Timex’s Coolest New Product Isn’t a Watch

The brand is returning to its roots.

Close-up of a silver metal Timex watch case with a star emblem and brushed finish.

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By Johnny Brayson

Published 2 hours ago

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Timex has never been a watch company.

OK, let me rephrase that. Timex has never been just a watch company. The brand was founded in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company. It would be more than two decades before the company that would eventually be known as Timex produced its first pocket watch, as it initially was strictly a clockmaker.

Now, as part of the brand’s America 250 collection, Timex is returning to its roots with a table clock that seems made for this moment.

Silver Timex Waterbury table clock with Roman numerals and blue hands in an open case on a wooden surface. — Timex joins the alternative timepiece wars with a special-edition table clock.

Table stakes

Just a few years ago, the idea of a Timex table clock would have seemed pretty silly. But suddenly, alternative timekeeping devices are all the rage. Just in the past year, we’ve seen releases like the Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop pocket watch and the Rolex Submariner Desk Clock go crazy viral, and Timex’s new table clock offers a more attainable alternative without the Swatch’s hype or the Rolex’s price tag.

The Waterbury America 250 Table Clock is honestly one of the most classically attractive products Timex has ever produced. When closed, it’s a round stainless steel case measuring 49mm across with brushed sides and mirror-polished chamfers.

Round silver compact case with a textured pattern and a gold center medallion engraved with intertwined letters. — The exterior of the case features guilloché engraving and a gold-colored medallion featuring the old Waterbury Clock Company logo.

The top and bottom of the case are both engraved with a bold guilloché pattern, with a gold-colored medallion featuring the old Waterbury Clock Company logo embedded in the lid and a silver-tone medallion of the same design embedded on the bottom.

Two polished stars sit in relief on the side of the case, flanking a Timex-signed button. Pressing this button opens the lid, revealing what looks like a pocket watch inside. However, the watch, er, clock, is not removable. Instead, it sits on a fixed hinge below 6:00, allowing it to be positioned completely vertical within its case or viewed at an angle.

Silver table clock with an open textured cover showing a white dial with Roman numerals. — The inside of the case is decorated with perlage on both sides.

The clock has high-polished sides with a coin-edge fluted bezel and a WCC-signed 12:00 crown. The clock face is glossy white with thick printed black Roman numeral indices, a railroad minute track and blue leaf-shaped hands. “Timex” and “The Waterbury” are printed in black below 12:00, while a blue “250” logo appears above 6:00.

The inside of the lid and case bottom both feature perlage decoration, showing heavy attention to detail and ensuring that this thing is beautiful from all angles. The back of the clock itself features an engraving of the world and the modern Timex logo, while inside, a nondescript quartz movement keeps time. The dial is protected by mineral glass.

Close-up of a Timex The Waterbury watch face with blue hands, Roman numerals, and a silver ridged bezel. — The highly legible dial is as classic as it gets.

Availability and pricing

This is one seriously classy-looking desk clock, and a very unexpected release from Timex. I love all of the old-school finishing on display here, like guilloché and perlage, and while it obviously isn’t done by hand, it still manages to impress, as this isn’t the kind of finishing I associate with Timex.

The clock looks absolutely beautiful when closed, the push-button opening is very cool and the clock face is classically handsome and quite well done. Really, the only change I’d make here is a swap from a quartz to a mechanical movement. Sure, it wouldn’t be as practical, but it would really amp up the cool factor even higher.

Even as it stands, I’d still rank this as Timex’s coolest product of the year so far, and I won’t be surprised at all to see it sell out in a flash. Especially for its very reasonable asking price of $399.

The Waterbury America 250 Table Clock is available for preorder now from Timex, with shipping expected between June 29 and July 10.

Silver Timex The Waterbury table clock with white face, blue hands, and Roman numerals in an open case.

Timex Waterbury America 250 Table Clock

$399 at Timex

About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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