PetrolHead247
New member
For my first member review on OC3D i thought it would be a good idea to review my watch. This may sound weird at first, but this is no ordinary watch as you will see below. So today i will be reviewing the Tokyoflash Kisai Traffic watch.
Tokyoflash are a Japanese company who, basically, make insane looking watches. Their number one rule is to design something that stands out and to avoid the usual watch designs out there. As you can see above, they've succeeded with the Traffic. This is not surprising though, when you visit their website hundreds of exquisitely designed watches are bestowed upon you - this is when you realise Tokyoflash are a company with some serious talent. The likes of Google and Apple have praised their amazing design work, TokyoFlash even have a blog where anyone can submit their own designs, if it gets the thumbs up you can earn royalties on that design, which is pretty damn cool.
Now for a little info on the watch in question, the Traffic. Now, you may be wondering why is it called the Traffic? It's not exactly the most glamorous name after all. Well, inspiration for the design of this watch came from the transport systems of Tokyo, with the blue lines representing the city streets, the orange line is the subway and the green line is the hghway out of town. Moreover, the Traffic consists of a stainless steel frame and a black screen with a gloss finish. Now, enough of the little intro, lets get to the nitty gritty!
What's In The Box
As we can see the box in which the watch and accessories come in is pretty small to say the least, but that's ok. The design of the packaging is themed around Japan, so there's images of Tokyo and a big great golden dragon on top too. Overall, the watch comes in a small and attractive package.
In the box you get very little (hence the small package). Included alongside the watch itself is a set of instructions and a USB charging cable (yes you have to charge this watch, i will talk about that in depth later on). One thing that caught my eye immediately was the simple instructions, it's so nice to have simple set of instructions where you understand fully what is written. Time and time again i've seen instructions after instructions which seem to have been written by someone who has a PHD just in the item i have purchased, which is probably the reason why nobody reads instructions in the first place.
Another thing that got a thumbs up from me was the amount of protective foam that the watch was wrapped in, there's loads! It may not look like much in the photo, but honestly there's plently stuffed in that box, and considering the watch comes straight from Japan and is shipped across continents finally to arrive at your doorstep in a maximum of 5 days time (impressive stuff), it's nice to know your watch is safe during transit.
Hands on with the Traffic
The Traffic consists of a stainless steel construction, there's no cheap plastics at all on this watch whatsoever which is great as i'm not a fan of crappy plastic materials at all. Surprisingly, the watch is also water resistant up to 3ATM's (atmospheric pressure), but note that it is not totally water proof, so no swimming or bathing with this watch. The traffic also has a beautiful tinted screen with a fantastic gloss finish, which looks good with the LED's off as well as on. Another thing to note however is that the Traffic shows up dirt, marks and fingerprints very easily but it's also easy to clean, so it balances that one out. As you can see in the picture below the Traffic has 2 buttons on it. The large rectangular button activated the LED's, which blink for around 7 seconds and then deactivate again. The small circular button at the bottom is used to set the time, so it's all pretty simple. On the other side is the USB charging slot, but i will go into detail on that later on.
Fitting & Comfort
To allow the Traffic to fit comfortably and securely it has a latching system. To open it, you push the two tabs down and voila! This is a simple mechanism to allow you to put the watch on and take it off without having to faff around with straps and the like. Once the watch is on your arm you just slot the latches back together and the watch is securely fitted. There are links too which can be removed or added depending on how big your wrist is, which is a neccessity else the watch is either going to be too tight or it's just going to fall off your wrist, both of which are not good.
The Traffic is actually surprisingly comfortable for a watch made of steel. However, sometimes the little buldge in the latch pictured above has caused an itch occasionally, but after repositioning the watch it has been fine afterwards.
LED's
To display the time, the Traffic has a bunch of blue, orange and green LED's. These LED's are really bright and colourful, and they look amazing. To show the time, individual lines blink, indicating the current hour and minutes. The blue lines represent the hours, the orange line are 5 minute increments and the green lines are an additional 4 mintues max. The blue square in the middle is AM/PM indicator which lights up when it's the afternoon.
Most of you are going to be thinking 'lulwut?', so here's an example. Below is a shot of the watch in the dark, and as you can see the 2 hour LED is blinking, and so too is the 40 minute and 1 additional minute LED. Also, the PM indicator is on, so the time shown below is 2:41pm. If you still don't get that it's most likely just my awful explanation, the instructions provided are infinitely better.
