Cooper Hewitt adds four NOOKA watches to its permanent collection

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has acquired four NOOKA wristwatches by Matthew Waldman for its National Design Collection. The addition recognizes the brand’s influence on watch design, interface thinking and wearable form.

Why it matters: - Cooper Hewitt’s acquisition puts NOOKA inside the Smithsonian’s permanent record of American design. - The four watches reflect a shift in how a timepiece can function as both a utility object and a visual interface. - The inclusion underscores the museum’s interest in design objects that changed everyday interaction, not just aesthetics.

What happened: - Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum added four NOOKA wristwatches by Matthew Waldman to the National Design Collection. - The acquisition was announced Sept. 30, 2026, in New York. - The four works are now part of the museum’s permanent collection.

The details: - The acquired watches are the Seiko model CAL.W524 Nooka Wristwatch (1999), Nooka ZUB Zen V Wristwatch (2007), Nooka Zub Zen-H 20 Wristwatch (2009) and Nooka Zirc Wristwatch (2008). - The collection traces NOOKA’s path from licensed production with Seiko to later independent products made by Nooka Inc. - The Seiko model uses stainless steel, leather, glass, quartz crystal and an LCD display and measures 23 × 4.2 × 1.4 cm. - The Nooka ZUB Zen V uses polyurethane, ABS plastic, stainless steel, quartz crystal and an LCD display and measures 24.1 × 3.8 × 3.8 cm. - The Nooka Zub Zen-H 20 uses polyurethane, ABS plastic, quartz crystal, metal and an LCD display and measures 24.8 × 4.1 × 1.4 cm. - The Nooka Zirc uses stainless steel, glass, leather, quartz crystal and an LCD display and measures 25.4 × 4.8 × 1.5 cm. - Waldman said, “NOOKA was my attempt to communicate without words, transcending geopolitical and cultural borders using design as a multifaceted language.” - The brand grew out of Waldman’s work in interaction and user experience design and his “NOOKAFESTO.” - NOOKA’s first products were made under license by Seiko. - The brand later launched independently under Nooka Inc. at MoMA design stores in New York and Tokyo. - NOOKA expanded into accessories and collaborations after the initial watch line. - NOOKA watches also entered museum and institutional collections in Japan, Greenwich, England and Amsterdam.

Between the lines: - The acquisition places NOOKA in a broader design history that values interface logic and universal communication. - The watches challenged analog watchmaking by making time read more like a visual system than a traditional dial. - Waldman’s “The future should not look like the past” framing fits the museum’s interest in objects that mark a break from established form.

What’s next: - The watches will be preserved as part of Cooper Hewitt’s permanent holdings. - The addition may expand scholarly and public attention on NOOKA’s role in early wearable interface design. - Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Collection now continues to grow as a record of more than 215,000 objects spanning over 30 centuries.

The bottom line: - Four NOOKA watches have moved from design object to museum artifact, locking in Matthew Waldman’s place in the story of American product design.