Tag Archives: kisai

Tokyoflash Launches Kisai Radioactive and Vortex Wood

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Kisai Radioactive Wood 01

Tokyoflash never ceases to impress with its cryptic ways of telling time. Each of its designs seems to be a riddle that takes a bit of time to get the answer, and these two are no exception.

Kisai Radioactive Wood and Kisai Vortex Wood, as their name suggests, are available in a natural dark sandalwood case with a matching strap. While most watch makers turn to steel or plastic for their timepieces, Tokyoflash proves to be a tad more original and classy. With that being said, there still are several differences between the two models that could determine future owners to prefer one over the other. The differences result not only from the design, but also from the way the time is displayed. The name of each product is suggestive, in this case, too, with one looking a lot like a nuclear control panel, while the other one resembles a time vortex a la Doctor Who.

The watchmaker reminds people that due to the natural properties of wood, the watches may appear lighter or darker in real life than in these photos. In other words, not only is this a limited edition watch, but each one of them will have a unique color and grain.

Gone are the days when you had to swap the battery of your watch with a new one. Tokyoflash’s timepieces come with a built-in battery that recharges over USB in 3.5 hours and lasts about 1 month, depending on usage patterns.

Unlike some of their more complicated designs, Kisai Radioactive Wood is quite easy to read, so if anyone asks you what time it is, you will be able to give an answer quickly.

Vortex Wood, on the other hand, poses a challange. With such features as two time zones, seconds, date, alarm, animation, LED light-up, audio feedback and touch screen operation, this timepiece is well worth the money.

This particular watch is available in two version, depending on the color of the display.

Hence, you can opt for a blue or red LED, depending on your taste.

Since it comes with a leather band, it is far more easy to adjust than the Kisai Radioactive Wood, and in my humble opinion, it even looks better.

Both Kisai Radioactive Wood and Vortex Wood can be purchased at the special release price of $109 (€97, £69) until 24th September at 11am Japan time. It is possible to get an additional discount of $4 by

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Tokyoflash Kisai Intoxicated, or the Sudoku watch by Tokyoflash.

Tokyoflash Kisai Maze Wood Watch Helps You Burn Some Time

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While everyone else is talking about, waiting for or hating on the Apple Watch, Tokyoflash just keeps on keeping on. The watchmaker’s latest release is the Kisai Maze Wood, a wooden version of the Kisai Maze. In Maze mode, the watch displays the time as gaps in a maze. It’s not that hard to figure out, but it’ll still get quizzical looks.

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Maze mode also gives you has an optional animation, in which a block runs around the display as if looking for the way out. The watch also has a Digital mode, aka Why Did You Even Buy a Kisai mode, that just plain displays the time.

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The Kisai Maze Wood comes in three color schemes. There’s one with a green LCD and a dark sandalwood frame, one with a red LCD and a maple wood frame and one with a silver LCD and a dark sandalwood frame.

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Find your way to Tokyoflash’s online store and pre-order the Kisai Maze Wood for $99 (USD). This price is only valid for a limited time – until Friday September 12th at 11am Japan time, after which it will jump up to the regular retail price.

Modern Kisai Sequence Makes a Riddle Out of Time-Telling

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Tokyoflash Kisai Sequence 01

The latest Kisai Sequence is yet another original approach at telling-time in a cryptic way. Tokyoflash’s timepiece doesn’t fail to impress people who are into geeky watches.

Unlike previous Kisai watches, which required a bit of time in order to figure out what time it is, Kisai Sequence is cryptic, but also easy to decipher. The alternating pattern of raised cubes is complemented by a custom made curved acrylic lens and some sub-surface digital tube LEDs that create an interesting effect.

Kisai Sequence displays the time in two different ways, but besides that, it has functions that are typical for LED watches. More precisely, it features a date mode, alarm clock, and six user-customizable animations. After all, an LED timepiece tends to be rather bland without such details.

There are four different versions to choose from, depending on the color of the LEDs and of the leather strap. The LEDs can be either red or blue, while the leather strap is available in white or black.

Depending on the way users choose to have time displayed, Kisai Sequence is easy or difficult to read. In one case, time is displayed on two rows and is very easy to ready, while in the other mode, the middle line of the digit is gone. All in all, the second mode isn’t impossible, either, but it may require some getting used to. In other words, the ones who are not aware of how this watch functions may remain perplexed.

Activating the LED display requires you to touch a button. In stand-by, the alternating cubes of the display and of the leather strap leave the impression that you’re wearing a bracelet, and the only detail that might give you away is the differences in color.

For the next 5 hours, Kisai Sequence is available at the promotional price of $109. This can be furthermore discounted by $4 after liking the page on Facebook. Below is a video of the watch in real world scenarios, so you can figure out if you like it or not.

