Written by: Michael Arnold

New year, very new watches. Invicta‘s 2012 series watches are breaking the mold with designs quite like no other.

As a part of the Russian Diver Collection, Invicta has partnered with contemporary artists to design watch faces.

Native New Yorker, Erni Vales, and British artist, Nick Gentry, are commandeering this limited edition series by introducing a wave of novel looks for the watch company. These two artists collaborated in 2011, creating designs that are trendy and appealing to a younger audience.

Vales created 3 of his own timepieces for the 2012 series. All three watches have a colorful retro look, and a similar cartoon bear design on the watch dial.

Invicta's Panda Suit timepiece.

They are called Lace Twin, Leather Twin and Panda Suit; and they are certainly not “suit and tie” watches. These contemporary timepieces have industrial-looking straps that are juxtaposed by their brightly colored watch faces and cartoon bears.

Lace Twin, Leather Twin and Panda Suit take a new spin on watches. They give them a third meaning. Not only can watches be for telling time or looking nice, but they can also have an artistic appeal. They can tell a story, or be a conversation piece.

Erni Vales’ timepieces are not made for the mundane businessman. They’re made for the skateboarder, rave-goer and modern art junkie. A whole new concept in watches.

Breaking the mold, so to speak, comes with no surprise from an artist who started out tagging on the subway cars of NYC. His work, now based out of Miami, is called “Evil World.”

Nick Gentry provides an equally novel contribution to Invicta’s contemporary art series.

Gentry is fascinated with the cyber culture of the 21st Century. He is well known in the contemporary art world for his floppy disk art – creating human faces out of a compilation of floppy disks. His bold artistic messages have gained Gentry the highest level of respect in the United Kingdom’s urban art scene.

Gentry designed one very sleek watch for Invicta. Taking the namesake of one of his paintings, The Secret Key Invicta watch is super classy and unusual.

Nick Gentry - Floppy Disk Art.

Its watch dial is an interesting piece of art, and its case is rectangular and slightly arched.

The combination of its sleek leather strap and artistic interior will, perhaps, give this timepiece a broader audience.

Invicta’s art series introduces an exciting and refreshing look at watches, just in time for 2012.

Nick Gentry -The Secret Key.