TikToker Makes Rubber Ducky Watches That Don’t Tell Time (Our Inner Child Can’t Wait to Get One)

Time. You either have too much when you don’t want it (i.e. at work) or not enough when you do want it (i.e. when Netflix drops a new installment of Stranger Things). But no matter how much – or how little – time you have, one thing is true for most people: it stresses us out. It doesn’t help that we all cart around our phones, which tell us the time whether we want to know it or not. But one TikToker is helping those of us obsessed with time to chill the eff out – by creating watches that don’t tell time.

His name is Kevin Bertolero, and the 30-year-old started making 3D-printed watches of tiny rubber duckies swimming in pools. One look at your wrist is like an instant chill pill for your tantrum-prone inner child.

Bertolero started making the creative watches after leaving a job at a plant-based yogurt startup (we don’t blame you, dude, that gig sounds awful in more ways than one). He was working on healing some childhood trauma, and came up with the rubber ducky watch idea. Similar to the calm that overcomes someone who uses fidget spinners to fight anxiety, moving the ducks around their pool is a soothing sensory experience.

Bertolero’s idea really took off after a video of him crafting one of the watches went viral on TikTok.

Now Bertolero sells the watches on his website. So far, he has three designs available: Classic Rubber Ducky ($48.48), Devil Duck ($66.66), and U.S. Navy NWU Type III ($55.55). You can also purchase a set of four mini magnetic rubber ducks for $18.75 if you think you’re capable of making your own watch.

With Bertolero on track to sell 1,200 of the watches by year’s end, he’s clearly hit on an idea whose time has come (sorry, we couldn’t resist). Seriously, though, watches that don’t tell time are providing something people really want – and need: a mental break.

“I think basically, people are at their wits end,” he told NPR. “And you know, it’s nice to have this little wrist reminder that there are cute and happy things around you in the world.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Cover Photo: TikTok