Those of us who live in Los Angeles are familiar with the annual ComplexCon show that takes place in Long Beach. It’s a music and clothing event focusing on street and urban culture where some of today’s hippest brands debut new products and collaborations. Watches are becoming more and more a part of the show and, for 2019, Timex became the official timekeeper of the overall event, while also debuting (“dropping”) a few watches at ComplexCon 2019 that are available for purchase online (while supplies last).
Timex recently debuted a collaboration product with hot streetwear brand Supreme, and the brand’s inexpensive prices, practical designs, and iconic value have been increasingly popular with contemporary fashion brands, which have discovered the power of a collaboration product. American Timex is joined by Japanese Casio as the two dominant brands that are successfully participating in these satisfying and thoroughly trending fashion watch exercises. Many of the results are really fun, and it’s great to see prices that don’t leave mainstream consumers feeling left out.
The 2019 Timex booth at ComplexCon was retro arcade-inspired and featured the re-release of the classic Timex T80 digital watch in a gold-tone as the reference TW2R79200 priced between $59 – $65 USD. There was also a fun PAC MAN-themed digital Timex T80 in three colorways as the reference TW2U31900 in silver tone, TW2U32000 in gold tone, and TW2U32100 in black-tone for a price of $79 each. The design of the PAC-MAD T80 watches is fun with the iconic arcade-game characters positioned around the digital screen for an amusing effect.
Those who love military clothing will appreciate the Timex x Alpha Industries watch inspired by the popular jacket and uniform maker. It is based on the Timex Mk 1 and has a retail price of $120. Perhaps the most interesting dial design goes to the Timex X Raised By Wolves, another analog watch with a dial that has a repeating black and white montage of… well, wolves for $95.
The Timex X The Good Company is among the simplest of the new drops with a “squiggly” seconds hand that is seemingly inspired by the work of watch designer Alain Silberstein. The green-cased Timex X The Good Company watch costs $99. Finally, Timex also released the Timex X Greats dive-style watch with a black case and dial with aquamarine luminant on the hands and hour markers for a price of $149.
The takeaway lesson here for both consumers and the watch industry is the power of emotion in wristwatch design today. Timex collaborations such as these make sense because producing a decent timepiece for a non-watchmaker is an expensive ordeal, and Timex happens to make some of the best value-laden mainstream watches around. They are also specialists when it comes to collaborating with third-party companies — who, in this case, are the designer and “coolness validator” of the products. When the system works, Timex gets to do what it does best, which is “produce a watch for a particular purpose,” and the fashion brands get to do what they do best, which is apply their aesthetic ethos as a layer over an otherwise popular palette for design. Expect to see a lot more of this in the years to come. Learn more at the Timex website here.
