We all love a cool watch and there’s nothing cooler than standing out from the crowd. That said, most watches are very similar at first glance and they tend to follow the same basic style. In contrast, all these watches have an eye-catching and exotic twist. From unusual shapes and displays to incredibly complicated high precision movements, they all have a distinctly different style to what we are used to. Some are concept works and others you can buy right now. Although some are more expensive than others! So without further ado, let’s get started with number 10…
10 – Zero Point Zero Watch
The Zero Point Zero watch will definitely turn heads with it’s distinctive ‘handcuff’ style and rather sexy red-lit digital display. Whether you’re keen for a jail-house punk look or just ‘enjoy’ handcuffs then this watch may be for you. Sadly they’re only a concept design at the moment. As far as unusual but cool watches go, we think it’s pretty high up there.
9 – Time Orbit Watch
The Time Orbit Watch resembles a simple plastic bracelet with the added feature of having three coloured rings orbiting it, one for hour, minutes and seconds respectively. Another concept watch, it is nonetheless an extremely sleek piece of design. It has been suggested that the bars could have their colours changed depending upon what you happen to be wearing at the time, making colour co-ordination very simple.
8 – Binary Watch
A must have for any self-respecting computer geek, if only because you’ll be the only one who can read it! Binary watches forgo a traditional display and instead a series of simple LED lights are used to display the time in binary code. Due to the wide range of choices available you shouldn’t have too much difficulty locating one that suits your taste. Either way, computer geek or not, they are very cool watches and a great conversation starter.
7 – OLED Linux Watch
Another rather geeky watch but again a very cool one. Although now rather obsolete the OLED Linux watch was incredibly advanced for its time. Worn on a wrist like any other watch it ran Linux which allowed it to not only tell the time but to maintain a phone-book calendar and display simple black and white photos, all using OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) for the display, again highly advanced for it’s time. The OLED Linux watch and its like helped pave the way for smartphones and tablets.
6 – Chapter One
Elegant and refined, the Chapter One is nonetheless a little strange. With a partially exposed movement and two rolling bars displaying the day of the week and the phase of the moon, it looks like something a vampire might have to keep an eye on his pet werewolf. Although not as unusual as some of the other watches in this list it’s beauty and style meant we felt it had to be included. I think you’ll agree, it’s quite a sight to behold.
5 – Thumbnail Watch
While most people wear their watches on their wrists, TIMEX are developing a watch that is to worn over your thumbnail. A clear plastic screen is augmented by a transparent LED display which is turned on by simply flicking your forefinger over your thumbnail. As cool watches go this one is pretty out of this world and defintely very futuristic. TIMEX say that they are intended to be disposable, which is probably well advised as they don’t appear particularly sturdy.
4 – Nixie Watch
Another geeky but cool watch, the Nixie watch uses old-school “Nixie” tubes to show the hours and then minutes consecutively. Easy to view, the watch’s face reveals all it’s working parts in all their geeky glory. Invented in the 1950’s Nixie tubes have become an extremely recognisable piece of retro-tech. Though not something you’d wear on a day-to-day basis one has to admire the work and design that has gone into fitting all this chunky technology into something that is wearable upon the wrist.
3 – Abacus Hands Free Watch
For those of us who aren’t too fussed about an exact reading of the time but love minimalist style the Abacus Hands Free may be perfect for you. Instead of having hands to tell the time a small ball bearing is slowly guided around the face of the watch with the aid of a small hidden magnet. Quite incredible to view in action it’s definately a great talking piece. The only downside is that telling the time to the minute is a pretty tall order, but we reckon that’s a pretty small price to pay for a cool watch like this.
2 – UR-210
The UR-210 is the latest in a series of watches and it’s perhaps one of the coolest and most unusual watches we’ve ever seen. Dominating the face is a three pronged satellite dial that slowly rotates. Along the bottom of the watch the minutes are marked. As one of the hands move past it shows not only the minutes past the hour along the bottom but a 4 sided dial rotates to show the hour. In this case, a picture is certainly worth a thousand words, so take a peek at the image. As if this wasn’t enough it comes with a battery indicator and a “winding-efficiency” indicator, which allows you to adjust how much power is taken from the automatic winding motion. Supposedly, this means that you can reduce wear of the mechanism by toning down the amount of power taken in by the mechanism when you’re more active and vice versa. You may not have understood all of that, I know I didn’t, but you can’t deny that this is a seriously cool watch!
1- Cabestan Winch Tourbillion
Saving the best, and most unusual, for last: The Cabestan Winch Tourbillion. Once again I’ll let the image do the talking with regards to the mechanism, but what a beautifully charming watch. It strikes a fine balance between eye-catching eccentricity and old-world style with a beautiful steam punk twist. More a work of art than engineering, I’d definitely be unable to wear it on a daily basis and remain sane. It’d be like using the Mona Lisa as a tea tray! Thankfully, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford such a thing but I’d certainly love to see one in the ‘flesh’ so to speak. A wonderful timepiece to round off this Top Ten.
If you’re looking for a more conventional watch for day-to-day use, head over to First Class Watches for a wide variety of exciting watches. You’re bound to find the watch to suit your style.
