The other new watch resurrects the game that became an even bigger pop-culture phenomenon in the Reagan decade, Namco’s Pac-Man. The watch’s case has all the attributes of the Space Invaders model, and its dial also has two bead-blasted levels and a topmost one with straight-grained edges. Each level is engraved with a pixelated matrix. The top level features meticulously crafted figures from the famous Pac-Man game screen, including Pac-Man himself, the four ghosts that pursue him through the maze, and the fruits that he gobbles up for energy and points. Each of these pieces is individually machined and gem-set, and lacquered with various colors or with black Super-LumiNova that glows green. Each dial emulates an actual game sequence.
The Pac-Man model comes in four models of 20 pieces, for a total limited edition of 80 pieces, in four color combinations. Each is priced at $16,900.
Both of these “geek chic” watches are brainchildren of Romain Jerome CEO Manuel Emch, an admitted former game addict who came of age in the heyday of Pac-Man Fever and Space Invaders mania. The company described the limited-edition timepieces as “an authentic homage to late-20th century pop culture” and their audience as those “for whom age has proved the only cure for their juvenile game dependency.”