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. → Read More
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! → Read More
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. → Read More
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.” → Read More
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. → Read More
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? → Read More
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. Product Page → Read More
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. Product Page → Read More
Hey, funboys! Get a room! And while you’re at it, get an Equalizer BPM watch from Tokyoflash. This watch measures the audible BPM of any sound source — they’re saying it works as a heart rate monitor as well, but I doubt it — but for $65 you really can’t go wrong. It even has a little flashlight for picking out your next track. Hmmm… Dancing Queen or Europe’s The Final Countdown. Nah. Let’s put on the Gipsy Kings! Product Page [via Les Giz] → Read More
As a watch nut, I rarely drool over TokyoFlash’s odd designs or timepieces. Sure, they’re creative, but I’m a mechanical snob. Whatever. I like this one. This is an updated version of their WebTime watch which tells the time using overlapping polygons. It’s a clever design, great materials, and it’s just readable enough to be useful while not alienating the world. $123.33 and it comes in blue and orange. Product Page → Read More
TokyoFlash sells some fancy watches, including a little something that our own little Raj wears around the house. Now, however, we’ve got one that can detect aliens even without having to slice their outer skins to get at the milky green skin underneath. A press of the button sends the watch into scan mode and the various panels & readouts animate as if scanning the area for life forms. After a few seconds the results display the time, but the animation sequence can be skipped if desired with a second press of the button. It costs about $138 and they’re offering free shipping for the holidays. Buy it before the Others steal your babies! Product Page → Read More
Retsu, a watch by Saishin, is one of the smallest LED watches we’ve seen, and it’s available exclusively from TokyoFlash. Retsu is only 1.4 ounces, which is a lot lighter than most of the watches available on TokyoFlash. Telling the time isn’t as confusing as most of the watches found there, either: Amazingly simple to read, the lights race up to the digit then trail off leaving one light reconfirming the number. This is repeated for each digit to tell the time. So straightforward it’s surprising no one has ever thought of it before. Alright, so it’s easier, but it also seems like it would take a little bit longer to tell the time. TokyoFlash seems pretty damn confident about the Retsu, but with that sexy look, I can’t argue much. Retsu also features a black suede band and a great simple design. Pricing at $130 isn’t too shabby, either. Retsu By Saishin [ohgizmo] → Read More
San Francisco, CA
