Tokyoflash stainless steel S-Mode Oberon watch

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.

Of course, being Tokyoflash it’s not so simple as having LEDs spell out what time it is. Instead you have to count up the rings: the outer ring indicate the hour, the second ring indicates single minutes and the inner ring indicates minutes in groups of ten. Date display works in a similar way. Normally, the watch face is a stubborn blank, only lighting up when you hit the button on the side (once for time, twice for date).

I’m torn, really. Part of me gets a kick out of the design, while the rest of me thinks “get some hands, why don’t you.” It’d be a frustrating only-watch, but a neat second (or third) one. It’s priced at 15,900 yen ($154), which is actually cheaper than the original black Oberon.