CrunchGear

After years of suffering, watch geeks are finally getting products dedicated to their quirky and specific tastes. Sure, any oldster can sport a gold Rolex, but what is an Emo kid with a gadget fetish to wear? A Swatch?

Companies like Tokyoflash and Nooka have filled that techno-void with watches that are both high-tech and cool looking. Now, add another member to that selfsame roster.

The Phosphor E-Ink watch uses the same technology found in Amazon’s Kindle. It is a ana-digi watch, which means it shows the time in both analog and digital modes, and the hands are independent of the digital read-out, which makes it a two timezone piece. It also has a date read-out and seconds hand.

The face can switch between showing the date and the time and can show white text on a black background and black text on a white background. The crown sets the analog hands the buttons set the digital read-out.

As a watch, it’s fairly pedestrian. The feature-set is limited by the current technology and I suspect most of the watch’s impressive 13mm thickness is dedicated to the e-ink slab. The movement itself is described as Swiss and I tried to crack the case to confirm that but found another interesting thing about this watch — it’s surprisingly well built. The case is water resistant to 50 meters and held together with four through-lug screws. The band is a bit sketchy — the leather discolored with a little water. If you’re looking into this piece, I’d suggest the rubber band instead of the leather, although both are integrated into the case itself with thick bolts.

If you want something that doesn’t cost much — $250 — and doesn’t look like an alien suppository, the E-Ink watch is an interesting and striking timepiece.

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