Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

While it might have taken some of its design cues from Tetris and other block-type puzzle games, the Casio Cubic Puzzle watch doesn’t actually include any built-in gaming action. I’m afraid it’s all business with your basic 12/24 hour time and date functionality, stopwatch, alarm and backlight. The display is animated, which might help distract you during a boring meeting, but I’m afraid that’s all the fun you’re going to have with this thing. $89.56 from Tokyoflash available in blue or black.

[ Tokyoflash - Casio Cubic Puzzle Watch ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s been a while since we’ve seen anything new from Tokyo Flash, but I guess if any company would have trouble keeping track of the time, it would be them. Like their past efforts, the Kisai Denshoku gets high regards for style and design, but not so much when it comes to usability. The watch’s face is made up of 12 orange acrylic bars that light up like a graphic EQ, but interpreting the time takes a little know-how.

Pressing the button on the side of the watch causes the bars to light up 3 times, first indicating the hours (3 lit bars = 3 o’clock) then groups of ten minutes and finally single minutes. As is usually the case, there’s a bit of counting involved, but if you’re OK with that you can order the Kisai Denshoku in a black or silver finish from Tokyo Flash for $239.

[ Tokyo Flash Kisai Denshoku ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Tokyoflash once again proves that if telling time is not your number one priority when it comes to designing a watch, you’ll never have to worry about running out of new ideas. However this time around things aren’t as confusing, as long as you’re willing to do a little math. The watch features 4 raised convex bubbles that can each display the numbers 0 to 9, and in order to tell the current time you just hit the single button on the side and add up the numbers that are displayed in each column. Otherwise the watch just runs a little animation where the LED numbers move in a sweeping animation from side to side, “bringing the watch to life.”

The Kisai Keisan’s also got a high grade aluminum band and body with a polished alumite coating giving it that smooth appearance, an energy saving mode to boost the battery life and is water resistant to 3 ATM. It’s currently available from the Tokyoflash website with a black (red or green LEDs) or silver (yellow or orange LEDs) finish for $255.01 each.

[ Tokyoflash Kisai Keisan ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

By David Ponce

Rafizah Zain, who chose the Saishin Retsu Gunmetal+Green watch.
Tom Lorimor, who chose the Tokyoflash Negative IPB watch.
Jordan Dobbs Rosa, who chose the Tokyoflash Galaxy watch.

These were all chosen at random by Paul Cooper, marketing manager at Tokyoflash from all the entries he received. Thank you all for participating, and stay tuned for other giveaways in the new year.

By David Ponce

Those of you reading OhGizmo! for a while will know we’re big fans of Tokyoflash watches. The impossibly difficult to read timepieces are as much of a geek’s badge of honor than a stylish wristwatch, and they make the best conversation starters. So, in the spirit of the Holidays, and in partnership with Tokyoflash, we’re giving away three watches… of your choice!

This contest is a little different than our previous ones, so pay attention to the details below.

How to win?: Answer the following question: “Which Tokyoflash watch would be perfect for your next space expedition?” The answer can be found at Tokyoflash’s website. When you think you know the answer, email it to “ohgizmo [at] tokyoflash [dot] com”. In the email, you can also state which watch you’d like to get, should you be one of the winners. 3 winners will be selected at random.

Who can enter?: This is open to the world.

When does it end?: Emails will not be counted after midnight, December 24th, EST. The winner will be announced the following day, the 25th, Christmas.

Once again, Happy Holidays!

By Evan Ackerman

How do you make a watch that’s impossible to read even better? You make it out of dead animal bits, that’s how. Tokyoflash has a new series of wristwatches called Waku that incorporate bands and faces made with a strip of brown leather, “croc effect” black leather, or “natural” fur from some unspecified but probably cute (cute pre-watch, anyway) animal. A series of fourteen holes poked in the leather face let LEDs shine through which, if you concentrate, you can use to decipher what time it is. Eventually, anyway… “A simple animation sparkles before the time is presented in three easy-to-read steps.” But I guess you wouldn’t buy a Tokyoflash watch if you weren’t into those sorts of shenanigans, would you?

Each watch is about $130 with either white or multicolored LEDs, available now.

[ Toykoflash Waku ] VIA [ Neatorama ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Damn you Tokyo Flash! While your obfuscated watch designs look cool and stand out in the crowd of boring analog faces, they’ve also influenced other ‘clock’ makers to make it nearly impossible to easily tell the time. Like the Chronochrome for example.

At first glance it looks like another trippy mood light, which it is, but those colored bands are also used to display the current time. Each color represents a different number, so you simply read it from left to right like a regular digital clock display. But that of course requires you to memorize what each color actually means, which sounds a bit too much like homework for my liking. The Chronochrome can also be set to cycle through the colors in various patterns, or dimmed if you’d prefer to use it as a night light. And it’s available from their website for about $73.

[ Chronochrome ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Tokyoflash has always targeted the retro and design-minded when it came to their unique line of watches. But this time around they’re casting their net a little wider to include those with a gambling addiction, particularly slot jockeys. (Or anyone under the power of ‘Gamblor’ as Homer called him.) The Tokyoflash Jackpot watch has a set of 4 dot-matrix LEDs used to present the time and date, but they also double as the spinning dials in a slot machine. One button is used to set your bet and the other is used to spin the digits, and I assume as you play, the watch keeps track of your running total. Thankfully though if you have an unlucky streak the only money you’ll actually lose is the $99.99 you paid for the watch in the first place.

[ Tokyoflash Jackpot Watch ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I like complex watches that are crammed full of functionality and features as much as the next gadget blogger, but I have to admit these simple Independent Retrograde Dualtime watches from Citizen have their own unique appeal. The watches come in either a polished stainless steel (the ITR21-5053) or IP gold and black (the ITR21-5051) finish and both feature an analog watch face with a digital typeface for the hours, as well as a unique L-shaped 24-hour clock at the bottom. They’re both available from Tokyoflash with the stainless steel model selling for about $242 while the IP gold and black is just a bit more at about $271.

[ Independent Retrograde Dualtime ITR21-5053 & ITR21-5051 ] VIA [ Uncrate ]