Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Oh, that’s how. By turning the watch into some monstrous contraption that no one would actually want to wear. Seriously though, they claim this thing offers hands-free convenience, but what good are free hands when one of your arms is tied up having to point this thing in all directions? It’s also got an alarm, a backlight and a timer FYI, and while it looks like it might be, I’m not actually sure if the flashlight portion is removable or not. $58 from Watch.Brando.com.

[ Stanley LED Torch Watch ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m pretty sure any real DJs wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one of these campy Tableturns watches from Flud, but according to the company’s website you can at least be assured you’re still ‘keeping it real’ if you’ve got one strapped to your wrist.

The TableTurns watch tips its fitted cap to the art of the DJ by slapping the object of your affection right on your wrist. The TableTurns is more than just a simple effigy, it redefines “keeping it real,” by being true to form, down to the most minute details, available with both a leather and a steel band, this watch is bound to scratch the surface of more than just a few conversations.

“Scratch the surface”, I get it, clever. The leather and silver band models pictured above each run $70, but there’s also gold and gun metal versions for $80 each when you’re ready to ‘keep it extra real’.

Update: In the interest of fairness I wanted to include a response to my comments that Flud posted on their Twitter feed. “Hey Ohgizmo- thanks for the blog post but your dead wrong about real DJ’s not wearing it. Everyone from DJ Drama to Whoo Kid to Green Lantern to Kay Slay to DJ Babu to Jazzy Jeff to the Awesome 2 rock that watch.”

[ Flud Tableturns ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If I’m not mistaken, at one point in time this Iron Samurai watch was nothing more than a concept design that cleverly hid an LED display inside a ’stylish’ men’s bracelet. But it’s now available from Chinavasion for a mere $15, and while they claim the bracelet is made from “Samurai sword carbonized steel folded 1000x over” I think the “This watch is not waterproof” warning tells a more accurate tale of the quality of the materials that went into it. And if I am mistaken about this being a concept at some point, I hope you can forgive me and be content with the fact you can now get one for just $15.

[ Iron Samurai - Japanese Inspired Red LED Watch ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If an overly complicated pilot’s watch isn’t your thing, you might be interested in the Palindrome Too designed by Philippe Starck for Fossil, which is pretty much the exact opposite. Sure, including a single analog watch face would have made the design even simpler, but then you wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on the clock in two different time zones now would you? It’s also got a stainless steel case and a black polyurethane strap, and can be found at Watchismo for $145.

[ Fossil Palindrom Too By Starck ] VIA [ Acquire ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The retro segmented red LED display and hardened aluminum case give this watch a unique look that might appeal to watch aficionados, but in reality it’s the geeks of the world who will want this strapped to their wrist. Why you ask? Well the display is actually touch-sensitive, but the only thing tapping the face actually does is switch the way the time is displayed between binary, octal, decimal and hexadecimal. So while it might not be able to compete with more expensive watches when it comes to design and style, I’d like to see a Rolex switch to a binary mode. (Actually I wouldn’t.)

It’s available from ThinkGeek for $149.99 but since only 200 of these were made you’ll want to act fast if you really want one.

[ Multi-Format LED Display Watch ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Let’s get something straight here. As far as I can tell these watches from Jean Charles de Castelbajac are not an officially licensed LEGO product, but they absolutely should be. LEGO has dabbled in watches in the past, but their efforts have produced mostly analog styles that I wouldn’t touch with a 10-stud LEGO brick. But I’d actually consider wearing these 2 designs which feature a “classic Casio watch shape” with bright LEGO brick inspired primary colors. The ’studded’ wrist strap is also a clever touch, though I’m pretty sure you can’t attach an actual LEGO brick to it. According to Babyology the watches should be available by the end of the year, though pricing details are unknown.

[ The Cool Hunter - JC de Castelbajac Lego Inspired ] VIA [ Babyology ]

By Andrew Liszewski

In terms of transformability, these new Transformers watches aren’t that far off from the Kronoforms that helped make the 80’s as awesome as they were. But I don’t think today’s kids will even give them a second look since all they’re really getting is a basic robot toy and an even more basic LCD clock. No sound effects, no rocket launchers, no LEDs and no websites to interact with. Yeesh! When I was a kid we didn’t have… well you know how it goes. $9.99 each available from Amazon.

[ Optimus & Bumblebee Transformers Watches ] VIA [ Wrist Dreams ]

By Evan Ackerman

Tempo Tags are tiny little clip-on watches. They tell time. And they’re small. Made out of stainless steel and powered by a replaceable watch battery, they’ll remain useful until people stop caring what time it is. For $18, you get two of them, one with a clip on the right side for you boring people, and one with a clip on the left side for us awesome people. Or, alternatively, $15 gets you versions that tell temperature. They’ve kinda got an anti-fancy thing going on that is pretty appealing, and you can find them over at Vessel.

[ Tempo Tag ] VIA [ RFJ ]

By Andrew Liszewski

So it turns out that all it takes to make it easier to share the time on your watch with someone is a simple 90 degree turn of its face. And that’s basically what’s been done with design studio Maezm’s Sharing Watch, which makes it extremely easy to show someone standing beside you what time it is, without inconveniencing the wearer too much. Unfortunately though, while the watch was designed to promote sharing, it seems Maezm doesn’t practice what they preach since the Sharing Watch is only a concept and isn’t available for sale.

[ Sharing Watch ] VIA [ designboom ]