The Black Belt watch is water-resistant for up to 100 meters and has a satin-finished, PVD-treated steel case. The sandblasted steel bezel features the Kanji characters for each hour. A black belt adorns the watch’s face, while the minute and hour hands were made to look like Shinai (the wooden bamboo practice swords used in Kendo). The timepiece embodies traditional martial arts values, like Yu (Courage), Meiyo (Honor), and Ramen (Noodles). I’m kidding! Please don’t punch me.

The people behind this ubermacho yet sexy watch are martial artists-turned-watchmakers Claudio Alessi – a “multi style Sensei who is a Mixed Martial Arts instructor” – and  tournament-proven karate practitioner Yvan Arpa. What a combo. In making the Black Belt watch, the two martial artists are still fighting the good fight: a percentage of sales from the watch will be donated to the Little Dreams Foundation, which helps youth excel in arts and sports.

The watch can be yours for 500 kicks to the solar plexus dollars. No, of course not; unfortunately not even the official website has the lowdown on the price or the release date of the Black Belt. But you can already pre-order it, just make sure you have a black belt!

[via The Time TV via The Awesomer]

The ZAZ tells time using a minimal liquid-crystal display that that indicates the hours, minutes and seconds using stacks of dots and dashes. Unlike most LCD watches, the ZAZ features an unusual transparent screen that lets you see through to your wrist below. And unlike some other unconventional watch displays out there, this one is actually pretty easy to tell the time with.

The stainless-steel watch comes is positioned asymmetrically on its band, lending to its distinct looks. Each one is water-resistant to 3ATM, and is available with either a black or white leather band, or one with mesh silver styling. The Nooka ZAZ will ship later this Fall, and is available for pre-order over at Watchismo for $380 (USD).

Heheh. Sasqwatch. Sasqwatch. Cracks me up. Oh I’m sorry man, I didn’t, I was just kidding. What? There really is a Pinkfoot? Whoa. I bet it goes ape for Kool Aid. Just like you – I mean, I’m sure you’ll find them Yeti one day. It’s just out there. Keep on searching. Meanwhile you can boost the morale of your fellow hunters by getting them one of these. Just $50 (USD) each at Entertainment Earth. I’m sure if you ask your mom nicely she’ll get you all four colors.

[via Nerd Approved]

Designer Andy Kurovets envisioned this über-modern watch concept that uses a modulated laser scanner to projects the time onto the surface of your wrist. And he promises it won’t give you skin cancer. At least that’s what I heard – somewhere.

The design features a unique broken “o”-ring band that is slightly elevated from your wrist in order to provide sufficient projection throw distance.

Cool, no? Unfortunately, the design is only conceptual at this point, so if Alessi happens to be reading this blog – make these. People will buy them… so long as the laser doesn’t set your skin on fire.

[via Yanko Design via Ubergizmo]

The Ora watch tells time on a series of three crisscrossed analog time strips. The top strip tells time in minutes, overlapping a smaller band with the hours, and a narrow third belt with the current day of the week.

The mechanism requires an intricate and complicated set of motorized gears pull each band into the correct postion as the time changes.

Designed by Alexandros Stasinopoulos, the Ora is merely in the conceptual stages at this point, so you won’t be able to stop by your local watch shop and buy one of these any time soon.

So it’s all really cool except for the fact that it doesn’t actually exist.

[via designboom via dustbowl]

Created by Mike Libby of Insect Lab, these steampunk bugs combine mechanical components with REAL bug carcasses. Libby takes preserved insect specimens and delicately adorns them with watch gears, springs and other antique analog elements.

As these are serious Art (with a capital “A”), Libby’s insects aren’t inexpensive. The one-of-a-kind bugs cost anywhere from $400 to $2500 (USD) and more. If you like these, you can always pick up one of his 11″x14″ giclee prints for $120 each.

You can check out the full collection over at Insect Lab. Don’t blame me if you can’t sleep tonight.

[Thanks for the tip, Jay!]

Created by Japan’s SeaHope, the Dual Touch LED watch has a display that can react to your touch. In finger trace mode, the LEDs under your digits follow your exact movements.

The other cool thing about the Dual Touch is that each one features a unique dual-color LED matrix that can change colors with a simple swipe of your finger. There’s a blue/green combo, a red/green, red/blue, orange/green and orange/blue duos too. Each Dual Touch watch comes in a slick modern stainless steel (silver or black color) case, and is protected by a durable mineral glass crystal.

In addition to the finger-touch mode, there’s also an animation mode that switches between 6 different patterns including the requisite “running human” pictured above. You can check out a basic Flash demo of the watch animation here.

You can find all of the different permutations for sale over at SeaHope’s online shop for ¥18,900 each (appx. $209 USD).

Designed by renowned architect Will Alsop + Federico Grazzini, the Daytimer watch features a high-contrast blue OLED digital display, framed by a bold geometric polyurethane case.

Instead of just laying there like any old watch, the Daytimer features a 3-dimensional polygonal case structure that’s just slightly askew. As time passes, the display cycles through nine graphics (of what, I don’t know) on its OLED screen when you press the button to recall the time.

The Daytimer comes in four colors: red, green, purple and black, and is available from Emmo Home for $120 (USD).

[photo via Flickr]

Named after the recently discovered dwarf planet, the Pierre Junod Eris watch tells time using a pair of rotating hands that float through the equator of the globe. The orange top pointer indicates minutes, while the hours are shown on the white lower pointer.

Each timepiece is constructed from a dramatic anthracite anodized aluminum case with a curved mineral glass crystal to protect the hands. Time is kept by an accurate battery-powered Swiss movement.

