Where one of the strangest watches of the 1990s came from—and where its ideas went next.
Some watches look old almost immediately. Others somehow manage to avoid looking like they belong to any particular decade at all. The original Ikepod Hemipode is firmly in the second camp, and I’m sure that was the intention. Designed by Marc Newson and introduced in the late 1990s, the Hemipode was enormous, round, smooth, virtually lugless — and unapologetically strange. More UFO than conventional wristwatch, it seemed to have landed from somewhere else entirely.
Marc Newson (portrait by Phil Poynter) - (Image by Marc Newson)
Except, of course, nothing in design really comes from nowhere.
Go backward, and you can find some intriguing ancestors. The Omega Dynamic, introduced in 1968, might be the most obvious. Its elliptical case was designed around the anatomy of the wrist, while its interchangeable strap passed beneath the watch rather than attached to conventional lugs. Watch, strap, and case became parts of a single industrial-design exercise. There was also the remarkable experimentation of the 1960s and ’70s: the futuristic surfaces of the Rado DiaStar, the extraordinary Space Age watches bearing Pierre Cardin’s name, and the graphic purity of Nathan George Horwitt’s Movado Museum Watch. You could even trace some of its saucer-like profile back to the “Disco Volante” watches that began appearing as early as the 1940s.
Omega Dynamic ad - (Image by Buzzufy)
None should necessarily be called a direct influence on Ikepod without evidence. But collectively, they established an important precedent: a wristwatch didn’t have to look like a miniature pocket watch with straps attached. It could simply be an object.
That distinction becomes particularly important with Ikepod because Australian-born Marc Newson isn’t a traditional watch designer — rather, he is an industrial designer who happened to design watches. Before the Hemipode came furniture: the Lockheed Lounge, the Embryo Chair and the Pod of Drawers. Look at those objects, and Ikepod suddenly makes perfect sense. Newson’s world was already filled with rounded corners, swollen surfaces, seamless transitions, and forms that looked simultaneously futuristic and strangely biological.
Marc Newson's Pod of Drawers - (Image by Marc Newson)
So when Newson and Swiss entrepreneur Oliver Ike established Ikepod in 1994, Newson wasn’t adapting himself to Swiss watchmaking. He was making Swiss watchmaking adapt itself to him.
The early Seaslug established the vocabulary, but the Hemipode brought it into focus. At roughly 44mm, it was gigantic by late-1990s standards. There were no conventional lugs interrupting its shape. Crystal, case and strap seemed to flow together, creating something closer to a small piece of sculpture than a traditional wristwatch. The later Megapode pushed things even further, while Ikepod experimented with chronographs, GMTs, tourbillons, unusual materials, and watches such as the reversible Solaris.
An Ikepod Megapod - (Image by Marc Newson)
The fascinating thing today is how little the best of them have aged. Put a 1990s Hemipode beside many watches from 1998, and the others immediately betray the period in which they were designed. The Ikepod doesn’t. Without obvious historical references, it is almost too strange to look dated. Ikepod was also proposing something that now seems remarkably contemporary: design itself could provide the value proposition for an expensive mechanical watch. You weren’t buying 150 years of manufacture history or a complication handed down through generations of traditional Swiss watchmaking. You were buying Marc Newson. That idea feels considerably less radical today than it did in the late 1990s.
And this is where the other side of the Ikepod family tree gets particularly interesting. Perhaps its most obvious modern relative is Ressence. When industrial designer Benoît Mintiens began making watches, he challenged many of the same assumptions Newson had. Why should a watch require conventional hands? Why should the case have obvious lugs? Why should the dial, crystal and case read as separate components? Ressence pushed those questions considerably further, eventually creating watches whose indications appear to float directly beneath the crystal.
The Ressence TYPE 3 MN, a collaboration with Marc Newson - (Image by HypeBeast)
The relationship became wonderfully explicit when Newson and Ressence collaborated on the Type 3 MN in 2025. Newson acknowledged that early Ressence had reminded him of his Ikepod work, while Mintiens framed the project around the tantalizing idea of what might have come after Ikepod had Newson continued developing those watches.
Then there is the large Apple in the room: Newson joined his longtime friend Jony Ive at Apple in 2014 and became involved with the Apple Watch project. Put an early Ikepod beside an Apple Watch, and there are intriguing echoes: the absence of traditional lugs, smooth transitions between surfaces, the integrated relationship between case and strap and, most importantly, the belief that a watch should be considered as a complete object rather than a case with a strap attached.
It would be far too simple to call the Apple Watch an Ikepod descendant. But some of the same design DNA is impossible to ignore. Ikepod’s broader legacy is harder to illustrate with a simple side-by-side comparison.
Around the same period, a new generation began dismantling traditional ideas about what an expensive mechanical watch was supposed to look like. Urwerk appeared in 1997. Richard Mille followed in 2001. Later came MB&F, Hautlence and others. Their watches didn’t necessarily resemble Ikepod, and their creators arrived at their ideas independently, but they shared a changing environment.
A watch could suddenly look like a machine, a spacecraft, a sculpture or a piece of contemporary architecture. Traditional notions of proportion could be discarded. An enormous case wasn’t necessarily a mistake. A strange display didn’t require an apology. Ikepod was one of the early brands that permitted collectors to get weird.
