We’ve blogged about Howie Woo of WooWork before on Neatorama, but the genius goofball of crochet is back with this awesome Sat-Track Surveillance Watch (complete with Remote Bug):

The name is Woo. Howie Woo. As a dashing international spy, I enjoy good martinis, good suits, and good gadgets. My newest spy gadget is codenamed The Sat-Track Surveillance Watch

Excellent! Link – via Craftzine

As you all know, I’m a big fan of Tokyoflash and their nigh-unreadable watches (unless you’re a major geek and can count in binary in your sleep, of course). So it’s with great pleasure for me to tell you that Tokyoflash is featuring some new watch designs from Independent (very limited quantity). They told me that these designs are some of the best they’ve ever seen in terms of quality and originality – and it definitely shows. These watches are gorgeous!

Link – Thanks Paul Cooper! (Y’know, it’s time we run a Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt again on Neatorama, don’t you guys think?)

“And the funniest thing is that the watch was on time and still ticking,” Carish said.

Carish, who often hangs out at the private Port Allen Club with many other members, said in all of his 30 years on Kaua‘i he has never encountered anything this bizarre.

Link -via Fark

(Don’t miss the Zihotch telephone dial watch!)

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Jonathan Dillon was an Irish immigrant watchmaker who worked in a watch repair shop in Washington D.C.  He told his children that on the day the news arrived of the attack on Fort Sumter he was repairing Lincoln’s watch. 

He told them he had inscribed inside the watch these words: "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try."

The watch was given to the Smithsonian in 1958.  No one has ever checked the truth of the man’s story – until now …

This morning, in a small conference room on the first floor of Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, officials decided to find out. Expert watchmaker George Thomas used a series of delicate instruments — tweezers, tiny pliers — to pull apart Lincoln’s timepiece. He put on a visor with a magnifying lens and talked as he worked. Some of the pins were nearly stuck, he explained. The hands of the watch were original with a case made in America and the workings from Liverpool. The Illinois rail-splitter had splurged: The watch, Thomas said, would be the equivalent to a timepiece costing “$5,000 or more” today.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whitespace.

It's been a while since we ran our last Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt - but the wait's worth it, because Tokyoflash has just released a number of really cool watches.

For those of you who haven't played before, the game is an online treasure hunt where you can win a free Tokyoflash watch of your choice.

The rules are simple: we'll give you 3 questions, for example:

1. What color is the "O" pebble in the Neatorama logo?
2. How many posts are on Neatorama’s homepage? (in numbers)
3. What’s the first insulting word in Neatorama’s article 10 Insulting Words You Should Know?

The answers (black, 30, frenchify) separated with dashes make a URL on Neatorama: http://www.neatorama.com/black-30-frenchify (go ahead, copy and paste this URL in your browser's address bar)

Got that? Easy, right? So let's get started! Here are the Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt #8 questions:

1. What is the name of the Tokyoflash watch featured above? (Not the brand, the model name)
2. Go to the Neatorama's Online Store and look for the Audio Bone Headphones page. What is the last color listed in the color option?
3. Go to the Neatorama Upcoming Queue and look for the Top Submitters page. How many are listed per page? (in numerals, for example: 10 not "ten") [By the way, top 10 submitters of this month will get a free Neatorama T-Shirt, the top submitter will get a Free iPod Touch - you still got time, if you're interested ;) ]
4. Go to Tokyoflash website, and find the watch with orange acrylic bars "inspired by the neon skylines of Shinjuku." What is the model name of the watch?

Visit Tokyoflash, and Neatorama's Online Shop and Upcoming Queue to find the answers, then string 'em together to make the URL (all words are lower case, separated by dash). Follow the instruction you'll find there.

Hurry (this contest will end tomorrow - remember to check back to find if you've won) and good luck!

Is it a bracelet or a watch … or both? Here’s a minimalist wristwatch by Hiranao Tsuboi of 100%:

The eye-catching watch uses LED digits built into the elegant black brushed-metal wristband, negating the need for a traditional watch face altogether.

