TokyoFlash is giving away a watch to three winners of their TokyoFlash landmark contest. The rules are pretty simple: simply create an image of a famous horological landmarks redesigned with TokyoFlash faces i.e. Big Ben with the Rogue face built-in.
More info after the jump.
Tokyoflash, everyone’s favorite denizens of future town, need your help to pick their latest designs. They have about 12 crazy things and all of them are supposed to be some sort of Bluetooth solution that connects to a phone for hands-free listening. They want you to look at all these goodies and pick some favorites.
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So this watch is supposed to look like a Japanese signature seal and lights up in odd configurations, shown here, to show you the time. It’s made of brushed metal. It’s as unreadable as any other Tokyoflash watch, so unless you really like this you’d probably be better off getting a tattoo of a watch on your wrist – at least it will be accurate and readable twice a day.
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Tokyoflash strikes again, with yet another insane watch that’s almost impossible to read. The latest addition to their line, the “Kisai Sensai” is pretty much incomprehensible.
Ah, the Tokyoflash watches. We’ve covered them time and time again here on CrunchGear, yet I’ve never personally written about them since I haven’t had any experience with them yet. Well that all changed a few weeks ago during CES.
The guys over at Tokyoflash have just announced their first new watch for 2009, the R75. Unlike some of Tokyoflash’s other watches this one actually seems simple to read while still looking cool. Click on for a full gallery and more.
The Kisai Denshoku is an homage to the lights and skyline of Shinjuku but personally I think this watch by Tokyoflash looks more like a little hibachi waiting for some shrimp and a nice flank of Kobe beef.
The Denshoku costs $247.72 and is available in white or black.
Unlike John Biggs or Flavor Flav, I am no timepiece purist. In fact, most watch lovers might consider me a heretic; in an age where every TV, DVD player, camera, and cellphone totes a clock, I’ve come to consider watches less of a tool, and more of an accessory. Hell, I once wore a watch with a dead battery for over a month.
As such, I’ve always been interested in TokyoFlash watches. With their varyingly complex designs of spiraling LEDs, they put the focus on the aesthetics aspect of a watch without sacrificing the time-telling functionality. Sure, it may take you a day or two to get used to each design – but each watch does the job, and looks damned good doing it.
As my first venture into the TokyoFlash collection, I opted for the S-Mode Oberon (¥16,900, or roughly $167 USD). I’ve been wearing it around town for about a week. What do I think? Read on to find out.
I’ve always liked Tokyoflash watches, but I’ve also always been wary of committing to a single crazy-ass color whenever a design impressed me; the ones I liked were always monochromatic. No more! The newest Tokyoflash timepiece, the Negative, sports 7 different colors you can switch between whenever you feel like it. At last, something to go with that day-glo jumpsuit you use when you’re fighting the clowns! At $160 it’s not cheap, but can you really put a price on kaleidoscopic techno-insanity?
AKIRAAAA!
I have something I need to get off my chest. I love me some watches and I think TokyoFlash has done more for the watch industry than they know, creating high-design timepieces for not much money. But when time-telling becomes painful, I worry.
From the TokyoFlash website about their new Rogue: “Once mastered, navigating the time is simple, but creates a sense of mystique to the uninformed.” Is this really what we want? To be a time lord in our own three-foot circular personal space? I think time should be shared and I don’t think a weird glowing thing on your wrist will get you the ladies. But I could be wrong.
Anyway, it’s out, it’s round, and it has lots of glowing things in it. $161.52 from TokyoFlash. Am I wrong about my feelings? Tell me off.
Want to turn Japanese? How about an S-Mode Oberon IPB or Tokyoflash Infection from Tokyoflash. We’ve got one of each, so two winners total.
S-Mode Oberon IPB -Breaking through the atmosphere with the same velocity as its predecessor Titan, this high quality time piece has a radiance that can be seen from another cosmos. The S-Mode series brings you a stunning wrist wear design featuring a sleek full-face black mineral crystal lens with contrasting white LEDs beneath. Oberon is dark yet irresistible, housed in a streamlined black IP coated stainless steel case and complemented with a custom designed linked strap and bright white LED display. The time is presented simply, with a single touch of the upper button. The outer ring of LEDs indicate the hour, the second ring indicates single minutes and the inner ring indicates minutes in groups of ten. The date can be read in a similar way with a second touch of the upper button.
