Best Bets Daily - Japanese Talking Watch



			You will not see this text if your browser supports IFRAME(s).




	Daily Best Bets
	Daily Sales & Bargains
	Best Seller
	Body - Beauty Column
	Economy of One
	Everything Guide
	The Look Book
	Market Research
	Store Openings



	Fashion
	New York on the Cheap
	Store Guide



	Best Bets Daily E-Mail
	New Best Bets and sale picks.
	Sign Up

Shopping & Style

December 21, 2004
BY S. DUMENCO

Watch It

I don't speak Japanese, but my watch does.

This endearingly cheesy imported Marchand de Legumes Japanese talking watch has one trick up its sleeve—or, rather, it puts one trick up your sleeve: It tells the time in Japanese when you press a little button on its side. It can also be set to automatically speak the time on the hour, if desired. Why is this so curiously appealing? I have no idea—but I can tell you that hearing a friendly female Japanese voice emanate from my watch's tinny little speaker makes me feel like Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson rolled into one. In fact, it makes me want to sing karaoke in a stifling Tokyo hotel bar, then engage in a bittersweet, ill-fated love affair with myself.

FYI: This Japanese watch with a French name (it means greengrocer) is marketed by a plastic-happy Tokyo-based company called Forest Land International Co., Ltd. (huh?) and is manufactured—of course—in China. Welcome to the global economy. Be sure to wear your watch to a Morrocan restaurant and order an espresso.

$20 at Marchand de Legumes New York Shop, 252 Elizabeth St., 212-965-1954. Order online at fredflare.com.

PLAN B: Marchand de Legumes also has a $20 battery-operated Japanese-speaking alarm clock, but I find its alarm volume to be so minimal that it's pretty much useless. Well, the watch is basically useless, too—but its clunky cheapness is way more appealing, of course, because it's a wry fashion accessory, not a nightstand essential.


	Previous Best Bets

	Monday
	It's a cinch.

	Friday
	Dear John.

	Thursday
	Easy does it.

	Wednesday
	A woman's right to Choos.