So the Ikepod family tree isn’t really a straight line. On one side are the Omega Dynamic, Movado Museum Watch, Rado DiaStar, and the experimental-design watches of the 1960s and ’70s. Then comes Marc Newson and his extraordinary industrial-design vocabulary, followed by the Seaslug, Hemipode and Megapode. Afterward, some of those ideas reappear and evolve into Ressence, while another branch leads through Newson himself to Apple. Surrounding all of it is the explosion of unconventional independent watchmaking that followed.
Today, original Ikepods are experiencing something of a rediscovery, and perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising. Ikepod continues today without Newson, but his influence remains indelible, embedded in the brand’s unmistakable design language. Today, we have finally arrived in a watch world that looks remarkably comfortable with many of the ideas Ikepod was proposing nearly three decades ago. A selection of these descendants of the original Ikepods — the watches that helped start it all — are currently available at Analog:Shift.
Current Ikepod Inventory
Ikepod Chronopod 'Alive 2018'
Ikepod Chronopod 'Alive 2018' - IN THE SHOP
Part of the reborn Ikepod collection, the Chronopod translates the brand’s cult 1990s design language into an accessible chronograph, pairing its unmistakable pebble-shaped case with a dial by Emmanuel Gueit. This C009 features a brushed silver-grey dial with contrasting white registers, a 44mm lugless steel case, black silicone strap, and Miyota JS25 quartz movement. Clean, slightly weird, and unmistakably design-driven, it captures Ikepod’s futuristic aesthetic while remaining surprisingly wearable and practical.
Ikepod Duopod Gold Dots
Ikepod Duopod Gold Dots - IN THE SHOP
The modern Ikepod Duopod distills the brand’s cult design language into a simple two-hander. Its lugless, brushed 42mm stainless-steel case wears closer to 39mm, flowing directly into an integrated black silicone strap. The star is Emmanuel Gueit’s Gold Dots dial, whose raised circular forms create a hypnotic illusion of depth. Powered by a straightforward Miyota quartz movement and fitted with sapphire crystal, it’s pure Ikepod: futuristic, sculptural, slightly strange, and surprisingly wearable on the wrist.
Ikepod Megapod 'Hourglass Walter' Limited Editon
Ikepod Megapod 'Hourglass Walter' Limited Edition - IN THE SHOP
The Megapod ‘Hourglass Walter’ takes Ikepod’s signature weirdness to another level. Designed by Alexandre Peraldi, its stark white dial is dominated by a bright-orange central seconds hand shaped like an hourglass — a miniature tribute to Marc Newson’s freestanding Ikepod Hourglass. Housed in a 46mm lugless steel case with domed sapphire crystal, it’s powered by a Miyota 9039 automatic movement. Just 20 examples of this white-dial variant were produced, making this strange, playful Ikepod genuinely rare.
Ikepod Chronopod 'Hey Joe' 014
Ikepod Chronopod 'Hey Joe' 014 - IN THE SHOP
Designed by Emmanuel Gueit, the Chronopod ‘Hey Joe’ brings Ikepod’s unmistakable pebble-shaped case to a funky chronograph named for the song famously associated with Jimi Hendrix. Its dark blue-grey dial features three recessed registers and fantastic white hands outlined in bright orange, echoed by orange-accented pushers. The 44mm lugless steel case wears closer to 41mm, while an integrated silicone strap maintains Ikepod’s smooth, futuristic profile. Inside, a dependable Miyota JS25 quartz chronograph movement keeps things ticking.
Ikepod Seapod 'Zale' Automatic
Ikepod Seapod 'Zale' Automatic - IN THE SHOP
The Seapod ‘Zale’ asks a wonderfully strange question: What happens when Ikepod makes a proper dive watch? Its 46mm lugless steel case incorporates a rotating dive bezel so seamlessly that the markings appear etched into its UFO-like profile. A black dial pairs luminous circular markers with broad orange-and-white hands, while a vivid orange silicone strap completes the look. Powered by a Miyota 9039 automatic movement and water resistant to 200 meters, it’s a genuinely capable diver.
Ikepod Duopod Dots 004
Ikepod Duopod Dots 004 - IN THE SHOP
The Duopod Dots 004 turns Ikepod’s minimalist two-hander into something decidedly more hypnotic. Its convex black dial is covered in concentric fields of raised dots that increase in size toward the center, creating an almost three-dimensional optical effect. Tiny orange hour markers and white minute hashes add pops of contrast, while simple black-and-white hands keep things legible. Housed in Ikepod’s brushed 42mm lugless steel case and powered by a Miyota quartz movement, it’s playful, graphic, and wonderfully weird.
Ikepod Duopod 'Staying Alive 005'
Ikepod Duopod 'Staying Alive 005' - IN THE SHOP
The Duopod ‘Staying Alive 005’ shows Ikepod at its most restrained. Its silvery-grey dial features a circular-brushed finish, simple applied baton markers, a railroad-style minute track, and signature Ikepod hands, while the absence of a seconds hand lends the design an unusual calm. A brushed 42mm stainless-steel case retains the brand’s distinctive lugless, UFO-like profile, flowing directly into an integrated black silicone strap. Powered by a dependable Miyota quartz movement, it’s minimalist without sacrificing Ikepod’s unmistakable personality.
