This is a hobby that gets taken pretty seriously sometimes. Million dollar watches and collectors appearing in the pages of the NYT are commonplace these days. As passionate as we are about watches, it?s important to take a step back from time to time and see them for the luxury that they have become. It?s refreshing, then, to see watches that aren?t afraid to have a little fun in their approach. The Meca-01 from Lima Watch falls squarely into this camp, putting a toy-like spin on the mechanical watch.

The retro designed packaging of the Meca-01 sets the stage perfectly for the brand’s first mechanical offering. There?s an illustrated robot straight out of the ?50s sci-fi genre with copy to match. It feels a bit like something you?d see from Max Busser as inspiration for an horological machine. Unlike those, this watch is far more accessible, priced at under $300, and what it lacks in sophistication, it makes up for creativity. 
The robot on the front of the box is a fictional wind-up toy, with the key depicted below the oddly worded message ?with Key Manual Winding Action?. This alludes to what you?ll find inside, as the same key is packaged within the box for use in winding the watch itself. The crown features a keyhole at its end for the hex key to insert, allowing the user to wind the watch much like the tin toys the watch is inspired by. Setting and adjusting still requires the crown to be pulled out and manipulated by hand, however. And yes, winding...