HOWTO make a non-timekeeping wristwatch bauble

Here's a great Naughty Secretary Club project for turning dead watches into weird-ass wrist-art with a little spray-paint and patience. In the era of wristwatch obsolescence, why not turn a dead cheap timepiece into a brightly colored commentary on time itself:

After your several thin coats of paint have dried slap those babies on your wrist and sport them around town. I have a hot dinner date and art viewing with my lady friends this evening and I fully intend to work these bad boys into my outfit. I think I might even wear all 3 at once because I am crazy like that.

Link (via Craft)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Gadgets • maker

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

the Other michael

“The only reason to wear a watch is to tell time”

And the only reason to wear clothes is to protect from the weather, and the only reason to wear shoes is to protect the feet from the ground, and the only reason to eat food is for nourishment, and any statemnts to the contrary is a thought-crime!

“You’re wasthing a watch, using spray-paint, and you’re probably going to buy a new watch to replace the one you’ve ruined.”

Uh, yeah. She’s going to buy ANOTHER bunch on non-working watches at the flea-market to replace the non-working watches she bought at a flea-market and spray-painted. o-kay.

Seriously, do you people actually read from the links, or do you just react (in the -ionary sense) to the pretty pictures?
Moon

Geez, THE OTHER MICHAEL, do you have money invested in this?

Like I said, it’s too stupid looking to be ART or FASHION and the reason people wear watches is to tell time. AND, even if you are wearing a watch for FASHION purposes, you STILL want it to tell time! Otherwise, it’s NOT A WATCH.
Takuan

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/MagrittePipe.jpg
Takuan

@1

You inspire me. I shall devise a top hat with a small brass-bound oak boiler and whistle, and to accompany: electric spats.
Takuan

the yummy candy watches are really gear bye the bye, top drawer!

D’ya suppose you have the backs notched to easily pop off with a nail tip, therein to secrete tablets of 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine?
adammetal

Hey Punky Brewster, instead of unloading half the can, use one coat of florescent over a coat of flat white…POW!
Antinous

This thread is oddly reminiscent of the transgender man thread.
Takuan

there’s some really good articles on the web on how to anodize in colors at home….
livefunky

This is the only kind of watch I’d wear. Time? What’s that?
Ray DelMundo

@13

Perhaps a monocle as well?
Ray DelMundo

@13

Perhaps a monocle as well.
Ray DelMundo

Wristwatches obsolete?

Most people would think that pocket watches were obsolete.
Most people won’t admit that their cell phones are fancy pocket watches.

What time is it?
I don’t know. Let me fish around in my pocket for my phone.

I hear spats and top hats are making a comeback too.
Takuan

but of course; the finest natural Russian crystal, ground with Latvian thigh-sweat emulsion of Tripoli stone, set with guttapercha in Egyptian brass. Also incorporating an IR HUD function.
License Farm

Given the amount of steampunk culture infiltrating fashion, they may just be.

In high school I would often sport several wristwatches on my arm. Grasping for a reason, people often assumed they were set to different time zones. When they learned they were all in sync, they’d brainfart, not being able to comprehend that I just liked how it looked. So I guess I’m a prime candidate for this fashion choice.

That said, I wonder whether these have the guts removed; for a watch that doesn’t work it better be light on my arm.
Pipenta

With a little spray paint you can turn your old specs into 4-D glasses. You can’t see diddley through them, so they make you aware of the passage of time.
Takuan

yeh-heh! ahh good un!
Chinese Jet Pilot

One of the timepieces used in the article may be obsolete, but it’s not ready for the trash. That beautiful Seiko m354 is the watch that James Bond wore in “Moonraker”.

I’d rather spend 10 bucks on a battery to get that m354 running again than cover in in fluorescent spray paint. This project is just too trashy for me.
Crunchbird

So I was going to point out that the original post acknowledges that these are knockoffs of something called the “No Time” watch/bangle by jewelry designer Tom Binns, and maybe this one should, too. But in Googling for a link to point out where the “real” versions of these could be found on sale, I can’t find anything other than circular references to them in fashion blogs which usually revolve around seeing them in pictures in print magazines. They all link to Binns’ site, but there aren’t actually any pictures of the “watches” there, or links to somewhere you can buy them.

So I guess that leave me wondering … is something really a knockoff when the “original” isn’t really available anywhere?
Naughty Secretary Club

Hey Cory thanks for posting about my blog. I feel all warm and squishy inside.

License Farm the guts are gone and these babies are light.

Chinese Jet Piolet the watches on the left are the original Tom Binns and mine are the ones of the right. I hope I did not ruin a James Bond watch. I agree neon watches are not for the faint of heart.

Crunchbird I could not find the watches on the net either. The designer Tom Binns has a site as you mentioned but they are not there. I have just seen the watches in fashion magazines. Maybe they are in a store somewhere and he has not updated his website yet?
Jack

Tangental, but as someone who often buys watches that work, but have straps that crap out for various reasons, maybe a Boing Boing post on cool and sturdy watch straps is in order.
craftyprincess

Leave it to Jen to figure out a way to make something fashionable from something most of us toss in the goodwill bin. I love these for summer, and I agree, wearing more than one seems like a requirement really.
Takuan

paint this

http://www.grand-illusions.com/images/articles/toycollection/sundial_wristwatch/mainimage.jpg
Moon

No kidding, Jack @ #24.

I’ve got a half-dozen nice watches sitting in a drawer with broken or worn out straps.

I’m hoping that my latest watch strap will last longer as I am taking it off every night before bed.
uptonogood

This offends my sensibilities quite a bit – many watches, while practical, are in and of themselves works of art. They are accessories just as much as jewelry and I make the comparision because I prefer my watches to not just be practical but also aesthetically pleasing to the eye. These spray-painted dead watches are a waste of perfectly good watches and “anti-green.” You’re wasthing a watch, using spray-paint, and you’re probably going to buy a new watch to replace the one you’ve ruined.
Moon

OK, that’s just stupid. The only reason to wear a watch is to tell time or, if you are Dick Tracy, communicate with the Chief. Painting a watch defeats the purpose, while MAYBE providing a dubious “artsy craftsy” experience.

Let’s just put it this way. If you wore this and 95% of your friends didn’t say: “That’s stupid”, then you must be living in San Francisco.
plainsaman

Not cute, just plain dumb, and they will start looking even better when the paint immediately starts chipping off those flexing bracelets.