#WatchWednesday: The Nooka ZAZ and ZEM Concept Watches Posted by Ru Porter on 07/18/12 | Filed under Watches, WatchWednesday, Ritmo Mundo

Welcome to #WatchWednesday, where our resident watchologist Ru Porter highlights some of the doper new wrist pieces to drop. Up this week, we take a look at progressive and technology influenced New York based brand Nooka.

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Much of the inspiration for my men’s fashion editorials come from my visits to The Agenda Trade Show -- a forum for the most inspired streetwear and action sports brands with a strong emphasis in style, art, music and culture to unite. Throughout the year, hundreds, if not thousands of brands travel to Long Beach, CA, New York, Tokyo and Vegas to showcase designs to potential buyers, who wish to distribute them in their store, both on and offline. One exhibitor at the New York leg of the tour caught my eye and I thought it’d be perfect feature in this week’s “Watch Wednesday” series.

Nooka -- a New York fashion design company founded by artist/designer Matthew Waldman. The name Nooka was engineered by Matthew to evoke futurism by incorporating the sound 'nu' from 'nuclear' and the word 'new'. Stemming from its New York roots, 'Nooka' is also a contraction of "New Yorker" with a local accent. The ethos of Nooka is universal language, which guides the creation of products with enhanced functionality and a techno-progressive philosophy. This ethos is also expressed in sunglasses, fragrance, belts, wallets, inspiration, and provocation. But it’s Matthew’s futuristic and industrial wristwatches that are the dopest -- especially their ZAZ and ZEM concepts.

The ZAZ


With a transparent screen, the Zaz gives an illusion that time is displayed on your skin. Nooka’s design patented interface for time display comes in a variety of strap options: leather and mesh retailing for $350.
Inspired by the geometric shaping of gems, the Zem's unique casing gives its watches a larger feel and look, while displaying one of the four popular Nooka faces. Offering a multitude of combinations, the Zem is available in either Italian leather or a metal snake-like band. The ZEM ZOT collaboration presents a truly unique yet intuitive way of reading time. 12 dots represent the current hour, and horizontal bars display the minutes, with a small window displaying the seconds underneath. Set on top of either a metal mesh or leather band, the Zot features an alarm and chronograph mode encased in an 8 micron gold gem inspired casing. This particular model is a higher-end gold version of the four bezels, made with real crocodile skin for $850.

The ZEM


To browse all of Nooka’s collections, visit www.nooka.com

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