New Timex 'ring watch' reimagines classic 80’s digital watch in miniature and novel form
Wearable tech is a fascinating category. Smart rings today are contending closely with smartwatches, which in turn long ago relegated digital watches to ‘retro-tech’. Digital watches, of course, had done the same to mechanical watches in their heydey. Yet, each of these devices retains its steadfastly faithful flock of fans, for when it comes to items worn on one’s person, form doesn’t always follow function, and sentiment can trump both.
Timex understands this. Disregarding typical trends and timelines of technology and fashion, the storied watch brand has just released a unique product: a ring watch fashioned after its classic T80 digital watch. Designed in partnership with French fashion label Maison Margiela, the T80 ring watch is a pretty close replica of the digital watch first released in 1974, only much, much smaller.
Its polished stainless steel case has a width of just 20 mm (versus the original T80’s 34 mm), a 7 mm thickness, and a 12 mm ‘strap width’ at the lugs. Speaking of, the ring watch takes a far simpler approach to sizing than that of current smart rings like the Oura Ring 4, which involves a dozen sizes and sizing kits. Like the T80 watch, it comes with an expansion band made of brushed stainless steel links. It does come in two sizes—S/M and M/L—but each can still accommodate a wide range of finger sizes, while also being easy to wear or remove.
As an interesting side-note, smart rings are now trying out their own (rather more complicated) version of an expansion band, as a recent patent filing by Xiaomi reveals.
Fans of Timex watches will be disappointed to know that the brand’s famous Indiglo backlight does not make an appearance here. Likewise, there are no extra features like a stop-watch, countdown timer or alarm; only the time (in hours and minutes) and date are displayed, with two buttons available to set or switch between them.
Looks-wise, though, this is a striking object. The polished case stands out like a jewel against the brushed band, and the numeral-heavy design on the face is a nod to the MM6 fashion label. The face is covered by simple mineral glass, and it has a 30 m water resistance, which is good for washing hands but not recommended for swimming.
Unfortunately, whether it’s due to the miniaturisation or the involvement of a large fashion brand, the T80 ring watch is rather pricey for what it offers. Priced at $180 dollars, it costs several times what you’d pay for a full-sized T80 watch (curr. $46 on Amazon). Around that price, you could also get a tough, stylish and feature-laden G-Shock (a brand with just as much legacy behind it), including the sporty GBX-100TT-8JF, the field-watch-style GM-2100CB-3AJF and currently even the fan-favourite, made-in-Japan GW-5000U-1JF with a DLC-coated steel case.
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