Erykah Badu performing at the Fabulous Fox, August 1, 2008, sporting a gold Zot V.
What do Erykah Badu, Lil Wayne, and the Go! Team‘s Nkechi Ka Egenamba have in common? Aside from being performers I’ve photographed, they all rock Nooka watches.
Nooka is the breakout brand of timepieces by artist and designer Matthew Waldman, who first conceived of his first alternative watch design in 1997. Flash forward to today and Nooka has amassed a who’s who of multi-platinum, celebrity endorsements, including Alicia Keys, Miho Hatori (Gorillaz/Cibo Matto), and Kanye West.
Since his first design, Matthew has expanded to several variations on his concept of a timepiece as a display of “visual mass,” with finishes ranging from neon polyurethane to metallic leather.
Matthew Waldman first contacted with me after I’d photographed Erykah Badu at the Fox Theatre last May, as she was wearing a gold Zot V. Every since, I’d been on the look out for other performers wearing his distinctive design.
After a few conversations surrounding several recent Nooka sightings, Matthew made the incredibly generous offer to send me one of his designs. Not being a famous rapper, singer, or musician of any sort, I went with the Nooka Zen H in black.
The watch arrived today, and needless to say, this thing rocks.
The watch shipped flat in a neoprene slip case, with all the metal surfaces covered with protective film. Unwrapped, the Nooka is a beautiful piece. From the buttery Italian leather to the slick face, I have to say, I’m loving this watch.
Here are a few snaps of the Nooka Zen H:
The display of the digital watch is housed in a 35mm x 35mm stainless steel case with a mineral crystal face, and comes in at 10mm thick for a really nice presence on the wrist. Substantial without heaviness, simultaneously bold and sleek, Nooka Zen H is great bit of design.
Telling time with the Zen H is fairly straight forward once you understand the concept. Time progresses linearly across the face, measured in three increments stacked in ascending order, smallest to largest.
Hours occupy the top two bars, with six hours to each row. Minutes follow, with 60 subdivisions along the third row. Seconds progress along the fourth and final bar, while the designations 12-hour period and alarm follow below.
Think of it like a modified abacus for time. Time builds bottom to top, starting with seconds. As the seconds row fills, it overflows to one unit in the next increment – minutes – and resets. Minutes flow to hours in a like manner, and the display resets every twelve-hour period.
End Notes:
A tremendous thanks to Matthew Waldman for his generosity in the gift of this watch, which I foresee enjoying for quite a long time.
Check out the rest of Nooka collection at www.nooka.com. Matthew has put together a distinctive set of timepieces, and I’m excited to see what he’s going to do next. In addition, you can keep up with all of Matthew’s news on his blog, including future Nooka sightings by yours truly.
Here are a few more shots of Nookas “in the wild,” with the full frame followed by a detail.
Lil Wayne performing at the Chaifetz Arena, July 30, 2008, wearing a grey Zen H.
Nkechi Ka Egenamba of the Go! Team performing at Lollapalooza, August 1, 2008, sporting a gold Zot V.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 10:39 pm and is filed under Photography Gear and tagged with alicia keys, celelbrity, designer, fashion, kanye west, lil wayne, miho hatori, music, music photography, nooka, style, time, watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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The Nooka Zen H: Rockstar approved http://tinyurl.com/4suwm5
Just posted a write-up of the Nooka Zen H watch (it’s concert-photo related, honest): http://tinyurl.com/3g2lmp
dude. at first when i saw that you got a nooka i was like “you must be making some cash…” but now i’m even more jealous that you got it as a gift!!? lucky ;)
Ha! I was really blown away by the offer. I’d been admiring the Nooka Zen line for a while now, but Matthew’s offer was just over the top. Great guy, fantastic designs.
God, they’re gorgeous! I haven’t worn a watch for years, but I’d start if it looked like that. Beautiful.
If any rock stars ask me what I think they should spend their money on, now I know what to tell them.
From the poly Zubs right up to the Zing line of Nookas in croc leather and diamonds, there’s plenty of variety!
Also, while you’re rubbing elbows with rock stars, please send a few my way.
i still don’t really understand how to read it – too cool for me! is it easy to tell the hours?
I’ll see if I can post a better example for telling time, but the last shot of my watch shows 1:02:26 pm, if that helps.
It’s easy to tell the hours, they just add up in the top two rows and visually have the largest increments in the display.
Wow. I really, really love this concept of a watch. I wish it wasn’t so expensive — but that’s what you get for being a high brand and thinking outside the box.
Very cool, and so awesome you got it as a gift. I really like how its 35mm x 35mm… too bad its not 36 x 24… that would be so ridiculously photo-metaphorical. Did I just make up a word? Hmm..
I like the 3:2 ratio, but the square for the watch face is perfect. I think the design would have lost something with a differently shaped case.
And yes, that would be too ridiculously photo-metaphorical.
What we need to see now is a shot of you at work in the pit, wearing the watch, with other photographers throwing down their cameras in jealousy.
I’ll see what I can do.
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