So everyone in the products department at Wired has a type of gadget that they absolutely adore and completely geek out on. For McClusky it's anything having to do with cycling. Joe Brown hearts Nokia. Dylan? Camera nerd. Jose loves himself some voice recorders. Intern Nate Ralph enjoys anything gaming related. Me? I love watches. Not just any watches. I love geeky, LED flashing, binary sporting, Japanese manufactured, virtually impossible to decipher watches. Watches like the TokyoFlash "Infection" that we got in the mail today.
Now a time keeping device like this actually is perfect for striking up conversations with strangers — especially the ladies. However, it also acts as both blessing and curse. I can virtually guarantee the conversation about the "Infection" between some cute girl and myself will go something like this:
Cute Girl: "Oh wow, I like your watch. It's really cool."
Me: "Oh hey thanks, it's from this boutique watch manufacturer from Japan."
Cute Girl: "So how do you read it?"
(Now if I actually had any skill with the fairer sex, I would simplify this explanation to a sentence or two. I never do.)
Me: "Okay so the number of red LEDs represent the hour — there's eight of them right now, indicating that it's eight o'clock. The yellow ones correspond to five minute increments. See there's six of those. Six times five is thirty. And the green LEDs represent individual minutes. There are three of those right now. So it's eight plus thirty plus three. So it's eight thirty-three."
__Cute Girl: "__It took you over five minutes to explain that. It's eight forty now."
Me: "Uhhh, really?"
Cute Girl: "Yeah...I have to go stand over here now. Away from you."
Me: "Can I buy you a drink?"
Cute Girl: (Now walking away.) "Stay away, loser!"
Now every now and then you meet someone who's really into the watch. In that respect, it's a great litmus test to see if a girl is a keeper. And aside from starting a lot of conversations with random people, a TokyoFlash watch also forces you to do a few mental gymnastics when figuring out the hour. And, seriously, isn't it time for all of us to start doing that? —Daniel Dumas
WIRED Flashing lights. Hard to decipher graphics. Math. This thing is less of a watch and more like geek catnip. Telling time requires a bit of brain power__.__
TIRED Try, just try to get an accurate reading in direct sunlight. See what happens when you ask someone if they want to see your 'Infection."
$139.22, TokyoFlash
(Photo by Jim Merithew for Wired.com)
