Esoteric watch manufacturer Tokyoflash have announced their latest bizarre timepiece, Fire. Looking a little like a wrist-mounted nutmeg grater, Fire continues Tokyoflash’s tradition of demanding wearers decipher combinations of LEDs in order to figure out if it’s lunchtime.
Studio 100% have been showing off this new LED watch at Tokyo Design Week 2008, with hidden LEDs that shine through the gunmetal links of the bracelet. It manages to look both modern and retro at the same time, probably because of the nixie tube orange color.
I’m no fortune teller, but I think this Oracle Watch concept would find plenty of buyers should it ever reach the market. Designed by Andy Kurovets, it not only tells you the time but, using the divination principle of the I Ching, the order of chance events.
It says a lot about me, I suppose, but when I was younger I thought a calculator-watch was possibly the coolest thing you could have on your wrist. Pro-electronics engineer David Jones obviously feels the same way, as he’s replaced his broken Casio CFX-400 scientific calculator watch with a DIY μWatch based on a 16-bit microprocessor, two-line 16-character display and full keypad.
If you’re looking for a new watch, the Day&Night by Romain Jerome isn’t exactly going to be your first choice. It’s not because it isn’t cool looking. It’s pretty awesome, actually. There’s just one problem. It doesn’t tell time.
Just because you love the latest gadgets doesn’t mean you have to forfeit more traditional designs. And if you love antiques, you can still get that priceless look from modern tech. Case in point, the Casio G-Shock G8100A-5. This wrist watch is made from bronze-colored aluminum and has a perforated resin band, giving it a rustic appeal. Some may define it as “steampunk” but I wouldn’t quite agree with that. For me, steampunk requires gears, mechanisms, steam and other Victorian tech. Just because something looks old, doesn’t mean it’s steampunk. But I digress.
Watches are a dying breed, we have enough gadgets that we already carry anyway that we don’t need to have one on our wrist. That is unless you just enjoy it as a fashion accessory. Well now you can have a watch table, just in case you’re feeling a bit sentimental about your long lost watch phase.
This chic little watch looks like it’d be sporting the bare minimum on extra features and is just meant to be cute. However, it actually is featuring more extras than the bulky watches usually meant for the outdoorsy types.
If you’re looking for a geeky watch then you could easily head straight over to Tokyoflash, who are known for their almost indecipherable LED displays. Alternatively, Maywadenki’s Zihotch Retro Phone Watch goes more classic with its design; classic rotary phone, that is. There are no hands, no LCD or even LEDs – instead, you dial 117 to have the watch speak the time out loud to you.
Despite the fact that they’re, generally, frustratingly difficult to tell the time from, I do have a soft spot for Tokyoflash watches. One of the company’s more recent designs, the Oberon, has been diving in and out of stock for a while now, but they’re celebrating a return to availability with the launch of a new, stainless steel variant. The S-Mode Oberon SS uses three rings of blue LEDs to indicate date and time.
SlashGear Japan