Now I think you’d have a pretty tough time trying to wear this watch on your wrist, but it’s actually designed to hang from the included rubber neck strap, or can be used as a pocket watch or desk clock too. You can grab the Eris watch over at Watchismo for $450 (USD).

The Casio G-Shock Data Bank Calculator Watch (I can almost hear Sheldon saying that) is available at Need Supply for $90 (USD).

[via Uncrate]

Phosphor’s E-Ink watches have a bold modern design, and feature highly readable electrostatic displays.

The Phosphor DH01, DH02 and DH03 all feature a display that combines a dramatic modern numeric display for minutes, along with a simulated analog dial for the current hour. You can also swap the analog dial for a numeric one if you so desire.

The DC01, DC02, and DC03 calendar watches offer a complete monthly calendar on the watch face, with the time displayed above it. Like the other models, the diplays can be inverted from grey-on-black to black-on-grey to suit your fancy.

You can find the full collection of Phosphor E-Ink watches over at Watchismo. All models are priced at $194 (USD), and are available with black leather, polyurethane and stainless steel band options.

The case is made of brushed steel with Swiss parts. Projects describes the black leather band as “buttery soft.” Mmmm. You can get your own IRIDIUM watch from Watchismo for $119 (USD).

[via Likecool]

Just in case this piece wasn’t already flashy enough, it glows when plugged in. Unfortunately, it was the only item in seller Artype’s shop, but I can only hope we see more from this one.

Where do you think all those gears came from? Watches, cigarette lighters… who knows what items died so that this flash drive could live. I’d say that one’s worth a little mechanical genocide.

[Etsy via Boing Boing Gadgets]

As you can see, the bezels were intentionally rusted, or, to use a fancy word, oxidized. A special coating has been applied to the bezels to prevent further rusting. Now the bezels in the limited limited edition Tourbillon Steampunk Ala Grande (Romain Jerome sure know how to name their products) are not only rusted, they’re “studded with 80 hand-applied rivets and have four bolts that resemble watertight hatches.”

I honestly think that honoring a notorious and deadly ship is questionable at the very least. Nonetheless, this is one kick ass watch with looks  that match its undisclosed yet no doubt titanic price tag. Only 9 Tourbillon Steampunk Ala Grande watches were made. Because there are only 9 people in the world who can afford the thing. Kidding.

A hundred years from now, Romain Jerome will be releasing the Recession Clusterfrack Ala Grande, watches with bits of concrete from the buildings of Circuit City, AIG and Lehman Brothers. Still kidding. I hope.

[via TFTS]

The limited-edition Storm Synth conceals the current time by taking standard hour hand, minute hand, second hand equation and multiplying it by three. The trick to reading the time on the Synth is to keep your eye on the hands that have the tiny pointers on their tips. All of the other hands are actually decoys.

At least if it’s gonna confuse the heck out of you, the Synth looks good while doing it. The watch features a substantial modern metal design and suspends the watch movement inside of an open “cage,” encased in crystals on all sides.

So if you’re ready to start tripling the amount of time it takes to check the current time, you can grab the Storm Synth in either stainless steel ($170 USD) or slate black finishes ($199 USD) over at Watchismo.

[via The Watchismo Times]

The next time a son of Loki opens his mouth, press the upper button on the watch and have it flash and emit a pooping sound, moo, and then fart – a purified rendition of the words coming out of the liar’s mouth. It also tells the time, but come on, I mean if you see someone wearing this and they tell you that they bought this because they needed a wristwatch, please press the upper button for them.

The universal bullshit detector watch sells for $40 USD (plus shipping and handling) and can be ordered at its online store. Don’t use it on your kids.

Stumped? Well turn your wrist sideways, and then look again.

Instead of telling time on its face, the Diesel DZ9044 features a set of tiny side-mounted watches that can simultaneously tell time in four time zones. While the location of the watch faces isn’t all that practical, it’s certainly a stunning design.

The watch is constructed from durable solid stainless steel with a bold black ion-plated finish and a matching black leather band, and is water resistant up to 10 ATM (about 330 feet). And if black isn’t your thing, check out the DZ9045, which comes with a shiny stainless face and a brown leather band.

Both the DZ9044 and DZ9045 are available over at Watchismo for $365 (USD).

The Kisai Denshoku watch is crafted from aluminum and stainless steel, and tells time using a unique set of stacked orange LED bars.

A press of the rectangular display button starts an animated sequence that shows the time in three steps. First stage shows the hours, then the second displays ten minute intervals, followed by a third pass that displays the single minutes. Confused? Maybe this simple Flash animation will help illustrate how the Denshoku works:

There’s also an animation mode that lets turns on a lighting sequence once every minute for 12 minutes after checking the time. Why? Dunno. But it sure does look purty. You can even adjust the brightness of the LEDs to conserve battery life.

The Denshoku is available in either black or bright silver brushed metal finishes, and can be found over at TokyoFlash for appx. $236 (USD), including worldwide shipping.

One of the rarest bits of gadget history you can find, this beautiful specimen of the highly collectible Hewlett-Packard HP01 LED calculator watch is available for auction over on eBay. There’s just over 2 hours left in the auction so if you want to get your geek on, you’d better get your bids in fast!

I was hunting around looking for something entirely different when I spotted these limited-edition Invaders’ watches over at Japan’s ebten for ¥18,690 (appx. $207 USD).

The watch features an red dot-matrix display of the current time. With a press of the button, “Space Invaders” scrolls across the display, then a giant animated invader dances across the screen. And when it’s done, it’s “Game Over”, man. And before you start asking, the answer is “No,” you can’t actually play the game, so your score is permanently set to 240 points.

Only 500 of these extremely hard-to-find watches were ever made, so you better head on over to ebten with your Yen and your Japanese to English dictionary in hand if you want one before they all vanish.