There are many ways to promote a watch brand these days. You can market your Longines to the horsey brigade at Eventing, showjumping or similar gatherings, Rolex love that tennis vibe, Omega have done pretty well with the James Bond movie franchise up until the departure of Daniel Craig. But here’s a novel approach from HVILINA, an Eastern European brand which has just launched the 12 Minutes line of models.

These are game merch tie-ins and that’s not a novel idea of course. But the addition of backwards hours and minutes dial layout is a neat twist. But wait, there’s more.

This also converts into a waistcoat style fob watch, with a carabiner type clip, so you can wear it as a wristwatch or pocket watch.

We haven’t played the 12 Minutes game at NWC mag, as we are old school Monopoly or Ker-Plunk fans here – yeah, remember Ker-Plunk with the big cocktail sticks? But the other thing about this quartz watch is the cool design details; sapphire crystal, a screwdown caseback and an almost medal-like, or coin shape with segmented lines on the caseback and a smooth, almost military spec matt finish.

Here’s the word from HVILINA;

The HVILINA’s TWELVE MINUTES collection was designed in collaboration with famous Portuguese game designer Luis Antonio and is based on the same-name game. This is a transformer wristwatch, which turns into a pocket one. The design is stylizated as the watch, used by the main game character. 

Luis Antonio is a game designer, creator, and screenwriter of the internationally award-winning game 12 Minutes, with James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe as voice actors. Luis is known for his remarkable work as the leading 3D artist in the popular game The Witness, which was awarded a BAFTA Games; his earlier experience involves working as an artist in the games Manhunt 2 and Midnight Club LA at the Rockstar Games. 

At 198 euro it’s competing well with other game watch tie-ins from Seiko, Casio, Timex and more. There are white, black and bronze cases and four different dial colours to choose from.

More info here.