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As time has progressed, some styles of wristwatch have become classics, whereas others have simply faded into the past. In an age where the majority of people want to buy a Rolex Submariner, Daytona, or Richard Mille, it is sometimes difficult to find something which is truly unusual, cool, or unique.
Interesting men’s watches can be hard to find. The watch industry is at a point where a brand such as Rolex or Audemars Piguet comes out with a very popular design and then it is copied and replicated by a variety of different brands until the popularity dies down. After this, the cycle is then repeated by another well-known brand.
Thankfully, there are a handful of brands that innovate some of the coolest looking watches for men on the market. These unusual timepieces don’t really cost more than any other kind of watch. There are a variety of unique mechanical watches, quartz movements, and even solar-powered models. You are not really limited to a specific brand and there are enough styles to suit everyone’s tastes. Whether this is crazy, loud, or simply something which you have never seen before. Some watches have cool features, whereas others rely 100% on their unique design.
Of course, there is no real reason to wear a wristwatch in modern day. So why not wear something unique and stylish rather than sticking with the crowd?
Table of Contents
The Most Unique Mens Watches By Model & Brand
Mr Jones – 20000 Leagues Under The Sea
If you are talking about men’s unique watches, no list could even begin without the mention of Mr. Jones. Their styles are hugely original, strange, and sometimes confusing. At first glance, you may question whether this is even a watch and may struggle to tell the time for your first few days of wear. Mr. Jones often produces watches in limited quantities, so even if the brand did become a lot more popular than it is, it’s very unlikely you will ever find someone wearing the same watch as you.
The quality of the brand’s watches is very solid. They make some budget pieces with quartz movements in the far east, whereas the high-end models are still assembled in London and use automatic movements.
Citizen – Navihawk
Citizen is a brand that is not best known for its creativity and design. With that being said, the Navihawk range is truly something that no other company has got close to creating. For a start, the watch is eco-drive, analog digital, and also syncs to an atomic clock. If you just take one of these specifications, you have already separated this watch from 99% of all other watches. Combined, there is nothing else quite like this. Obviously, there aren’t any watch models that can come close to the accuracy of atomic clocks, secondly the watch is extremely practical as you will never have to change the battery.
It should be noted that if you’ve never had a Citizen Navihawk before, it may take an hour to understand how to use this watch properly, although when it’s set you don’t have to worry about it ever again.
Eone Bradley
A truly unusual watch, Eone proved that this timepiece is truly unique by winning the red dot design award in 2015. The beauty of the Eone Bradley is that it is both a stylish watch for the average person, as well as a really useful tool for the blind to be able to tell the time. Powered by a quartz movement, two balls are rotated around the dial and bezel alike. By running your finger around the dial and edge of the watch, you are able to tell the time with your eyes closed.
Not only this, but the Eon Bradley is available in a variety of colors and is a lot more stylish and fashionable than any other watch which helps the visually impaired.
TW Steel Canteen
Not known for its subtlety, TW Steel is the original brand to bring oversized watches to the general population. They are unashamedly different from almost all other watch manufacturers and produce watches that a lot of people would consider being way too big. The canteen is available in both 45mm and 50mm case sizes, but wears even bigger due to the giant crown protector on the right hand side. This feature ensures that no matter what you do to your watch, the crown will always survive and the stem will not be damaged.
Undone – Twisted Chrono
Only founded in 2014, Undone is a brand that is based around customization and making your watch very personalized. Whilst this can’t be done through channels such as Amazon, it can be done through the official undone website.
The twisted chrono is not particularly consistent with the brand identity of Undone, although it does however look extremely unique. Personally, I wouldn’t want to wear this watch as it looks like it has just led you down the rabbit hole for the first time. It is genuinely difficult to tell the time on this watch, in even the soberest of mindstates.
Lamborghini Tonino – Spyder
Famous for their supercars, not so much their watches, Lamborghini watches are a little on the expensive side considering the fact that this is not even an automatic watch. In fairness to the brand, these watches are not cheap or poorly made, as Lamborghini makes sure all their watches come out of Switzerland.
Overall, although this watch is expensive, it is the closest thing you will get to anything like a true sports racing watch. Granted Tag Heuer makes the Formula 1 series, as well as Ferrari making their own watches. However, Lamborghini has their own unique design which is not comparable to any other brand.
Bulova – Computron
Originally made in 1976, you would be right in thinking that the Bulova computron still looks like a vintage digital watch. This unique design was redeveloped during the last decade and is now available in 3 different color schemes, black, gold, and silver (pictured). Although digital watches have become increasingly more popular, they have generally swayed towards more traditional shapes and sizes as seen with the Casio G-shock range.
The computron hasn’t really changed since the ’70s and is really a science fiction-looking watch that hasn’t bothered to follow the same path of modernity. Overall, this is yet another marmite watch which you will either love or hate.
Diesel – Mr Daddy 2.0
Diesel are a brand which are either loved or despised, with a case size of 56mm, it is quite obvious to see why. There are not many other watchmakers who try to design 4-timezone watches that also have a date window with a chronograph function. Available in a variety of colors, the Mr. Daddy 2.0 looks most unique with monochrome paint.
