It seems that Swiss pocket watches will become a thing of the past. After all, pocket watches look like the vestiges of a bygone era when men wore ruffles aplenty, on their chests and wrists, at that! Still, if these futuristic watches are any indication, you would do well to hold on to your Swiss pocket watches a little while longer.

Ex-Time Watch

It's still on the drawing board so you can rest your horophile heart to lie low, for now. The Ex-Time watch works by projecting the time on any surface, which can come in quite handy when you don't want to talk to that pesky stranger hitting on you by asking for the time, of all things. Also, it is convenient when you have your hands full putting on your tie chains to reach into your pocket. You might even use it for other purposes like: a) Make your boring professor stop his pedantic lecture on the pharaohs of Egypt; b) Call your date's attention to the time wasted on the whole exercise; c) Light your way in the dark lest you stumble from using your grandpa's flask set one too many times; and d) Attract the attention of the hottie in the next table. It has cool applications but the hospital bracelet look is a definite minus, which makes you want to just take out the beautifully-crafted Swiss pocket watches.

TokyoFlash Galaxy Sometimes, sadomasochism takes the better of even the most sane individuals, the technologically zany Japanese included. With the TokyoFlash Galaxy to keep you company, you probably will not be lost among aliens in space, not if the website's boast that the watch is just perfect for a space expedition. (It even had the gall to state "your next space expedition" as if space travel is as common as riding the subway! But that's marketing for you)

Why hold on to your Swiss pocket watches? Well, the gadget does not allow for fast time reading, that's why! Consider these: Twelve yellow bars tell the hour, eleven red dots tell the minutes in groups of five, and four green dots tell single minutes. By the time you can do math in your head, the time would have passed by another minute or so. Fortunately, you can just press a button and Roman numerals immediately appear but the flourish has been taken away. Sigh.

Kisai Tenmetsu Watch

If the TokyoFlash galaxy watch uses bars and dots to torture you, the Kisai Tenmetsu watch does the same job with flashing buttons. You better be ready with your math skills and make sure it goes beyond the usual military style time formats! And, oh, color blindness is a definite no-no.

How so? Well, you can only tell time when you can add up simple calculations for addition and multiplication in your head within a nanosecond using this technology - red for 15 units, amber for 5 units and green for 1 unit. Oh, for the good old days of Swiss pocket watches!

Indeed, time flies fast enough as it is without worrying about telling time with these complicated watches. You would be doing yourself a favor with elegantly-designed, easy-to-read Swiss pocket watches instead!