Kisai Sequence charges over USB, fact that makes it really convenient. Fully-charging the included battery takes 3.5 hours, and under normal conditions, this should be more than enough for two months of use.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Kisai Rorschach ePaper watch and the Kisai Xtal that hides the time under a hexagonal prism.

TokyoFlash Kisai RPM Gold Watch Looks Like Something Tony Stark Would Wear

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At first glance, this watch might look like a timepiece from the Iron Man franchise, but it’s not. It’s actually the TokyoFlash Kisai RPM gold watch. Like most TokyoFlash timepieces, it’ll require a bit of time and practice before its wearer will actually be able to read the time off of it. Once you get the hang of it, I have no doubt that telling the time will get easier.

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When the watch is off, it looks sleek and polished with its blank face and curved, smoked lens. When it’s on, lights illuminate to indicate what time it is: the inner ring displays the current hour, while the outer ring shows the minutes, with each brick divided in five-minute intervals.

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The watch also has a neat light-up animation where the LED lights spin around the display at fifteen-minute intervals from six in the evening until midnight. As is the case with many of TokyoFlash’s watches, this one is USB rechargeable.

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The TokyoFlask Kisai RPM Gold Watch is available for $189(USD).

[via Red Ferret]

Kisai Rorschach ePaper Watch: Blot O’clock

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The Kisai Rorschach is the newest watch from Tokyoflash, maker of timepieces that are intentionally bad at presenting the time. The display looks similar to the ink blots used in the eponymous test, but it’s actually easy to decipher. The top right shows the hour and the bottom left shows the minutes. The other two symbols are just mirror images.

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The watch has three difficulty modes. Why? Because Tokyoflash. From what I can tell changing the difficulty doesn’t change how you read the display, it just switches to hard-to-read symbols for the numbers. The date and alarm settings are also displayed in the same manner.

Because the watch uses an ePaper display, Tokyoflash added a power-saving sleep mode to the watch.  As you may know an ePaper or e-ink display does not consume power if it’s just showing a static image. So in sleep mode the watch will only display one symbol, which will be different depending on what day it is.

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Tokyoflash even made a fan video to promote the watch, starring none other than The Watchmen‘s Rorschach. Is it still a fan video if you’re promoting a product? Hmmm.

I wish they didn’t use such a tacky font to print “Rorschach” on the display. Other than that I think it’s a neat design. You can order the watch from Tokyoflash for $179 (USD).

Kisai’s Rorschach watch is a test in telling time

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Kisai's Rorschach ePaper watch asks 'how do you feel about the time'

"So it's extremely difficult to read the time, but how do you feel about that?" That's the question Kisai is posing with its new Rorschach watch, which puts one of the company's trademark inscrutable watchfaces into the shape of the famous psychiatrist's inkblots. You can choose between three levels from "readable but still not easily" to "please just tell me what the hell time it is!" (Actually, once you get the hang of it, the hours are read at the top right, and the minutes from the bottom left.) The watch uses an e-paper display, giving it high contrast and a battery life of 2-3 years while letting you switch between black on white or vice-versa. You can grab one in white, brown or black with a leather strap, or black and silver with a metal bracelet at $179 for the next two days -- though you may have to line up behind Watchmen fans.

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This week’s Tokyoflash watch comes in maple and sandalwood (video)

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DNP Tokyoflash

Tokyoflash's busy horologists know no bounds when it comes to designing watches. The company's latest timepiece is an update to last year's bee-friendly Kisai Zone that sports wooden cases and straps. Each of the three available woods is married to its own LCD color for the screen -- dark sandalwood's is black, red sandalwood goes purple and maple snags a blue readout. Speaking of which, it doesn't look like anything has changed compared to the first Zone's watch face. It still features a standard battery that lasts "at least a year," a funky hexagonal display (hours on top, minutes in the middle and seconds on the bottom) and an Indiglo-like backlight. If you fancy wearing part of a giving tree on your wrist, you can snag one of these for $99 if you act within the next two days.

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Source: Tokyoflash Japan

Tokyoflash’s Kisai Blade looks to the air for inspiration, tells time with tube LEDs (video)

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TokyoFlash's watches aren't known for their subtlety, but, despite taking cues from the aviation world, its latest design looks a bit more grounded than previous offerings. The Kisai Blade sports a custom-made turbine-style lens, and uses tube LEDs that rotate, like an airplane propeller, to tell time. The LEDs operate in three different modes, "Turning" uses a constant cycle to light up hours and minutes, while "Animation" turns your wrist into a rave with a constantly spinning diodes. In case you're wondering how it displays the finer minutes, "Flashing" mode slowly flashes the minute hand at the standard five minute intervals, and four dots indicate minutes one through four. The timepiece uses a USB-rechargeable battery that can go a month between charges and is available with red, blue and green LEDs, and gold, silver and black bands; there's a leather band option, too. If the Blade strikes your fancy, you have the next 48 hours to snatch one up for the launch price of $139, or if you miss the sale window, $159.

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Source: TokyoFlash Japan