Darth Maul Wristwatch, 1999
Hope Industries
Farmingdale, NY USA
Made in China
Character watches have been popular for a long time, ever since Mickey Mouse first appeared on the dial of an Ingersoll-Waterbury watch in the 1930s. In early examples of character watches, the design is very simple, often just the character's image on the dial of an otherwise ordinary watch.
More recently, the character that is represented will often influence the design of the entire watch, as in this example. The watch itself is entirely contained in the head of the featured character, Darth Maul from the movie Star Wars: Episode I. Only by flipping up his face can one see the time, which is displayed vertically, with the hour directly above the minutes. In addition, the watch comes with a display case designed to look like a lightsaber from the movie. So in order to get the full value of this watch, the owner would not even wear it on his or her wrist.
It seems that this is not the most practical watch for keeping time, but that is not always the primary purpose of a character watch.
Donated by Michael L. Friedman
1999.18