We review a lot of watches around here, and oftentimes that means judging them by their practical merits. These are practical tools at their base, afterall, but they can (and should) be more than that, especially these days when we all have quick access to the time on a myriad of devices surrounding us. In fact, if it weren?t for something we find compelling beyond the practical considerations, it?d be awfully hard for any of us to justify our presence here. In this video, we?re taking a look within our own collections at the watches which take a different approach. You could call them 4th watches, weird watches, or simply unique watches, but most importantly, they are watches that bring something a little different to the table.

The spaces outside of the well understood genres and established design codes are the realm of the slightly odd, weird, or strange watch. Sometimes it?s a particularly creative solution to a problem, such as the crown lock mechanism of the PloProf, and sometimes it?s more abstract, such as the Fordite dial of the Arcanaut ARC II. Watches of this ilk are testing ideas, and how those ideas evolve or take hold in a broad sense has yet to be determined. The success of these watches is not predicated upon widespread adoption, of course, but rather, in their ability to captivate and provide a more engaging on-wrist experience.
When it comes down to it, even if we?re drawn to something like the simple, tool-ish nature of military watches, there...