While gamers these days worry about ping and lag when gaming online, the main thing we had to worry about back in the day was whether we would beat our previous score on Snake before our bus journey to school finished. I would have said ‘before the battery ran out’ there instead, but we all know that the batteries on old Nokia phones lasted around 400 years off one charge.
Snake remains an iconic symbol of the late 90s and our childhoods, a time when, technologically speaking, things were much simpler. The Nintendo 64 was in full swing, we had no bills to pay, and a high score on Snake was as impressive as having a 6-figure income. It’s why Nothing have brought the game back to their range of phones and Balenciaga has chosen to highlight it as their main marketing campaign during the Year of the Snake. Unlike their handheld, however, this watch from seconde/seconde available through Christopher Ward is a pure work of nostalgic art… and it won’t eat itself.

Credit: seconde/seconde, Christopher Ward
Just look at it – beautiful, right? The green dial takes us straight back to the days of having to type ‘r u playing out’ by pressing buttons multiple times and making ringtones using the keypad, accompanied by the one pocket-game that everyone could rely on when they were bored guiding them through every minute of the day. The Snake is even trying to eat the Christopher Ward logo on the watch, and there are 6 insect figures that appear in a little window in the 7:30 position that will appear to surprise you at regular intervals as you go about your monthly business.

For the watch aficionados amongst you, the Twelve Snake is based on the Swiss-made self-winding Sellita SW200 watch, but instead of ‘Swiss made’, the dial shows the phrase ‘Hiss made’ – I love this thing! On the back there’s even a message that says ‘Cheers to the Snake year(s)’, which while a nod to the good old days of mobile gaming is also there to celebrate The Chinese Year of the Snake. It has a 38-hour- power reserve and an anti-shock system, so in essence it’s just as reliable as a Nokia 3210!

As you might have guessed for such a luxury timepiece, the Twelve Snake comes with a hefty pricetag. It’s currently available for pre-order for £1,050/$1225 and has a limited order window through the Lunar New Year festival, which means you only have until February 12th if you want to grab one. Head to the Christopher Ward website for more information!