To truly dominate Vegas, you've got to project the image of a total badass, whether you're owning the tables, menacing the clubs, or checking your watch to make sure you'll make your flight after losing all your money and getting booted from the clubs for crying. For ferociously flashy time-telling, try Hardcore Watches, now at the Rio. Inspired by his work on custom motorcycles, Hardcore's Steve Soffa initially launched his poker-demonic watch line in 2005 at the Laughlin River Run biker rally, but has now opted for a small, industrial-vibed showcase at the Rio, where rallying just means sweetening your coffee with Red Bull. Available with Italian leather or silver/gold/ebony stainless steel bands, the chunky designs run from the Lost Skulls Stone series, featuring a harrowing chorus of ghostly, longing skulls with red ruby eyes, to the Joker Poker series, starring a colorfully evil, Swarovski crystal-studded, skull-faced jester, sure to elicit excited cries of "Yee-ha, Jester's dead!" For a bling upgrade, there's the eternally vengeful Suicide King, bedazzled with 6.5 carats of diamonds, red, white, and blue Swarovski crystals, and a mother of pearl dial; or go artsier/pervier with the steel-cased Twisted Love, depicting two entwined lovers amidst a 1970s orgy (like there's any other kind). But wait, there's more: Soffa also crafts mewelry (the Colt 45 bullet ring and the Maltese Skull necklace) and poker gear, like custom clay chips in a Lost Skulls box, tables with casino quality felts and Lost Skulls lining the racetrack, and steel card protectors illustrated with designs like "Joker Poker", "Devil by Nature", and the hellishly seductive "Queen of Darkness" -- the role you were playing just prior to your forcible ejection from the club.
