Fortunately, this novelty watch has not been completely lost to the ages. If you look hard enough, you can still get your hands on dirt cheap "modern" versions. [RetroThing via Gearfuse]

Apparently, the wristwatch holds the Guinness record for durability at extreme depths. As you can see from this video, the watch can also handle some other everyday scenarios—like being shot, drenched with a fire hose and blown up with dynamite. Seriously, this titanium beast looks like its sealed up tighter than a submarine—and that kind of durability doesn't come cheap. Owning one will set you back over $4,400. [Swiss Military via Crunchgear]

You see, the face of the watch features the world record times for running at various distances:

The outer arc shows records of less than 60 seconds: 100m, 200m and 400m. The two inner arcs align with the minute and hour hand respectively, for records of under and over one hour, showing distances from 800 metres all the way up to 100km.

Designed for Mr Jones Watches, the On Foot is intended to serve as an inspiration to the wearer—to "make and break records." Unfortunately, we are probably more about records of the "most bacon eaten in an hour" or "WOW endurance" variety. [Mr Jones via MocoLoco via DVICE]

First off, Yeslam has lived in Switzerland since the 80's and has openly condemned the acts of his brother. His company sells perfume and other fashion accessories, but this particular line of tourbillion watches was apparently inspired by the death of his father in a plane crash. Should the electronic instruments break down in an aircraft, the pilot can determine true airspeed without calculations and estimate the duration of the flight before takeoff. A watch in the Aviator line is expected to cost between 9,472 and $24,430 depending on the value of the metals used. [Yeslam via Luxurylaunches via Luxury Watches]

[Diesel via Technabob via Boing Boing Gadgets]

According to Gizmag:

The Seismic watch functions as an ordinary watch until it receives the EEW, which causes the hour hand to speed up based on the seismic intensity estimation, while the minute and second hands give the countdown time to the earthquake arrival.

The watch itself will be ready in 2010, first for men (given its size) but eventually for women, too. A wall clock connecting to the EEW system via home network will also be available.

Speaking of that, it's probably clear why this technique, using Japan's EEW system, is a better bet than Hitachi's tremor-sensing AirSense watch, which we told you about a few years back. After all, what good is being told of an earthquake when all your crap is already falling off the walls. [Gizmag]

Ok, maybe this isn't for those of you sporting a $17,000 Rolex, but if you've been toting around some shitty watch for years in order to tell time, you may be happy to hear that watches seem to be going the way of the sundial. And all because of the cellphone, believe it or not. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, it looks like folks have been ditching their watches and using their cellphones to check the time instead. Makes sense. And the only watch buying that is going on is for fashion.

"I see our business going down because of it," says Chuck Reardon, manager of the Time Square watch stand at Brookfield Square, "But I do see a lot more kids buying the fashion watches like Fossil. They're doing that as a fashion statement more than anything, more than a need for a timepiece.

Time runs out for the wristwatch [The Inquirer]

Hitatchi AirSense [Product Page (via Akihabara)]

Telson Camera-Phone-Watch [MobileWhack]

Seiko is going ultra-tech with this awesomely rad new watch made from e-paper. If you want one, though, you'd better show up with a baseball bat, crowbar, or something to wield off John Biggs other watch fiends, because only 500 are being produced. Yes, 500. It's being done on purpose to generate hype around these new ultra-tech watches, and Seiko thinks we're gonna fall for it. So what's so great about this watch, anyway?:

"The braclet-wristwatch features a thin, bendable e-paper trimmed in stainless steel which makes it a high-tech accessory without the geeky look. A black-and-white pattern of stripes on the watch changes every hour."

Ok...I ah....have to see a man about a baseball bat and ah...fly over to Japan.

Bendable e-paper watch [Popgadget]

I have this theory that almost every gadget in the future will have at least two seemingly disparate functions. Now we have phones that can play MP3s, and wristwatches that can take photos, next we'll have PDAs that boil water. Oh you wait and see.

Product Page [Lifestyle Fascination via Gadget Madness]