The Squares Watch: A Lesson in Minimal LED Design

Tokyoflash seems to be on a perpetual quest to confuse the heck out of people when they try to check what time it is. I have to admit that the TokyoFlash watch designs are pretty amazing and certainly flashy, but I just see myself sitting at a train station trying to figure out what time 5:30 is on my super fancy waterstoneelectric watch, and WOOSH the train goes right by me. Still, this squares design concept is one of the cooler ones that I’ve seen, and despite the danger of not being able to tell time when I need to, I’d be tempted to pick one up. According to Kevin, the guy who came up with this watch, the design is “all about minimalism.” It can be worked, thanks to 25 lit or unlit LED squares arranged into a grid. The look comes off as rather sleek, and I can see the minimalist approach here. If you’re looking to find out how it actually tells time, the piece would change color as time progresses. As the creator pointed out, this would ultimately end up looking like the floor of a 70s disco. Stayin’ alive, baby! If you’re still not getting the concept (don’t feel bad, I rarely do) here is a cool representation below. If you’re looking for other watch designs, we have a ton of Tokyoflash stuff that has been featured here. There’s the rather unusual ECG pulse watch, for example, or if you’re looking for a design that is somewhat similar to this one there’s the color spectrum watch concept as well.  I think the Pulse watch concept is particularly fun, although I wonder what time flatlining is, or if I could set it to bed time. That way, once you’re “dead” you’d know it’s time to go to sleep, right? Ok, maybe that’s a bit morbid, but it’d be fun!