Ease of Use
As pictured above, the watch is near impossible to miss in the dark. This means at night the Traffic can be read easily, unlike traditional watches, some of which include dim backlighting which doesn't really help either, so that's a big bonus. Honestly, the LED's are so bright they light up a small area around you in the dark, which is very cool indeed. However, in broad daylight the Traffic is not just hard to read, it's impossible! When the sun shines on the watch the LED's are not visible at all, so you cannot see the time. You can shield you hand over the screen to read it, but it's a huge faff. This is a big problem as even on slightly dull days the Traffic can still be difficult to read.
Charging & Battery Life
In the watch is a rechargable (and replacable) battery, which is recharged via USB, a bit weird i know. On average, the batteries last one month before needing to be recharged, which takes around 3.5 hours to fully charge. To charge, there's a small protective cap on the opposite side to the buttons, this cap screws off to reveal a small socket in which a strange looking plug is plugged in. On the other end of the cable is a normal USB, which plugs into any powered device which has a USB port on it. As you can see, the end which is plugged into the watch looks like some sort of probe, it's not a usual charging cable that's for sure.
As the battery starts to run dry, the LED's start to dim. This is understandable, but this twinned with the inability to read the watch in daylight is very annoying to say the least. Moreover, the blinking animation of the LED's which normally lasts 7 seconds or so is also reduced as the battery runs dry to around 1 second, adding to the annoyance of reading the watch in daylight. The decrease in the animation time also makes it harder to read the watch in all conditions, you have to press the LED activation button multiple times to successfully read the time.
Conclusion
I will rate the watch out of 10 in four categories: Presentation, Comfort, Build Quality and Ease of Use. I would also rate the price too, but it is not being sold anymore so i decided not to rate the price of it.
Firstly, Presentation, which obviously scores a big 10 points. The Traffic looks stunning, there's no other way to put it. Compared to other watches, even the likes of Rolex, it looks insane. I could put a £20,000 Rolex next to it and the Traffic would look infinitely better, it's that amazing. The stainless steel, the tinted gloss screen and the LED's completely own traditional watches in every sense. Loads of my friends and even people i didn't know have seen this watch and have loved the way it looks, but even 11 months on (i've owned it for that long btw) i still get people asking me how i read the watch, which is quite amusing at times.
Secondly, Comfort. Overall the Traffic is very comfortable and fits very well. You have the option to add or remove links too so it can fit different individuals nicely too. As mentioned before, it can cause a bit of an itch where a small indentation lies on the metal latch, but repositioning the watch stops the itch. This is my only gripe with the comfort, so 9/10 for the Traffic in this sector.
Build Quality is a 10/10 for sure. The stainless steel frame is stylish and is incredible strong and sturdy. I've owned this watch for almost a year and in that time it's taken quite a few hefty knocks, but there are no scratches, dents or marks whatsoever, none! Even though this watch has a pretty face, it's a tough one to say the least and it feels very well put together too, with all the buttons and the protective cap on the opposite side feeling as if they were hand crafted. This watch really does feel like it's indestructable, but obviously it's not. Another great thing is the fact that it's water resistant, so it can take a decent soaking too which is handy when your out and about and get stuck outside in the rain.
Now, Ease of use. At first, the Traffic looked like it had pulled a double wammy; Insane styling yet a pleasure to use. The way the Traffic displays the time is weird at first but you adapt to it extremely quickly, up to the point where it feels just like a normal watch. The way you operate it is simple to, all you do is push a button. However, the fact that the LED's dim and the duration that the LED's are displayed decreases as the battery runs dry is very annoying. In all conditions this suddenly transforms the watch from one that was a joy to use to one that's a bit of an animal really. This added with the inability to read it in daylight isn't good either, at all. The design does make up for it a little, but it's still a huge let down. Unfortunately, i have to give ease of use a 6/10. It's a joy to use indoors when the battery isn't starting to die and when your outdoors in low light conditions too, but when the battery is just starting to die or/and even when there's just a tad bit of sunlight, the watch becomes a bit of a faff to use.
Overall then, the design, comfort and build quality of the Traffic is immense, near perfection. However, just a couple quite significant issues spoilt the perfect recipie.
