Timex Just Dropped a Pair of Affordable Hype Watches Aimed Squarely at Rolex Fans

French “horological artist” Romaric André, better known as seconde/seconde/, basically has the Midas Touch in the watch world.

His irreverent dial treatments imbue even the stodgiest of watches with an unmatched sense of wit and whimsy, and practically every one of them has become a sought-after hype watch.

Although seconde/seconde/ has worked with some big brands on some expensive watches, perhaps his most frequent collaborator has been the industry’s definitive ultra-affordable mainstay, Timex.

Through his #IYKYK series with the brand, seconde/seconde/ has created custom versions of Timex’s popular Q sports watches (and similar models) that give subtle winks and nods to the far more expensive Rolex watches that inspired them.

Timex

Now, the collection has launched its fourth drop featuring arguably the two most fanciful editions yet.

If You Know, You Know

What I love best about this series from Timex and seconde/seconde/ is how it’s made strictly for watch nerds, or more specifically, Rolex nerds.

Followers of Rolex know that many of the brand’s most popular sports watch models have nicknames derived from various popular culture touchstones like superheroes, cartoon characters and, frequently, soft drinks. There’s the Batman, the Pepsi, the Hulk, etc.

Timex

On seconde/seconde/’s Timex collabs, the artist swaps out the watches’ seconds hands for cartoon icons that represent the Rolex versions of the watches’ popular nicknames. The Batman version features a stylized word bubble that says “SLAP,” a nod to the 1960s Batman TV series. The Pepsi version has a straw. The Polar gets a penguin. You get the idea.

The new drop features a pair of Q Timex models inspired by two iconic, discontinued Rolex Submariners. One draws inspiration from the Kermit, reference 16610LV, which was the first Sub to feature a black dial and green bezel and was in production between 2003 and 2010.

Timex

The other is based on reference 116619LB, AKA the Smurf, the first-ever white gold Submariner, which featured a bright blue dial and bezel. It was around from 2008 until its discontinuation in 2020.

The Q Timex version of the Kermit features a cartoonish frog’s footprint as its seconds hand, so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the reference. The Smurf, meanwhile, will test your ’80s cartoon knowledge a little more. Its red-and-white mushroom seconds hand recalls the homes of the animated blue Lilliputians, but it also brings to mind Toadstool from Super Mario Bros., at least for me.

Timex

For anyone living outside our insane little watch-nerd bubble, these pieces simply exist as colorful watches with a fun cartoon on the dial. But for those of us “in the know,” they’re a clever callout to some fan-favorites from the world’s biggest watch brand.

Pricing and Availability

Outside of the custom seconds hands, these are the same ol’ reliable Q Timex watches as before, featuring a friction-fit rotating 12-hour bezel, a quartz movement with an easily accessible battery hatch on the caseback, a faux-integrated steel bracelet and a generously domed acrylic crystal.

The watches are limited in production and individually numbered on the caseback, with the Kermit being limited to 1,145 and the Smurf having a slightly smaller run of 1,075. Those might seem like large numbers, but these watches are going to fly off the shelf, so don’t dawdle if you’re interested in picking one up. Both are priced at $249 and are available online from both Timex and Huckberry.

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