Time to look at the latest concept watches

WRIST WATCHES brought a certain informality to portable timepieces that were once kept in a gentleman's pocket, often on a chain - or pinned to a lady's top. But the evolution from mechanical to digital has led to the avant-garde notion of "concept watches."

Some resulting timepieces are an "out there" take on noting the movement of time, where hours, minutes, seconds - and sometimes dates - are marked in ways that border on such obscure displays or codes, that only those in the know can comprehend them. Think abstract shapes, spirals, columns, chart-like read-outs, minimal lines and many others that could take the watch design or an intellectual interpretation - or both - as their raison d'etre. These are typical ideas behind so-called concept watches.

On other occasions a theme or concept is chosen and applied to the timepiece. This could be an experiment to include working elements of another piece of kinetic engineering, such as the gear chains of a bicycle or the moving parts of a motor engine.

Real objects are sometimes also taken as a starting point, and interpreted with much artistic licence.

This is seen in Canadian designer Luis Beruman's ZeroPointZero concept - a strikingly modern pair of watch handcuffs is easier to read, with its digital displays, and in a Japanese watch that loosely refers to the New York Subway train map form of display.

There may be a grey area in labelling "smart watches" as concept watches. However, as we are witnessing the very infancy of the former - that is, the notion of incorporating mobile phone and/ or internet communication, networking and information, some interesting tech elements are the focus of some new timepieces. Octopus account chips in your watch in Hong Kong may be old hat but from a few years ago, voice-command watches took off. Korean electronics brand LG pioneered James Bond-like touch-screen watch phones in late 2009, but more sophisticated and less showy refinements are found in small-production watch innovators such as US-based Martian (see below) that synchronises functions with the owner's mobile phone device.

In 2009 Cartier introduced its ID One watch. It took on the notion that with a new mechanism and high quality components that did not require oil, that it would never need maintenance or repair. Its second version builds on this.

Monaco V4 by Tag Heuer
Taking its cue from Grand Prix motor racing, hence the name Monaco, the French Riviera port that is home to one of Formula One's most glamorous street races on the annual calendar, this watch has a re-engineered mechanism.