Alessi Daytimer White

There are some brands that have a long history of unusual designer products that then begin to produce watches.

Italian design brand Alessi are one of those who bring together international architects, and commercial and industrial designers from around the world and allows them to impart their character into the different designs. The watches are produced in partnership with Seiko, but don't have any normal Seiko module number.

This model is called the Daytimer and has been designed by Will Alsop.  The official description has that it is about Alsop's vision of objects in the world. It describes the watch as though it was living and has arrived from space saying that is "Assimilates with the human wrist" and it "loves humans and wants to be close to them or part of them".

Will Alsop is a British architect who has produced many unusual and sometimes controversial modern buildings. He has won several prestigious design awards, but also some worst new building awards in the UK. His most known works include Hamburg Ferry Terminal, and Greenwich Tube Station.

The watch has a model number of AL22004 (part of the AL22000 range), and has an unusual display. The display is deep set into the case and is a 4 digit OLED display. Pressing the time button shows a quick animation of the numbers appearing (such as unfolding, jumping from the sides, building out from the centre). The animation finishes with 88:88 before showing the time (double pressing the button skips the animation). After the time, the watch then shows the day of the week and date.

The watch case is quite large and angular, and very noticeable on your wrist (the description online suggests it is even clumsy). It does make it so the display is angled towards you, but would be difficult to wear under long sleeves.