5 of the best geek ties

Hermès keyboard tie

£135 uk.hermes.com
Look past the eye-watering price tag and you'll appreciate the subtlety of this keyboard pattern Hermès tie. It's a perfect example of how to blend style and geekery without shoving over the top graphics down your throat. It's part of Hermès' new 8ties range – the ties feature subtle geek motifs like power icons and graph paper hidden away in the pattern, plus an easter egg graphic round the back that gives the game away.

Star Trek tie

US$35 thinkgeek.com
You can't get much geekier than Star Trek – but this set of command, space and engineering ties are subtle enough to ensure that only die-hard Trekkies will recognise your inner geek. Officially licensed, they're also colour matched with archived and preserved fabric swatches from 1969. Talk about dedication. We'd recommend avoiding the red one, though – given what tends to happen to redshirts on the show.

5 of the best geek ties

'Ties suck' binary tie

US$30 thinkgeek.com

If you can't read binary (shame on you), allow us to translate. The ones and zeros on this fetching blue silk neck-hugger spell out 'ties suck' over and over again. It's an inside joke that only you and the IT guy will get, but you can take solace in the fact that you'll be sticking it to the establishment, right under its nose. You rascal, you.

5 of the best geek ties

8-bit tie

£15 lazyboneuk.com
Never wear a clip-on tie unless you have a valid excuse – though this 8-bit tie is a pretty good excuse. Confuse your friends, bewilder your co-workers and force people to visit Specsavers. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

5 of the best geek ties