Overall, the Tokyoflash Kisai Traffic receives the PH247 Silver Award.
Check out their website at: http://www.tokyoflash.com
Tokyoflash are a Japanese company who, basically, make insane looking watches. Their number one rule is to design something that stands out and to avoid the usual watch designs out there. As you can see above, they've succeeded with the Traffic. This is not surprising though, when you visit their website hundreds of exquisitely designed watches are bestowed upon you - this is when you realise Tokyoflash are a company with some serious talent. The likes of Google and Apple have praised their amazing design work, TokyoFlash even have a blog where anyone can submit their own designs, if it gets the thumbs up you can earn royalties on that design, which is pretty damn cool.
Now for a little info on the watch in question, the Traffic. Now, you may be wondering why is it called the Traffic? It's not exactly the most glamorous name after all. Well, inspiration for the design of this watch came from the transport systems of Tokyo, with the blue lines representing the city streets, the orange line is the subway and the green line is the hghway out of town. Moreover, the Traffic consists of a stainless steel frame and a black screen with a gloss finish. Now, enough of the little intro, lets get to the nitty gritty!
What's In The Box
As we can see the box in which the watch and accessories come in is pretty small to say the least, but that's ok. The design of the packaging is themed around Japan, so there's images of Tokyo and a big great golden dragon on top too. Overall, the watch comes in a small and attractive package.
In the box you get very little (hence the small package). Included alongside the watch itself is a set of instructions and a USB charging cable (yes you have to charge this watch, i will talk about that in depth later on). One thing that caught my eye immediately was the simple instructions, it's so nice to have simple set of instructions where you understand fully what is written. Time and time again i've seen instructions after instructions which seem to have been written by someone who has a PHD just in the item i have purchased, which is probably the reason why nobody reads instructions in the first place.
Another thing that got a thumbs up from me was the amount of protective foam that the watch was wrapped in, there's loads! It may not look like much in the photo, but honestly there's plently stuffed in that box, and considering the watch comes straight from Japan and is shipped across continents finally to arrive at your doorstep in a maximum of 5 days time (impressive stuff), it's nice to know your watch is safe during transit.
Hands on with the Traffic
The Traffic consists of a stainless steel construction, there's no cheap plastics at all on this watch whatsoever which is great as i'm not a fan of crappy plastic materials at all. Surprisingly, the watch is also water resistant up to 3ATM's (atmospheric pressure), but note that it is not totally water proof, so no swimming or bathing with this watch. The traffic also has a beautiful tinted screen with a fantastic gloss finish, which looks good with the LED's off as well as on. Another thing to note however is that the Traffic shows up dirt, marks and fingerprints very easily but it's also easy to clean, so it balances that one out. As you can see in the picture below the Traffic has 2 buttons on it. The large rectangular button activated the LED's, which blink for around 7 seconds and then deactivate again. The small circular button at the bottom is used to set the time, so it's all pretty simple. On the other side is the USB charging slot, but i will go into detail on that later on.
Fitting & Comfort
To allow the Traffic to fit comfortably and securely it has a latching system. To open it, you push the two tabs down and voila! This is a simple mechanism to allow you to put the watch on and take it off without having to faff around with straps and the like. Once the watch is on your arm you just slot the latches back together and the watch is securely fitted. There are links too which can be removed or added depending on how big your wrist is, which is a neccessity else the watch is either going to be too tight or it's just going to fall off your wrist, both of which are not good.
The Traffic is actually surprisingly comfortable for a watch made of steel. However, sometimes the little buldge in the latch pictured above has caused an itch occasionally, but after repositioning the watch it has been fine afterwards.
LED's
To display the time, the Traffic has a bunch of blue, orange and green LED's. These LED's are really bright and colourful, and they look amazing. To show the time, individual lines blink, indicating the current hour and minutes. The blue lines represent the hours, the orange line are 5 minute increments and the green lines are an additional 4 mintues max. The blue square in the middle is AM/PM indicator which lights up when it's the afternoon.
Most of you are going to be thinking 'lulwut?', so here's an example. Below is a shot of the watch in the dark, and as you can see the 2 hour LED is blinking, and so too is the 40 minute and 1 additional minute LED. Also, the PM indicator is on, so the time shown below is 2:41pm. If you still don't get that it's most likely just my awful explanation, the instructions provided are infinitely better.
