Intoxicating Watch Design Can Help Prevent Drunken Emails

Japanese watch maker Tokyoflash has a reputation for its head-turning and uber-cool designs.   Its latest incarnation however goes beyond the purely aesthetic and serves a more practical purpose – helping you determine when you’ve had one too many Sake.

Tokyoflash have taken their Kisai watch and added a breathalyser to it, giving it the name Intoxicated.   The watch, which the Japanese company is offering for $99 in its launch promotion, can be recharged through a USB port, and just in case you are just a little bit tipsy and happen to drop it in your drink is water resistant to 100 feet.

As well as the watch facia turning a different colour when you blow into the breathalyser – green when you’re sober and red when you’re blind drunk – it features a built in reaction test.  This sobriety game tests your hand-eye coordination, requiring the user to try and stop a moving line smack-bang in the middle of a target.

We certainly don’t suggest you use the Kisai Intoxicated to determine your ability to drive – zero alcohol is the only safe level – but you might use it to decide whether you’re in a fit state to send that late night email to your boss complaining about your pay and working conditions.

Email and social sobriety tests are not new.  Google Labs launched Mail Goggles to help users avoid those late-night “regrettable” emails, requiring users to answer maths questions before the email is sent.

In a similar vein the Social Media Sobriety Test, a Google Chrome and Firefox extension locks down your social media accounts – such as Facebook and Twitter –  between certain “after-hours” which means that in order to use those sites you need to pass various field tests such as using your mouse to follow an object round your screen.

James Barnes, StatusCake.com