophy, which does it one better by adding a lever over the crown that looks like a grenade pin.
London-based watchmaker Graham teamed up with the Tourist Trophy Isle of Man races for this commemorative piece, one of which was awarded for every race winner during the motorcycle tournament’s two-week run last month. I’m not sure how many of the competitors ended up getting one of the timepieces, but it sure seems like a nice “warrior badge” for the victorious riders.
Each watch sports a titanium case with carbon fiber bezel, adorned by a black leather strap. The grenade pin-like lever and pushers are made of black PVD. Design is especially intended to complement the races, which include the Isle [...]
