Since we’re talking Pokémon, I have to start off by giving a disclaimer. I stopped watching Pokémon after Generation III and stopped playing the games after Generation IV, I believe my last game I ever played was either Pearl or Platinum. Anything past Gen IV is what I consider to be fan fiction. On a personal note, my favorite Pokémon is Cyndaquil. A good friend of mine has mentioned the newer “Pokémon”, Corviknight, multiple times saying how great it is, but in my world it doesn’t exist. Now that I’ve sufficiently angered every Pokémon fan under the age of 25, we can begin with the list.
$299: The Pokemon Center x Fossil Gengar Watch
This 42mm watch made by Fossil for the Pokémon Center features one of the coolest Pokémon ever created, despite it having the lowest price tag of any watch on this list. Instead of a traditional dial, we get Gengar’s face. As Gengar is a ghost-type Pokémon, the dial is transparent to show the Japanese automatic movement inside. The hands and indices match the purple of Gengar’s skin, and above the Fossil name on the dial is a pokéball. Keeping with the ghost-type theme is the blackened stainless steel case which comes on a matching blackened-steel bracelet. To give some versatility, in addition to the bracelet, the watch comes with two straps: a silicone strap with a purple camouflage design and an rPET strap in purple and black with “Gengar” printed on the strap. To further cement the theme, the exhibition case back is crafted with a purple tint and shows a printed Gengar with its tongue sticking out. The watch comes in an individually numbered, limited edition box to match the unique, limited edition numbering on the back of the watch. This Gengar watch was limited to 1,300 pieces and came in at a fairly reasonable 299 USD.
~$450 Seiko x Pokémon Starter Chronographs
Back in 2021, Seiko released a series of three Pokémon chronographs with tie-ins to the original three starters, Charmander; Squirtle; and Bulbasaur, and their evolutions. Each version of this watch was limited to 700 pieces. These watches originally retailed for 49,500 YEN, somewhere around the mid-400’s in USD, but the resale value has skyrocketed since… The Charizard model has followed trading card collectability apparently and currently has an average asking price of around 2,000 USD, outpacing the Blastoise and Venusaur models which currently sit around 1,000.
Turning to the details of each watch, all of the subdials feature the first and second forms of each Pokémon, while the final evolution is shown on the case back. The subdials also show the level at which the Pokémon shown in that subdial evolves. They all evolve into their second forms at level 16, and Charmeleon and Wartortle evolve into Charizard and Blastoise at level 36, while Ivysaur evolves into Venusaur at level 32. Another neat feature is how the bezels are different for each model: 1. The Charizard model has a flame bezel, referring to Charizard’s tail, which has to keep burning in order for it to stay alive, 2. The Blastoise model’s bezel resembles Blastoise’s protective shell, and 3) The Venusaur model’s bezel shows the vines that Venusaur often utilizes either for attack or to rescue its friends. Each Pokemon’s dial also has its own unique pattern: fire, wave, and a fumé green dial for Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur, respectively. The indices also vary for each watch. Charizard’s look like claws, Blastoise’s look a little more rounded like its toes, and Venusaur’s combine tree bark with the spots on Bulbasaur and Ivysaur’s bodies. Whoever was able to buy any of these watches when they were originally released in Japan was very lucky, as not only have these watches gone up greatly in value since their initial release, but they’re honestly cool watches. They’re a good balance of making a fun Pokemon watch without overdoing the theme to the point that the watch becomes overly cartoonish.
$20,000 Romain Jerome RJ x Pokémon Pikachu
Back in 2016, Romain Jerome released their first watch in a series of collaborative watches with The Pokémon Company. Their first release put the spotlight on Pikachu, the electric-type mouse Pokémon, to attract longstanding fans of the franchise. Pikachu has become the Pokémon franchise’s main mascot ever since becoming Ash’s first Pokémon and sidekick in the original TV show, which first debuted in Japan in 1996 and then later in the United States in 1998.
The dial is the main focus for this watch and has a background of thunderbolts along with Pikachu’s English name. Against that background is a hand-painted Pikachu, as well as the Romain Jerome logo on a yellow thunderbolt. The 46mm titanium case is coated in DLC and matches the black background color of the dial. The watch came on a Pikachu-yellow strap. This release was limited to 20 pieces and was priced at 20,000 USD. Overall, this was a really cool watch for a Pokémon or Pikachu superfan, but like most Romain Jerome watches of that time, the price was unjustifiable. Still, it would be really neat to see a company make something like this again… just around the $5,000 or less mark. Bringing the case down from 46mm definitely wouldn’t hurt either.
$258,000 Romain Jerome Tourbillon Pokémon
So we need to start off by talking about the price. When this watch was released in 2017, its retail price was 258,000 USD. No matter how we look at this watch, it’s not worth that price. I’d be extremely hard-pressed to justify this watch at half that price, but setting that “small” detail aside, it’s a neat watch. The dial on this model is surprisingly well done, but then again for that price…. it should be. The enamel dial features miniature versions of Pikachu, Meowth, Squirtle, Blastoise, Charmander, Charizard, Bulbasaur, Venusaur, Togepi, Gengar, Magikarp, Lucario, Eevee, Umbreon, Espeon, Sylveon, and Dedenne. If I had been the one in charge of the dial, my only recommendations would have been that 1. Umbreon, Espeon, and Sylveon be replaced with Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon, 2. Lucario be replaced with Mewtwo, and 3. Dedenne be replaced with Mew. You can put your own thoughts on the Pokémon chosen in the comments, but, to me, these changes would have made for a better dial and would appeal more to older fans of the original first generation of Pokémon. Replacing the Magikarp with a Gyarados wouldn’t have been a bad decision either. The ideal situation would have been where the customer could have selected the Pokémon that appeared on the dial.
The case comes in at 48mm, but what really gets me is that this is a PVD-coated stainless steel case. At this price, we’re getting PVD? Not even DLC coating? I would’ve expected black ceramic, but no, this watch gets the PVD treatment. Absolutely ridiculous. Other Pokémon tie-ins are the thunderbolt-shaped bridge above the tourbillon at 6 o’clock, an enamel backside of Pikachu visible through the sapphire case back, a rotor with a thunderbolt pattern, and engravings of Pokémon surrounding the sapphire case back.
I don’t know if this watch ever sold. Pokémon GO was released in 2016, so maybe the renewed Pokémon hype that came with the release of that game resulted in some superfans that may have wanted to buy this unique, one-of-one watch. Then again, Romain Jerome declared bankruptcy a few years later in 2020 (although they’ve since reopened shop), so I have a feeling that watches like this weren’t the easiest to move.
Overall, while there have been some neat Pokemon watches over the years, the execution has tended to not be the best. The watches that have impressed me the most, surprisingly, have tended to be the relatively less expensive models, while Romain Jerome dropped the ball with their chance at creating in-demand Pokémon watches. Pokémon is an IP that a millennial-focused luxury watch company could do wonders with, but it seems like no one has really taken the reins. If someone could tap into this market in a meaningful (and price justifiable) way, we could quickly see some highly collectible Pokémon watches in the near future.