Seiko’s Power Design Project is returning to London’s Japan House for the ‘Incredibly Specialised Watches Exhibition 2’. The second edition of an exhibition that first took place last year. It features a selection of quirky concept watches that are designed to tackle niche concepts to the point of being impractical, hence the name Incredibly Specialised. You can attend the exhibition for free, May 15th – June 16th.
There are six watches in the 2025 edition of the Power Design Project exhibition. First is the Egg Boiling Watch, a watch styled like half a boiled egg and whose case actually contains 10% eggshell in the composition of its plastic. It features a white timer hand that lets you boil the perfect egg. The Egg Boiling Watch is joined by Santa Claus’ Specialised Watch, a GMT watch with a full lume dial and closable lid. The logic is that Santa needs to keep track of multiple time zones as he flies around the world, needs to read his watch in dark but also needs to be stealthy as he delivers presents in people’s homes.
Third is A Watch for Girls in Love. This watch features a spinning disk dial with a flower motif and a window that reveals sentiments of ‘Loves Me’ and ‘Loves Me Not’ in the style of the old schoolyard game. Reimagining it in a sort of roulette form. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Ninja Stealth Watch, which feels like the sort of niche a boy would love. The challenge here was to create a watch that could be read at night without using any luminescence that would give away your position. The solution, a rotating crystal cover that can be moved to expose the tactile dial so you can feel the position of the hour markers and hands.
Taking things to the club is the Specialised Watch for Club DJs, a visual feast for the senses as dynamic as the lights show in your favourite venue. It features an infinity mirror dial that appears to show the watch’s display descending inwards into the dial. It also uses colours that react to UV light like you find in many clubs. Last but by no means least is the Vampire Exclusive Watch, dedicated to all the blood-suckers out there. It features a high gothic design with a display that only shows the hours of the night, though the daylight numerals are still there hidden in crimson. It also features a rotating red crystal bezel that lets you track when you last ate.
All six watches at Seiko’s Power Design Project are fun and quirky in their own right. It makes me want to look around the OT Office and assign them to different people. I am pretty sure that Calista over in photography is a vampire, after all she never shows up in photos. Also, without naming names, we all know who deserves the egg watch after they insist on having them for lunch all the time.
The ‘Incredibly Specialised Watches Exhibition 2’ will be on display from May 15th to June 16th in the shop at Japan House London (101-111 Kensington High Street, London, United Kingdom), with free admission for all.
More details at Japan House London.
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