It’s pretty safe to say that for the most part, watches have become obsolete at this point in time. But that’s not to say that they have become useless.

[EDITORS NOTE: I'm just going to go right ahead and apologize now for the all the time/watch puns you may or may not come across in this piece, they were just too easy to pass up!]

It’s true that one can access the date and hour from a variety of sources – the iphone, the ipad, the ipod… and if you happen to not be part of the icrew, you can easily find it on even the most basic of cell phones. Otherwise your computer displays the time, as does your car radio and dvd/blue ray/cable tv display…

In turn, this has left room for the watch to evolve from simple time-telling tool to status symbol, which is very good news for accessory aficionados everywhere, and even better news for watch designers. Most don’t even refer to the object as a watch anymore. It’s now known as the timepiece.

And enter Memento, a recently launched timepiece brand from Hong Kong that has taken on the daunting task of rehabilitating old classics for a contemporary fashion savvy crowd. This isn’t your fathers typical wristwatch. In fact, it’s a actually a pocket watch, and ironically it comes from Hong Kong, a city where trends come in and out of fashion with every breath taken.

Hence the daunting aspect of the task. How to design something that people will want to hold on to for years? Something that will stand the test of time, if you will (I prefaced this post with an apology, ok?) With classic materials and a simple design, that’s how. Easy peasy, why didn’t anyone think of it sooner? Well, there’s that and that smart little marketing bit they get you with. That little round clock you’re holding is really “a unique time machine, a possibility to hold time in the palm of your hand … it allow us to forget about time or to keep track of it…”

From the materials to the design to the idea and the all around charm of the object, we say well done, and bravo.

The timepiece comes in two color options – maple wood and sandal wood – along with some very elegant packaging and a decent price point at only 125$ a (time)piece.