Back on Star Wars Day (or May the 4th, for any traditionalists out there), we brought you the joyous news that Nixon would be making a new range of official Star Wars watches. To tease the release, Nixon showed us some pictures of the upcoming Darth Vader watch, which will be one of a preliminary range of four Nixon Star Wars watches.

The first wave of Nixon Star Wars watches will honour the dark side of the Force with timepieces inspired by everyone’s favourite heavy-breathing bad boy, the Imperial Pilot, the Stormtrooper, and the awesome Boba Fett.

Today, we’re able to bring you some cool new images of the Imperial Pilot and the Stormtrooper models. They are available from Nixon’s online store between July 8-12 (that’s this week!), or can be purchased at the San Diego Comic Con that runs over July 9-12. There will be a limited number of Nixon Star Wars watches for sale, and once they’re gone, they’re gone! Until, that is, the watches go on general release at an as-yet-unannounced time. If you want to be among the first to own one, though, you’d better act fast.

As Ariel mentioned in the initial announcement article, this is not the first time Star Wars has been the inspiration for watches, but in my opinion, this is one of the best attempts to fuse the existing brand DNA of a watch company and the inimitable characters of the Star Wars universe. The detailing on these Nixon Star Wars quartz watches is pretty cool. The bezel is supposed to reference the utility belts of the imperial stooges the Nixon Star Wars watches honor, and the hands themselves are dashed in homage to the vents on the front of the imperial helmets.

Nice little tie-ins aside, these Nixon Star Wars watches are very pleasing on the eye. They aren’t crass or in-your-face and they don’t shove the Star Wars message down your throat. The imperial logo, which sits on the dial at 12 o’clock, could quite easily be the logo of a real-life watch company. It’s subtlety and the smart selection of when to pull the trigger on design connections and when to hold fire (Greedo shot first) that makes these Nixon Star Wars watches a success in my mind. I much prefer the pair of them to the Darth Vader watch previewed in May, and eagerly await the Boba Fett piece that is yet to début.

The dials are, but for their colours, identical. They are sparse and extremely legible. The hand design is simple and novel – a great combination. I am not so much a fan of the red date font on the Nixon Ranger Imperial Pilot Black, but love the crisp and clean colors of the Nixon Star Wars Stormtrooper watch. You might think they look a little like toy watches (and you might be right), but I think they look a lot better made – and for a promotional product, have a great deal of class, thanks to the large number of cool and thoughtful details.

Nixon Star Wars Ranger Imperial Pilot Black

The Nixon Star Wars watches are powered by a Japanese quartz with a date function at 6 o’clock. They have a cerakote case, which is great for aesthetics and scratch resistance (although you should make sure not to chip this stuff, so try not to get stuck in a trash compactor). The watches are water resistant to 100m, which makes them really great as everyday-wear pieces. The Nixon-branded crowns are located at 4 o’clock to increase the comfort of this 44mm case on the wrist. The screw down case backs of these watches feature a head shot of each referenced character with a different quote for each. The Nixon Star Wars Stormtrooper watch features the famous “Move along” command, while the Imperial Pilot case back says “Crash and burn.”

For those of you who find the dark side uncomfortably evil, fear not! The goodies will have their own range soon! With a veritable cavalcade of Star Wars movies set to pack out the cinema over the next few years, there will be plenty of opportunities to launch the next range in line with a new movie release. The light side of the Force is expected to emerge next year, with four models in the pipeline. I know I’ll be hoping for a Wicket the Ewok on Bantha-leather strap model, but what about you?

The Nixon Ranger Imperial Pilot Black and the Nixon Ranger Stormtrooper White watches will be priced at $375. As stated, they will only be available until July 12th, so if you love Nixon, watches, or Star Wars, you’d better move along quickly! nixon.com