While there are a number of watch personalizers out there, most of them sacrifice quality for flexibility. Most of those corporate branded watches with a logo on the face, or engraving on the back are usually barely worth wearing, and novelty gifts at best. But it does not have to be that way. It is possible to actually want to wear those watches!

I recently discovered 121time.com and have to say that I am impressed not only with the selection and customization options, but also with the tools used to build your custom watch. In essence they have a large number of watches, with various styles and details that can be manipulated. You start with a base movement and case, and have flexibility with faces, hands, bezels, straps, and tons of color options. After you finish getting the look you prefer, you can then add a number of personalization options on the face and case back (depending on the watch). If the watch is a chronograph, you might not have room to add a message or logo on the face, but those faces with more real estate will give you such options. The case back of each watch offers a list of graphics, plus original text that you can enter. Anything from a birthday, to memorable dates, sentimental quotes, or just plain fun. The idea of a truly personal watch, or watch gift is certainly appealing.

The watches available are also of impressive quality and design. These are attractive watches made in quality materials with swiss movements. They even have ETA automatics available. Watches that people would actually proudly wear, unlike many that I am sure you can think of. Further, some of the customization options indicate that 121Time is really run by watch lovers. On some watches you can opt for a mineral or sapphire crystal. Of course the sapphire crystal is a bit more expensive (by $30-$40 bucks), but we all know the value of dramatically increased scratch resistance. Just having this option available is a benefit of using 121Time. Further, the selection of colors, straps, and watch face textures is impressive and a pleasure to sort through. You can even specify the size of your wrist for watches with bracelets so that they perfectly the day you get them.

The actual watch customization tool on the site works really well. Built on something called OpenLaszlo, it is a mixture of Flash and Ajax. Essentially a new window opens up revealing a robust web application that makes navigating all the options relatively simple. You travel through a logical customization process that shows you in real time the look of your customized watch as well as the price. The entire experience is very much like customizing a computer on Dell.com, but at 121time.com you get to see the watch views changing. A few cool feature that I encourage anyone to use is the high detail preview feature. While you are customizing a watch, 121Time will render a high detail preview that is incredibly nice.

121Time is a useful tool for both individuals and corporate users a like. Large orders with customized logos are available. Other pluses include world wide free shipping and 30 day return policy. These are good things, and mean that the company is serious about its product. Selling online can mean it is difficult to express product pride, the best a seller can hope for is offering very fair returning policies and alike to engender consumer trust. The idea is that once enough people enjoy the product, reputation will spread by word of mouth, a effort I can appreciate.

I have to say that as a watch lover, not only do I love the idea of a custom watch, but more importantly, I am excited at the ability of presenting personalized watch gifts. We are expected to have good watch taste, so why not leverage our taste by giving good watch gifts. Frankly it takes a lot of the thought out of it. These are not cheaply made watches, but because everything is manufacturer direct, the prices are very reasonable. Figure a few hundred dollars for each watch. An excellent deal in watch terms, especially for personalization. 121time.com also has a coupon that gives you $50 off your first purchase, not too shabby, and obviously meant to attract unfamiliar buyers. 121Time gets my nod, I am happy to see sites that appeal to watch enthusiasts and the mainstream alike.

Get $50 off your order from 121TIME.com. Use code: REDTAG (expires end 08)