The MIYO Watch Keycap: An Intersection of Hobbies

Early this year, I dove into customizable mechanical keyboards for the first time, adding yet another hobby to the growing list. While I wholeheartedly blame our CEO Blake Malin for this, it’s become one of my favorite hobbies to date. Along with physically building keyboards, I also began exploring various subreddits, Discord servers, and blogs, learning about the many different facets of my new hobby. Along the way, I learned about “artisan keycaps”, custom keycaps that are handcrafted from many materials (frequently resin or metal) for a specific theme, which are highly collectible and unique. At one point, I mentioned to Zach Weiss (who also got into keyboards thanks to Blake) that I wanted an artisan keycap with a fully functional watch inside. It turns out that I’m not the only one, as Zach would eventually discover a post on the r/MechanicalKeyboards subreddit titled “MIYO: 1u functioning analog watch keycap (2 year update)” which introduced me to MujiManiac and SNEAKBOX Designs.

While there are many artisan keycaps on the market, the standout feature of the MIYO is that it houses a functional watch movement and analog display, built inside a standard 1U size keycap. As the project was designed to be a functional keycap, the movement sits inside a custom machined, two piece stainless steel case that both protects the movement and allows it to be mounted on a keyboard of your choosing (provided it has compatible MX style switches).  At the heart of the MIYO is a Miyota 5Y20 quartz movement which is accurate to around ∓ 20 seconds a months and has an estimated battery life of 4 years.
Knowing how interested I was in this project, I reached out to MujiManiac (real name: Bryan) to get the inside scoop on his brand, how this project came to be, and what the future might hold in terms of functional watch keycaps. Below are some of the questions that I asked Bryan, along with his answers and some photos of the Miyo, as well as my thoughts on the MIYO after getting it in hand.

For those who are just learning about you and your brand, can you introduce yourself and SNEAKBOX Design?

Hello, I’m Bryan (online: ‘mujimanic’, or just ‘muji’). I opened Sneakbox Design in 2019 as a hobby-turned-business, now business-as-a-hobby. To me, Sneakbox is an art project– a creative outlet for my own ideas. My core products are custom mechanical keyboards and other curiosities aimed at the hobbyist market. I design and program all the keyboards in my store, and I am my own illustrator. I explore products centered around the personal computing experience as well as things that catch my fancy– watches being one in particular. When I started this company, I hoped to learn and do everything to carry a project concept all the way to an actual finished product. It’s been a long journey in such a short time for me, but it has been fulfilling and fun, and I’m still learning as I go.

To be honest, I didn’t really intend to open a business at the beginning. When I became disappointed with what was available on the market, I began assembling my own keyboards. Not long after, I found myself quickly learning about CAD design, subtractive manufacturing, and making printed circuit boards. It didn’t take long to get to that point– maybe 6 months from when I started the hobby. 

On Reddit and Discord, you use the moniker “mujimanic.” Is there any hidden meaning behind this name?

When I chose my nickname, I certainly didn’t give it much thought. Weirdly, recently I started to feel a sense of it having a deeper pull. “Muji” is the short name for “Mujirushi Ryohin”, the Japanese household goods retailer. The term “mujirushi” translates to “no mark” or “no label”. When I saw this store fifteen years ago on my first of many trips to Japan, I was awestruck. It was equal parts familiar and foreign to me. I have come to question the “why” behind everyday mundane things in life, but also how our life would change were they different. In a roundabout way, I now feel “muji” describes my own belief in not being labeled in my own life– both in who I am and what I do. Does all of this sound crazy? It’s probably crazy. 

During our chat, you mentioned that you’ve been a Worn & Wound reader for some time. Can you tell us about your watch collection and any favorite brands?

My collection is eclectic to say the least. I’m attracted to function as the defining design factor of a watch, and gravitate towards pieces that lean heavily into this, even to the point of making design sacrifices. Really… any watch that doesn’t remind me of my previous day job! I used to hunt for jump hour quartz movements before I moved on to single hand watches like my Meistersinger Pangea Day Date. Beyond that, I fell hard for Bell & Ross’s instrument panel lines, which to this day remain a strong design inspiration. Most recently, I’m enamored with microbrands like Jiro Katayama’s Otsuka Lotec. Katayama’s commitment to craft and creativity is amazing– I hope I can one day get to that level. Oh, and those crazy Casios that had a television remote control? I love those.

It seems like there’s a lot of overlap between the keyboard and watch communities. Why do you think that is? What links these two enthusiast pursuits? 

Keyboards, like watches, have become a form of self-expression. Almost every component of a keyboard can be customized in its look and feel. The sea of beige terminals have given way to objects sporting every color under the sun. Oh, and beige is back now as a retro classic paralleling quiet luxury fashion trends. Like watches, keyboards also celebrate a rich heritage. Not only the keys themselves, but the actuating buttons from the foam-and-foil switches of Cray supercomputers, to the inadvertent Apple Alps keys in our youths, to the modern workhorses of the Cherry MX switch. 

Can you share a bit about how the MIYO project originated?

It’s not the first time I’ve mashed two unrelated items together (I’m looking at you, computer keypad crossed with butcher knife), but I would definitely say it’s the first time it’s worked out so well. Of course, most of these experiments weren’t meant to be sane either. In the case of the MIYO watch, I’ve been a long-time watch collector, but I got bored with collecting. What I really wanted was to make a watch on my own. I took the Horological Society of New York’s watchmaking classes and had a blast assembling an ETA movement.

In truth, I just started doing it. When I got around to actually making a watch, everything fell logically into place. It wasn’t smooth sailing by any means; looking at loose watch components was a new endeavor to me. Plus, I had some early doubts that I could cram a readily sourceable analog quartz movement into a machined chassis the size of the smallest computer key. There had already been related projects in the hobby space, but one was purely decorative, and the other was 3D printed but has been halted for the time being.

What were some of the challenges you faced in making the MIYO project a reality?

One of the hardest things was designing and making the crown. I had the extra challenge keeping the crown from colliding with the key next to it upon keypress. The dial, too, was quite a beast. Balancing readability with completeness of information. Being a team of one, everything took time, and it was easy to get overwhelmed. Not to mention, this was one of three projects I was working on simultaneously, in addition to my day job. I even went so far as to custom-design and make the watch containers and the box packaging! I really wanted this to be the nicest-finished product I’ve made to date.

As you’re nearing the launch of the Miyo, do you have any plans for future watch-related artisan keycaps?

The first run of Miyo was small, primarily because I really couldn’t gauge demand well. The fact that I’m doing this Worn & Wound interview is both mind boggling and humbling to me. I really appreciate your interest in reaching out and thank you for having me. I do want to release more units, but I’d love to make some revisions first!

Final Thoughts

Having spent some time with the MIYO collection, I can say these keycaps are some of the coolest things I’ve seen in the mechanical keyboard hobby. With each keycap featuring a machined steel housing/case, they feel extremely rugged and well put together. With a relatively sterile dial,  I found that I could orient the keycap four different ways, allowing me to position the crown between or away from other keycaps, ensuring that it wouldn’t interfere with anything else on my keyboard. While the MIYO’s retail price of $300 places this keycap inline with some entry level watch recommendations, I think it’s quite a unique piece, one that blends form and function into something entirely new.