Unusual Clock Mechanisms

Cryptic Time Pieces, Rarely Seen Designs

Even James Bond would be challenged to quickly tell the time from these watches, even with his spy gadget experience. Well, telling the time does not seem to be the point here; these items exist only because of their exuberant, glamorous or wacky design. Most of the watches shown here are vintage, some are antique; for the more recent examples of "nutty time pieces" .

We'll start with the unique armored military watches, which have a long and rich history





Pretty strange models, from various watch collections:



(images via)

Swiss watch maker Angular Momentum has fun with various bizarre layouts:



This model is appropriately called "Mystery Time Dispay":



Do you really need hour, minute or second hands?.. The watch dials themselves rotate in this case:



...even more stylish offering with the same idea: total absence of hour, minute or second hands...




We live in a glorious time for luxury watch enthusiasts: many stylish classic watches are made today by various prestigious firms, like
Carlo Ferrara - "Dancing Régulateur":



Some of the impressive designs from Audemars Piguet, Jean d'Eve, Jacob & Co. and others approach art in their sophistication and glamor:




Piguet Maserati:



Parmigiani Bugatti :





And finally, simplicity itself:
"Alien visitation" clock. (I want one)



Who cares if it might be impossible to tell the time quickly and accurately from some of these clocks and watches? You might just fall in love with these time pieces, and then, you know, "Lovers ever run before the clock" (Shakespeare)