Tokyoflash Infection – Tokyoflash launches an original design combining sleek curves, tri-colored LEDs and a pulsating new display. Featuring a creatively designed full face mirrored lens and an innovative way to view time, no one is immune to Infection. Housed in a smart new case, Infection is ergonomically designed to neatly fit the contours of your wrist, the tapered edges providing a smooth transition between the case and lens. Twenty-seven multi-colored LEDs pulsate and move like cells across the curved face to present the time from beneath the attractive mirrored mineral crystal lens. Finished with a matching leather band and stainless steel clasp, this is a flashy look that’s sure to get you noticed. Twelve red LEDs indicate hours, eleven yellow LEDs represent the progression of time in groups of five minutes and four green LEDs show single minutes. A single touch of the upper button animates the LEDs, a single touch of the lower button shows the time immediately.
How do you win?
The Galaxy from TokyoFlash shows hours on the big pips, the red pips show five minute intervals, and the green pips show single minutes. While it’s not immediately intuitive, it’s a bit better than TokyoFlash’s traditional “the green blob shows the hours since your last bowel movement, the red blob shows milliseconds elapsed since 1929, and the blue blob is there to tell you that we care” styling.
The Galaxy costs $132 and is available online. Pick it up and look like a star captain in your spare time.
These two new watches from Toykoflash feature a unique LED system that can change the face color at the touch of a button. While the watches are standard TF fare — odd faces and cool designs — the real magic happens when you swap the red face for the blue, making you just that much cooler. Both are available now from Tokyoflash for $123.29.
While this watch won’t turning you into fast-moving blood zombie with a maniacal thirst for human flesh, it will turn you into someone who wears a really cool watch. The new Infection features sassy little protoplasms that you decipher by color and the odd band evokes the harsh, biotoxic skin of a bloated, mutated cow. Great for parties!
It costs $139 and comes in silver with a mirrored mineral crystal. Click through to see how to read this monster.
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I’m a watch purist so maybe the S-Mode Oberon isn’t for me. However, it is another cool creation from TokyoFlash and at about $150 it’s a considerable bargain. It has a stainless steel body, mineral crystal, and shows the time in a series of bright blue LEDs. You press the button once to view the time and again to view the date.
Again, I totally dig what Paul is doing at TokyoFlash — high technology meets horology. I just wish my eyesight wasn’t failing and my cranky fat traditionalist bone wasn’t itching me.
Our joint contest with TokyoFlash has concluded. Thanks to everyone who entered! The winners should be receiving emails soon, or may have already gotten them. If you didn’t win a watch, well, you’re still a winner for reading the site, and that’s why we want to give you a special discount at TokyoFlash. Click below for “the deets.”
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If you haven’t checked out our review of two Tokyoflash watches yet, go and do so. Because there will be a test! Seriously, there will. For your chance to win a cool watch from Tokyoflash (not necessarily one from the review, but hey), check out the instructions after the link. It’s quite simple, really, and in a few days we’ll have three winners. What are you waiting for? Click already!
Update: Due to a rather long holiday taking over the nation of Japan, you can enter until the 7th, at which point, we’ll choose a winner.
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Katana and Watchizaki
You must have heard of Tokyoflash. They’ve got the coolest watches on both this and that side of Japan, and also make the best of those binary-time watches that puzzle you whenever you see them. I have two specimens of Tokyoflash gear right here with me — are they as solid as they look on the site?
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Another day, another crazy watch from TokyoFlash. This one is the Tibida with a binary and digital time readout that is actually cool.
See, this thing shows time in binary and standard formats. The binary mode is a little hard to grasp but the numeric mode is genius. In most cases, the top LEDs show the hour and the bottom set shows the minutes in Arabic numerals. There is also a date display and a set of tiny LEDs that tell you what mode you’re in. Effective and sexy, clearly.
It’s about $120 and comes in multiple colors. Overkill? Sure, but it’s the kind of overkill we like.
Sure, it’s pretty, but can you tell the time? I’ve been watching Tokyoflash move from “cool gimmick” to “fashion-forward horology source” and I’m kind of dismayed by their latest invention, the 1259Q. I’m not even going to try to tell you how to read it, but I guess if you need the attention and can’t get it with your good looks or hygiene you can always impress the lasses with your unreadable watch. $144.72 if you dare.