Tsuboi’s watch also has no name – it’s a one of a kind exercise made especially for Tokyo Design Week 2008.

That may not be the case for long, though… reaction to the watch has been overwhelmingly positive and it’s likely one of Japan’s specialty retailers will introduce a version of the faceless watch sometime soon. One might say, it’s only a matter of time.

Link – via modernurbanliving

And to answer the obvious question: an alarm will be triggered if the watch is forcibly removed.

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Is it too much or just being a prudent parent in today’s environment?

Now, for the first time ever, they’ve released a new line of watches, the Tokyoflash Waku, that incorporate natural brown leather, raised black croc-effect leather and – get this – fur for that chic geek effect!

Check it out: Link – Thanks Paul!

In the 500+ entries that we got, one really stood out: GrouchieGrumbles (entry #128) told us that if he/she should win, then we should just donate the prize to Toys for Tots charity. A Neatorama reader who prefers only to be called "a retired US Navy radioman" pointed this out to me.

Both of us are touched at the gesture, so we’ve decided to both donate $100 each to Toys for Tots, in honor of GrouchieGrumbles (whoever he is). This Christmas, times are tough – so Toys for Tots and other charities need our help more than ever. I’d like to invite you go open your heart (and wallet) and donate a little something.

Thank you to GrouchieGrumbles for his kind offer, to the anonymous Neatorama reader who contacted me about it, and lastly, to all of you who have done your parts in helping the less fortunate this holiday season.

Here’s the link to: Marine Toys for Tots Foundation

It’s always "sewing time" for Claire Payne at Folksy. She made this cute clock pincushion for your wrist: Link – via Cuteable

Oobject, a neat visual directory of gadgets, has an interesting list of Memento mori watches. Memento Mori, latin for "Remember that you will die," is an art genre that span a wide range of styles, but has one purpose: to remind you of your own mortality.

This one above, the Skull and Bones pocket watch, is listed by Miles Pocket Watches as an original creation based on a form of watches made nearly two centuries ago.

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Woohoo! It’s time for the Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt on Neatorama!

For those of you who don’t know how to play (what? how could you!), here’s what it’s all about: it’s an online treasure hunt where you can win a free Tokyoflash watch of your choice, courtesy of the good folks at Tokyoflash.

Here’s the basic instruction. We’ll give you 3 questions, for example:

1. What color is the "O" pebble in the Neatorama logo?
2. How many posts are on Neatorama’s homepage? (in numbers)
3. What’s the first insulting word in Neatorama’s article 10 Insulting Words You Should Know?

The answers (black, 30, frenchify) separated with dashes make a URL on Neatorama: http://www.neatorama.com/black-30-frenchify (go ahead, copy and paste this URL in your browser’s address bar).

Easy, right? Let’s get started then. Here are the Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt #7 Questions:

1. What is the name of the Tokyoflash Kisai watch *model* pictured above? Go to Tokyoflash to find out!
2. Go to Neatorama’s Online Shop and look for Mike Jacobsen’s Wizard of Oz T-Shirt. What is the last word uttered by the cowardly lion?
3. One of Tokyoflash’s wonderful watches has an "always on" liquid crystal display with seven colors in one watch. What is the name of the watch?

Visit Tokyoflash and Neatorama’s Online Shop to find the answers, then string ‘em together to make the URL (all words are lower case, separated by dash). Follow the instructions you’ll find there.

Hurry (this contest will end soon) and good luck!

Haruo Suekichi is a Japanese artist who specializes in making wonderful steampunk watches. In the past 12 years, Haruo has made some 7,000 watches – he started out selling them in the flea market, but now his watches are very collectible.

Chief Mag has an interview with the master watchmaker, who recounted an interesting tale of how he got the whole idea because he wanted to design a watch for a one-armed man:

at the flea market, a one-armed man came up to me. And he said to me, well, with only my left arm, I can’t put on a watch. Wow, I thought, he’s right…I wonder if I could make a watch like that? So I made – and you can see one upstairs in the showcase – I made a watch that you put your wrist in it and it shuts around your wrist.

Link | Gallery of Haruo’s watches [in Japanese]