Ease of Use
As pictured above, the watch is near impossible to miss in the dark. This means at night the Traffic can be read easily, unlike traditional watches, some of which include dim backlighting which doesn't really help either, so that's a big bonus. Honestly, the LED's are so bright they light up a small area around you in the dark, which is very cool indeed. However, in broad daylight the Traffic is not just hard to read, it's impossible! When the sun shines on the watch the LED's are not visible at all, so you cannot see the time. You can shield you hand over the screen to read it, but it's a huge faff. This is a big problem as even on slightly dull days the Traffic can still be difficult to read.
Charging & Battery Life
In the watch is a rechargable (and replacable) battery, which is recharged via USB, a bit weird i know. On average, the batteries last one month before needing to be recharged, which takes around 3.5 hours to fully charge. To charge, there's a small protective cap on the opposite side to the buttons, this cap screws off to reveal a small socket in which a strange looking plug is plugged in. On the other end of the cable is a normal USB, which plugs into any powered device which has a USB port on it. As you can see, the end which is plugged into the watch looks like some sort of probe, it's not a usual charging cable that's for sure.
As the battery starts to run dry, the LED's start to dim. This is understandable, but this twinned with the inability to read the watch in daylight is very annoying to say the least. Moreover, the blinking animation of the LED's which normally lasts 7 seconds or so is also reduced as the battery runs dry to around 1 second, adding to the annoyance of reading the watch in daylight. The decrease in the animation time also makes it harder to read the watch in all conditions, you have to press the LED activation button multiple times to successfully read the time.
Conclusion
I will rate the watch out of 10 in four categories: Presentation, Comfort, Build Quality and Ease of Use. I would also rate the price too, but it is not being sold anymore so i decided not to rate the price of it.
Firstly, Presentation, which obviously scores a big 10 points. The Traffic looks stunning, there's no other way to put it. Compared to other watches, even the likes of Rolex, it looks insane. I could put a £20,000 Rolex next to it and the Traffic would look infinitely better, it's that amazing. The stainless steel, the tinted gloss screen and the LED's completely own traditional watches in every sense. Loads of my friends and even people i didn't know have seen this watch and have loved the way it looks, but even 11 months on (i've owned it for that long btw) i still get people asking me how i read the watch, which is quite amusing at times.
Secondly, Comfort. Overall the Traffic is very comfortable and fits very well. You have the option to add or remove links too so it can fit different individuals nicely too. As mentioned before, it can cause a bit of an itch where a small indentation lies on the metal latch, but repositioning the watch stops the itch. This is my only gripe with the comfort, so 9/10 for the Traffic in this sector.
Build Quality is a 10/10 for sure. The stainless steel frame is stylish and is incredible strong and sturdy. I've owned this watch for almost a year and in that time it's taken quite a few hefty knocks, but there are no scratches, dents or marks whatsoever, none! Even though this watch has a pretty face, it's a tough one to say the least and it feels very well put together too, with all the buttons and the protective cap on the opposite side feeling as if they were hand crafted. This watch really does feel like it's indestructable, but obviously it's not. Another great thing is the fact that it's water resistant, so it can take a decent soaking too which is handy when your out and about and get stuck outside in the rain.
Now, Ease of use. At first, the Traffic looked like it had pulled a double wammy; Insane styling yet a pleasure to use. The way the Traffic displays the time is weird at first but you adapt to it extremely quickly, up to the point where it feels just like a normal watch. The way you operate it is simple to, all you do is push a button. However, the fact that the LED's dim and the duration that the LED's are displayed decreases as the battery runs dry is very annoying. In all conditions this suddenly transforms the watch from one that was a joy to use to one that's a bit of an animal really. This added with the inability to read it in daylight isn't good either, at all. The design does make up for it a little, but it's still a huge let down. Unfortunately, i have to give ease of use a 6/10. It's a joy to use indoors when the battery isn't starting to die and when your outdoors in low light conditions too, but when the battery is just starting to die or/and even when there's just a tad bit of sunlight, the watch becomes a bit of a faff to use.
Overall then, the design, comfort and build quality of the Traffic is immense, near perfection. However, just a couple quite significant issues spoilt the perfect recipie.
Overall, the Tokyoflash Kisai Traffic receives the PH247 Silver Award.
Check out their website at: http://www.tokyoflash.com