From a horological perspective, the Mr. Daddy 2.0 is nothing special, it simply has 4 Japanese quartz movements all crammed into a giant case. However, from the outside, there is nothing quite like this oversized watch.
Klokers – Klok
Klokers are a Swiss brand that originally got started through the modern method of using Kickstarter to generate funds. The Swiss brand produces a variety of cool wristwatches mostly emanating from the same unusual design. Instead of using a traditional watch movement where the hands move around the hour indicators, instead the dial moves around from the center. By aligning the numbers with the slide rule you are easily able to tell the time.
A nice bonus with the Klokers brand is that you’re very easily able to change the strap to a different color using their unique mechanism. You will not need to take your watch to a jeweler to do this as it is very simple.
Invicta – Bolt
Invicta is known for producing hugely oversized watches, the bolt takes this to another level. There aren’t really any other mainstream brands that produce such huge watches, 53mm is the case size of this watch. If that wasn’t big enough for you, the thickness of this piece is 21mm, which may not sound like a lot, but remember a standard watch such as the Rolex submariner is only 13mm thick. It goes without saying then, that the Invicta bolt is also an extremely heavy watch weighing approximately 200 grams.
If you’re looking for something loud and outlandish, Invicta is the watch brand for you. Their watches do not use high quality Swiss movements, but Miyota is solid enough given the price.
Zinvo – Blade
Zinvo produces unique automatic watches, as well as a cheaper quartz range if those are not within your budget. The key feature of Zinvo watches is the rotating disc in the center of the watch. This covers the entire dial and looks like a jet engine whilst the watch is moving and also doubles up as the second’s hand.
The case of the watch is also somewhat aviation-themed and looks very industrial. If you are not a fan of the all black style, the blade is available in over 20 different color schemes. Overall, the Zinvo blade is not really anything remarkable in terms of movement as it uses Miyota. However, it’s not bad value for money given the design and is certainly reliable enough.
Reef Tiger
Reef Tiger watches are another brand quite similar to Diesel, people both love and hate them. This young Chinese brand make decent quality automatic watches for very reasonable prices, whilst there is no doubt that they aren’t to the taste of everyone, this fact cannot be denied.
There is a huge variety of watches to choose from the Reef Tiger brand, although almost all are very loud and flamboyant. In summary, it is great to see a fairly new brand make unique automatic watches regardless of whether everyone likes them or not.
Issey Miyake
The well-known Japanese designer produces a range of strange, yet intriguing watches. As Issey Miyake is based out of Japan, it is easy to source very reliable movements from both Citizen and Seiko without any trouble. This particular design is both original and very wearable. Issey Miyake is not a brand well known for its watches but is on the cutting edge of fashion design, the Japanese minimalist pieces they make can be worn in almost any social situation and are subtle, yet striking.
As for this watch, it functions in a way similar to a normal watch, only with the hands being split into two different sections. They rotate independently around the dial displaying both minutes and hours on their own.
Luch – Single Hand Watch
Luch is a Russian watch brand, with their main factory being located in Belarus. A true watchmaker, Luch has both original designs and its own unique movement. This is due to the fact that Russia and Belarus were behind the iron curtain for a very long time, so Swiss imports were not really an option. If you do buy a Luch, it may take you a while to learn to tell the time again. However, after a few weeks, you begin to realize that using a single hand to tell the time is even easier than two. This is about as minimalist and non-complicated as it gets.
Tissot – Des Tourelles Squelette
Tissot is a fairly sensible Swiss brand and not one that you would usually associate with being on the cusp of original designs. Most Tissot watches are fairly plain and good value but don’t offer anything spectacular. Although the Squelette is very expensive, it is a very unusual design. Usually, with completely transparent dials, the inner workings of the watch mechanism are carved out. The T-Squelette has not really done this, but neither has it covered them completely either. Bear in mind that this watch does use a very solid ETA movement, which is why it’s so expensive, but is one of the best-looking skeleton watches around.
Projects – Beyond The Horizon
An aviation-themed watch, beyond the horizon by Projects is certainly a confusing watch to look at before you grasp how to use it. After this it is relatively simple, by using the black hand to tell the hours and the white hand to see the minutes, it is not really any more difficult than a traditional wristwatch.
In terms of design, you can see where the name “beyond the horizon” came from as the dial literally looks like a horizon. Projects are a company that makes a variety of individual and unique watches. Given the original effort put into each design, these watches are pretty fairly priced and cost a little less than fashion watches from well known brands.
Gaga Milano
As you will probably have noticed, Gaga Milano watches have a distinctive style that doesn’t really change across their entire range. The brand mostly uses one style and sticks to it, rather than producing a huge variety of different watches. Their typical wristwatch is based on the design for a pocket watch, with the crown being placed in the 12 o’clock position rather than the typical 3.
Available in both quartz and automatic, there is a very large variety of color schemes within the Gaga Milano range. These Italian watches are pretty expensive, but do offer something unique – they are not a faceless corporate entity and truly design their own watches with a lot of thought and passion.
