Founded in 1999, Ghostly International is a New York-based record label that has expanded into a globally recognized lifestyle brand. The company originally teamed up with Timex back in 2021 to produce its first special-edition collaboration piece. This year marks Ghostly International’s 25th anniversary, and to celebrate the occasion the two companies have teamed up again in 2024 to create a thematic rendition of the Navi 38mm watch. Featuring small pops of the record label’s signature “Ghostly Purple” color and the added functionality of a world time bezel, the Timex x Ghostly Navi is a highly versatile timepiece that serves as a subtle nod to Ghostly International and the greater independent electronic music industry.

Ghostly International’s first watch with Timex was a simple three-handed model. Despite offering a largely black color profile, the watch prominently featured the record label’s name on the dial, which made it feel like a piece of branded merchandise primarily intended for Ghostly’s fans. Conversely, the new Timex x Ghostly Navi (ref. TW2W73300) embraces a more subtle approach to its co-branding, and aside from small details like the Ghostly International logo and small accents in the record label’s signature hue of purple, the model otherwise adheres to the appearance of a fairly traditional stainless steel tool watch. Given that Ghostly International has artists located all over the globe, the inclusion of a world time bezel feels like a natural and practical decision, and the Timex x Ghostly Navi feels like an appropriate collaboration piece that fits into the independent record label’s world from both an aesthetic and functional standpoint.

While Timex’s entry-level offerings typically feature cases made from either resin or plated brass, the Timex x Ghostly Navi follows in the footsteps of the brand’s premium models, with a polished stainless steel case that has contrasting brushed surfaces on the upper sections of its lugs. Fitted to the top of the case is a cambered mineral glass crystal, surrounded by a bidirectional friction-fit bezel that has a black aluminum insert with a world time scale depicting various city names to represent the different timezones. As a nod to the birthplace of Ghostly International, Ann Arbor takes the place of the city name for the East Coast timezone, and it appears in “Ghostly Purple” to help draw attention to this unique design detail. Additionally, despite featuring a standard push/pull-style crown and a snap-on stainless steel caseback, the Ghostly Navi still offers 100 meters of water resistance. The record label’s slogan “Everywhere, Nowhere” is engraved into the center of its mirror-polished caseback, with the rest of its markings relegated to the perimeter.

In terms of its on-paper dimensions, the Timex x Ghostly Navi’s case measures 38mm in diameter by 9mm thick, with 18mm lugs that extend to create an overall lug-to-lug profile of 47mm. With that in mind, the 9mm thickness that Timex lists on its website only pertains to the middle case, and the total height of the Ghostly Navi is actually about 12mm once you factor in its caseback and the cambered mineral crystal that slightly protrudes above the rim of its bezel. For those curious about weight, the Timex x Ghostly Navi comes in at approximately 46 grams (or 62 grams if you include its strap). The use of stainless steel for its case components provides the watch with a noticeably more premium feel compared to what you will find among Timex’s entry-level models, while still maintaining a lightweight and comfortable on-wrist experience.

The dial fitted to the Timex x Ghostly Navi features a matte black surface, with white printing and baton-shaped luminous hour markers placed within its minute track. Located along the outer perimeter of the dial is a small 24-hour scale that is used in conjunction with the world time bezel. The Ghostly International design touches appear in the form of the record label’s logo below the 12 o’clock marker, the “Ghostly” name under the minute track at 6 o’clock, and Arabic numeral markers at the cardinal points, which appear in “Ghostly Purple” to add a small splash of color that matches the Ann Arbor text on its bezel insert. Displaying the time is a trio of polished syringe-shaped hands, and while the relatively small amount of luminous material results in fairly moderate light emission, all of the hands and hour markers receive an application of lume that emits a green-colored glow in the dark.

World time bezels are most frequently found on watches with a 24-hour hand, as this simplifies the process of referencing additional timezones, especially in instances where the difference in time is more than 12 hours. Some three-handed world time watches use bezels that have been recalibrated to correspond with a 12-hour display of the time (this typically means fewer city names). However, the bezel insert fitted to the Timex x Ghostly Navi uses a standard 24-hour world time scale, which means that a small amount of mental math is needed to take full advantage of its additional functionality. Rather than simply aligning your current city with the hour hand, you must first convert the time to its 24-hour equivalent (for example, 2:00 in the afternoon would be 14:00), and then line up your city name on the bezel with the corresponding value on the additional 24-hour scale.

Due to the small size of its 24-hour scale and the need to convert the current time to a 24-hour format, using the Timex x Ghostly Navi as a world timer requires a brief moment of concentration. I would have personally preferred for it to have a more limited world time bezel that was calibrated to a 12-hour format, to better correspond with the watch’s traditional three-handed display. While this approach would have certainly made the Ghostly Navi a more intuitive world timer, it would have also inevitably reduced the range of timezones that it could track. Additionally, since this isn’t the type of feature that you will frequently need to access in rushed and high-pressure settings, the additional few seconds required to convert the time and align the bezel is hardly going to be a deal-breaker, and I ultimately can’t nitpick too much about this aspect of its design

Inside the Timex x Ghostly Navi is a standard battery-powered Japanese quartz movement. While Timex doesn’t list the specific manufacturer or caliber number on its website, I reached out to the brand for additional details, and I was told that it features the Seiko/Epson Cal. Y121F. Running on a single SR626SW power cell with a battery life of approximately three years, the Cal. Y121F is a reliable and ubiquitous movement that can be found inside a wide variety of watches throughout the industry. As a simple three-handed quartz caliber with an accuracy rating of +/-20 seconds per month, the Seiko/Epson Y121F is perfectly suited for this type of affordable collaboration piece. With that said, it’s worth noting that this is a standard time-only caliber, which means that it does not offer the electro-luminescent Indiglo feature that is characteristic of many Timex watches.

Fitted to the 18mm lugs of the Timex x Ghostly Navi is a black NATO-style strap made from woven Italian fabric with solid stainless steel hardware. Given the budget-friendly price point of its watches, Timex typically delivers a surprisingly decent strap. While a NATO is easily one of the most basic and straightforward types of straps that exists, the version that comes with the Ghostly Navi feels like a step above what you get from most third-party alternatives. The black fabric is reasonably thick with a ribbed pattern woven into its outer surface to create subtle visual intrigue. Since the ribbed texture only appears on the outer side, the strap remains soft and supple without adding too much visual bulk. Additionally, while the keepers on the strap receive a high-polished finish, the tang-style buckle is brushed and engraved with Ghostly International’s logo as an additional nod to the independent record label.

Timex’s collaborations span a remarkably diverse assortment of partnerships that include everything from historic American companies, to fashion retailers, and globally renowned design studios. Since many of its co-branded watches are primarily intended to appeal to individuals with a strong penchant for the collaborator, they typically feature prominent design elements that allude to the partnership. However, others such as the Timex x Ghostly Navi embrace a much more subtle aesthetic while still being tangibly different than the brand’s standard-catalog models. I could easily see this watch being worn by individuals with a passing interest in electronic music, who primarily enjoy it for its understated design and world time functionality. With an official retail price of $179 USD, the Timex x Ghostly Navi (ref. TW2W73300) exists firmly on the affordable side of the spectrum, and it serves as a perfect example of a co-branded watch that can easily integrate into everyday life as a person’s grab-and-go timekeeping companion. For more information on the Timex x Ghostly Navi, please visit the brand’s website.