Tick-Tock

It’s time for me to confess something. This confession comes as no surprise, nor is it any kind of revelation to anyone within my close circle of friends… but…

I HAVE AN OBSESSION WITH CLOCKS AND WATCHES.

There I’ve said it. I feel much better. Kind of odd, I know… but if the ladies out there can have their handbag and shoe fetishes, then I figure my chronophile tendencies can probably escape under the radar of ridicule.

My particular brand of obsession isn’t such that I find myself staring at hands and numbers all day, every day, but more the kind of “walk into Ikea and bypass all the cool looking, functional furniture and make a bee-line for the clocks section” variety.

I once found a beautiful, pointy, and some would argue dangerous wall clock in a market alleyway in Venice, Italy. I had to have it. So despite the ridiculous cost and pending burden of having to cart it all around the rest of Europe with me, I went with the advice of the little red guy with a pointy tail who sits on my right shoulder, and invested in my first designer wall clock. I’m not sure if the hands are still turning, but the wicked Italian time-keeper still sits on my bedroom wall back in Brisbane.

Add to that the 8 or so (at last count anyway) watches that I currently cycle through from year to year and you have yourself what could be referred to as a wee obsession.

I take heart, however, from a piece recently published on the UK’s “The Guardian” website titled “Why are men obsessed with watches?”. Woot! I’m not the only one. And why? Here’s what the article, penned by Esquire Magazine editor Jeremy Langmead, concluded:

Watches are one of the few items that a man can wear that he believes display true character, signal that he is a member of a particular club – whether it’s an Audemars Piguet or a Swatch – and indulge in a little dose of extravagance without, generally, drawing criticism. Watches are the acceptable face of male jewellery: bangles can be iffy, signet rings dodgy, ear studs a no-no and gold chains risible. A Rolex or a Jaeger LeCoultre, however, whether it’s gold, platinum or stainless steel, is viewed as wholly acceptable.

Tough to argue with any points made there.

So why am I even bringing this subject up? Well a couple of new chronological cravings have entered my life after a little web browsing over the past few weeks. I figure I’d take a little time to introduce them to you, my friends… seeing as though Christmas is only 211 days and 52 minutes away *wink, wink*.

STORM “Saturn” Men’s Watch

This little beauty (above left) is a stainless steel timepiece sporting three time zones in a configuration that gives the face the appearance of orbiting planets. Comes in 4 different flavours with my fave probably being the “brown” model. Damn sexy.

Coming in around the USD$220 mark, this would make a PERFECT stocking stuffer! Haha!

QLOCKTWO – A quadratic matrix clock

As time ticks by, certain characters within the matrix of characters featured on the face of this stunner (above right), glow to form words that describe the time in five minute intervals. The four illuminated dots in the corner show individual minutes. The qlocktwo is available in different languages and its design comes in satin stainless steel or polished synthetic glass in a number of coloured finishes. LOVE IT!

With a heftier USD$1,550 price tag, the “Saturn” is probably looking like my best option at this point… but a guy can always dream, right?