A Difference in Time

Every once in a while, I peruse the net, for truly original watches.

It is amazing the versatility of an object such as the watch, and to think in the end the integral function remains the same: To track the passage of time. A watch that does not track the time is not a watch, but an entirely different instrument. Now Romaine Jerome's "Day & night" Watch has no numbers, but does track the time by dividing Day and Night, just like the ancients. When the world consisted of hunters and gatherers, there was no need for hours, minutes or seconds, the only time that mattered was powered by the earths rotation on its own axis providing us with night and day, and its orbit around the sun providing us with the seasons. A timepiece such as Romaine Jerome's night and day has reached into the essence of time, free from the boundaries of man , and providing us with the passage of time tracked since the beginning of time.

The Earth Watch WN-1 introduced by Think The Earth group and Seiko back in 2008, would be the perfect watch for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which started yesterday and goes until December 18th. The time on the watch is indicated by the globe making a full rotation every 24 hours. A tiny indicator on the edge of the globe displays the hour, and a little dot rotating around the globe indicates minutes. WN-1 Earth Watch’s case is made from a titanium body with a resilient Hardlex crystal dome to protect the earth’s climate. The watch is powered by Quartz with a custom set of 3 reducing gears in the drive train.
The watches black band is made from Sophista, a sports type synthetic fabric that absorbs sweat. In addition the watch is water resistant up to 100m. The ‘Think The Earth’ WN-1 Earth Watch is a constant reminder to us that the world is a orb unto itself and us as its inhabitants must do the best we can to protect it.

It seems these watches are still in the concept stages, but the idea is pretty cool. Designed by by PLAYOFF and Balykin Pavel from Behance.net. Sand+Time Watch is awarded by reddot design and it’s also the winner of watch design in 2006. I love the idea of a digital hourglass. While you can still have time in digital, you can also enjoy pixar animated sand flowing through the hourglass. Perfect for Pictionary.


This Hologram watch is kind of spooky and kind of funky. The time is displayed on a hologram surface through the negative space, but only when you want it too. Most of the time the watch just appears to be a bracelet.



Give the Faceless LED Watch as a gift and you may have your gift recipient turning the watch over and over desperately trying to find the time. The Faceless Led Watch is crafted by Hironao Tsuboi. The red numerals cast the relevant glow of numerals according to the time. Quite mysterious and highly original.



With my busy schedule the About Time Watch won't cut it for me. One rolls the watch around on a flat surface, and the time is the area that touches the table, but there are no real numbers, but rather vague suggestions as to the time frame. Phrases such as "it may be more like around eight, but if you want, it could be nine."

Binary Time Watches. To me they are just a couple of colorful lights, but to Geeks out there these watches are excellent time displays. I have seen a number of different versions of Binary watches and each one looks ,well, binary.