Hi everyone,
I’m thinking of starting a watch brand that is inspired by video games but not in an obvious way. The watches would be of high quality, with Japanese quartz and sapphire glass, and could be worn by anyone in any situation. They would be perfect for formal dinners, weddings, business meetings, dates, game nights with the homies, and more.
What would set these watches apart from others would be their video game-inspired design. However, the design would not be too obvious, so your wife would see a nice sexy watch, but you would know that it is influenced by your favorite game.
So, my question is, would you buy a video game-inspired watch? I’m looking for honest opinions and feedback.
Thank you for your time!
Edit. Two potential design ideas that came to me would be these.
1.Imagine a Pepsi watch but instead of blue and red it could be red and white, white bezel and red chronos on th me top half.
2. A military/diver/flyer watch in all black with three seemingly white chronos (they should be glowing in the dark) so in a dark room it looks like splinter cell.
26 comments
Sure, you do you man
That’s hard for me to imagine, the two subjects don’t seem to work together in my mind
Yes, but the idea is less important than the execution. I won’t buy it just because – if it’s a gimmick. The design and craftsmanship if on point, I can see one on my wrist.
I wouldn’t buy it because it had something to do with a game, my wife might.
Would be interested to see some designs but if I was to buy a watch it would be from an established brand.
If that’s my thing, I would. As above said, you do you.
Sure, if it’s out there I might not wear it at an important meeting or interview but I would get that if it made me happy.
I’m the 38 year old who purchases an early 90s TMNT Raphael action figure and proudly display it.
I’d be more interested in game replicas. I need an affordable quality replica of Joel’s field watch.
No, I wouldn’t.
Especially not from a brand new company. You’re gonna need to make a high quality product to get your name in the market. Video game themes aren’t enough to differentiate you on style alone, and many such brands are lacking in substance. So that would be an immediate strike against you.
Get the basics right first, and figure out how to scale your business. Then, keep making high quality stuff.
I’m not throwing luxury money at a brand new company with a gimmick.
Moreover, im not going to pay a premium for marked up imported nonsense. If you don’t care enough to manufacture an amazing watch, I don’t wanna buy a watch from you.
To be honest- watches are an incredibly saturated market. On the low end you have anything from an affordable Timex to newer but aesthetically pleasing brands like Mvmt.
If you want a sapphire crystal (which as a watch consumer, I care about), your minimum price point is going to be in the $150-200 range. That’s not much cheaper than a Citizen. Why is your new brand going to be chosen over a reputable 100+ year old Japanese brand?
Anyone spending over the price point of a Citizen is now really interested in high quality Swiss brands, or further in the price hierarchy: luxury brands. Not your customer base.
Or, they’ll be wearing a smart watch.
I have a lovely sapphire crystal Citizen. I spent like $400 on it but these days I’m mostly wearing my $250 Fitbit.
No
Definitely. At Halloween, some dude had a Pipboy 3000 and I lost my mind about it like a 13 year old running in a SURGE commercial.
It’s it’s a James Bond 007 watch that includes a laser cutter, grappling hook, or remote start to my car, then yes.
I might, but I imagine you and I are in the minority.
I never got into watches. I stopped wearing one shortly after I got my first cellphone in like 2004. I remember I got myself a silly watch in late 2004 that also functioned as a TV remote control but didn’t use it for very long. My sister got the new Apple watch and gave me her old Series 5 that I have been playing around with and I think is pretty cool.
I have never had any desire to have the luxury watches, to me its a bigger luxury not wearing anything on my wrist.
Depends on the execution. Some of them end up looking cheap, but there’s been some good collabs like [this Street Fighter one with Seiko](https://www.seikowatches.com/in-en/products/5sports/special/streetfighter).
Still, I’d probably just go for a non-gaming brand.
You think the companies are going to let you make money off of their IPs?
I would def consider it, but I think that niche is already filled by brands like Seiko where they make collabs with games and anime.
Would your watch brand provide anything of value outside of these brands like Seiko?
Are you able to acquire the licensing and permission for these video games?
It would entirely depend on me seeing the actual design. It’s hard for me to imagine that concept working, but I’d be stoked to see some mock ups demonstrating the concept.
I could be swayed if the design was good. I bought a “Star Wars”-inspired Nixon a few years ago. It’s based on Captain Phasma’s chrome Stormtrooper uniform, with very subtle nods to SW iconography (the six-sided Empire insignia and the round Rebel insignia works very well with an analogue watch face). And also I just have a huge crush on giant blonde British women like Gwendolyn Christie and Hannah Waddingham, so that choice was a no-brainer for me. 😂 I’m not even a huge SW fan, but I like watches and I like good design and the look of them just drew me in. Citizen also has a line of SW watches, but the design of those is far too up-front for my taste, and I much prefer the subtlety of the Nixons.
All that being said, I also have a ceiling on what I’d pay. I’m not a delicate fellow and I’m just hard on stuff, so anything more than three bills is gonna have to work really hard to captivate me. $275 is the MSRP sweet spot for something that looks great, is quality-made, and doesn’t break the bank. That’s around what I paid for my Phasma, and it’s not an everyday piece.
I’d lean towards no.
For me, it would need to offer another feature on top of telling the time. I like Seiko Perpetual Calendar watches because it also tells me the day, date, month, and year (sort of). If I want to I can also use it as a stopwatch. I can also set alarms.
If it was just the style itself that set it apart I would choose a more traditional design just so I can use it for decades and not need to buy multiple styles.
Existing watches already do that for me.
It sounds like you want to profit from someone else’s IP by being “inspired by it” but not replicating it (or licensing it.)
This is not the sort of thing for which people pay “luxury” prices. This is the sort of thing you find in flea markets and happy meals.
Depends on execution. The line between classic and ‘came from a cereal box’ is narrower than you think.
I ain’t putting no halo crap on my wrist, but a blue tinged homage to Cortana would go further, I think
No, but then again I don’t buy watches, luxury items, anything anyone in their right mind would call “sexy”–or play video games.
Unless it was a *[H.E.R.O](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.E.R.O._(video_game))* watch, of course.
Nope. I do like buying collector style items, but a watch wouldn’t be it.
That’s not to say I can’t be convinced otherwise, but I see it as something like a Spider-Man watch I’d wear as a child.
I like quality. If the craftsmanship can surpass the corniness that surrounds the idea it will attract people on both sides.
No, if I’m getting a video game inspired watch I want to be able to tell without a doubt it’s from that game. I would not want your interpretation of the game in a watch. The hiccup though is the branding and copyright of logos and themes of the games in general, which I’d imagine would inevitably force you into the more gimmicky and far stretch side and less towards the actual game side.
Perhaps r/askmen is a better audience for this sort of thing.
As a grumpy GenX’er I don’t like watches, do not like luxury items, and I especially hate branded items.
But I could see how younger dudes with a lot of money might fall for such an item.
I have a lot of watches. Rough count is probably over 100k spent in watches alone. I *might* pick one up for under 150 with quartz movement, but only if I really like the look of it, but not if I couldn’t return it.