In the search for cool retro timepieces, I’ve just encountered the Cabane de Zucca Eye Patch watch – a nice piece of space age design for your wrist.
It’s a Japanese watch, designed in a minimalist style by the fashionable Issey Miyake label and made by Seiko. Colour options include white and yellow (which were both sold last year) and the newly-introduced sand colour (seen above).
Simple and smart, you can pick them up online for around £100.
If you’re in the market for a new watch, chances are that you are not going to be looking towards Russia. But you should – because Vostok are still making watches with a definite look of the past – including this Vostok Kirovskie automatic watch.
The company has been around since 1942 and is probably best known for providing watches to the military. Today it offers military-inspired watches, along with some good value classic timepieces. The Kirovskie pictured here is an automatic.self-winding watch, shock and water resistant, as well as featuring a calendar, luminous hands, a stainless steel case and leather strap.
You can pick them up from authorised dealers. This one retails for 149 Euros, which is around £100.
And today’s bargain of the day is…this Andy Warhol pop watch set.
Why? Because you get four Warhol-styled (and Swatch-like) watches. Each is sized at 1.25 inches x 9 inches, limited edition – and the black one even glows in the dark. Add to that a rather smart case with "banana" fastener and you would be expecting a hefty price tag.
But no…you can pick these up from Fred Flare for $75, which is around £38. So by my reckoning, that’s £9.50 per watch, with the case thrown in for free.
You don’t find value like that often.
In 1852, the contract for the House of Parliament Great Clock (aka Big Ben) was awarded to Edward J Dent. And the Dent company is still making timepieces. Indeed, just to come full circle, it has just produced its first new watch collection for 40 years – and based a number of the watches on that design for Big Ben.
The watch featured here is just one of the models in the Dent Parliament series, with the range featuring a choice of straps and materials. This particular one has an 18ct rose gold case, 18ct rose gold bracelet and white face with black detailing and hands.
We know they’re due on sale in the coming weeks, but right now, it’s almost impossible to find any prices – although I suspect that it’s one of those if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford one.
View the full range at the Dent Watches website
When we’re looking round for quirky retro design, D&G wouldn’t be the first place to look. But amazingly, it is D&G who are behind this Test Card watch.
Inspired by the first ever BBC "electronically generated" test card (test card G), it’s certain to get people talking – probably about their childhood. In terms of features, it has a quartz movement, one-touch backlight, water-resistance to 50m and a steel bracelet with butterfly buckle.
You can pick one up now – it retails for £175.
Find out more at the Shade Station website
You can hunt around eBay or the specialist sites for a stylish vintage timepiece – or you can pick up one of the growing number of modern reproductions, including this extremely stylish Neptune watch from Tokyo Bay.
Claimed to be a "mod" timepiece (not sure about that) – it features a solid centre dial with scrolling numeric wheels and a seamless leather wristband, available bin brown (pictured), black, green and beige.
Price is dependent on where you live. Tokyo Bay don’t ship outside the US, but if that’s where you are, you’ll pay $88 (around £44). If you’re in the UK, you’ll have to buy from an approved re-seller like seventieswatches.com, which sells the Neptune for £75.
Find out more at the Tokyo Bay website
Find out more at the seventieswatches website
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