Timex Unveils ‘Watch of the Future’ Winners

A paper-thin watch that can be peeled from a roll and stuck anywhere. A timepiece that measures how much energy you consume. A watch with a 3-D changing face. These are the grand-prize winners in the global “Timex 2154: Future of Time” competition to design the “watch of the future.”

Timex, the best-selling watch brand in the United States, is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2004. As part of that celebration, and to demonstrate its commitment to design and innovation, Timex earlier this year launched the worldwide contest in association with Core77, a leading online site for industrial design. Designers were asked for their concepts of “personal and portable timekeeping” in 2154.

The winners were unveiled Sept. 28 in New York City and will eventually go on display at Timex’s Timexpo Museum in Waterbury, Conn.

More than 3,700 entries from 72 countries were received in three categories: wrist-based, wearable, and conceptual. One grand-prize winner and three runners-up were selected in each category, with each grand-prize winner receiving $5,000. The competition was judged by a panel of design experts, along with officials of Core77 and Timex.

The “Wrist-Based” winner was Cristophe Koch, a French-born designer. His “Time-Aid” watch uses a display based on a 3-D image that lets users choose and change the watch face to show one of many current and historical clocks around the world. It can immediately morph into any image, from the face of Big Ben to the look of a porcelain mantel clock.

The “Wearable” winner was Russian-born Alexey Koptev for his “Sticker Watch.” The concept features a roll of tape with watches on it; a user can tear off a perforated segment and attach it to any surface. “The Sticker Watch,” which shows time and date, has no control buttons and begins working as soon as it is applied to a surface.

The grand prize in the “Conceptual” category went to a team of French design students—François Lane, Nicolas Montabone, and François Gustin. They created “Energistime,” a tentacular object with a simple graph monitor to average daily, weekly, and monthly energy usage. “Energistime” indicates when a user consumes too much energy and produces too much pollution when using an energy-consuming product such as a car. The concept assumes that 150 years from now, the more energy a user saves and the less pollution he or she produces, the more free personal time and less work the user gets. The opposite is true if there’s more pollution and more energy used.

Winning entries can be viewed online at http://core77.com and http://timex.com.

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