The Infinity Watch was a
comic book published by
Marvel Comics in the early 90's. Like most
Adam Warlock-related
comics, it was created by Jim Starlin, who wrote 31 issues of the book.
The Infinity Watch was a group of 6 people led by Adam Warlock. They guarded the 6 Infinity Gems so that their power could not be abused. They were formed after Adam Warlock was forced to relinquish the Infinty Gauntlet. Over the course of the series, they spent most of their time protecting the gems from power-hungry madmen, especially Count Abyss and the Man-Beast. They were also major players in the Infinity War and the Infinity Crusade, as well as the Blood and Thunder storyline involving Thor.
Adam Warlock kept the soul gem for himself, because of his long acquaintance with it. He gave the space gem to Pip the troll, who used it for basic teleportation. He could only teleport to someplace that he had been before, or, later in the series, to places people he was touching had been. Gamora, the deadliest woman in the universe and a longtime friend of Warlock's, received the time gem. Gamora never really learned how to use the gem, although she did have a series of precognitive visions because of it. Drax the Destroyer was given the power gem, adding to his already considerable might. He swallowed the gem to keep it safe, although a well-placed kick from Gamora made him cough it back up. After that, he wore the gem on his forehead, like most of the rest of the Watch. Moondragon was given the mind gem, which she used to augment her telepathic and telekinetic powers.
The identity of the guardian of the reality gem was unknown for a while. As it turned out, Thanos guarded the reality gem, although he was smart enough not to use it.
Later in the series, a mysterious stranger known as Maxam became part of the Watch. He had strange mass-building powers (kind of like what the Hulk does when he changes from Bruce Banner), and a very complicated past.
Unfortunately, as the series came to a close, it got involved with Rune, a character from the Ultraverse comic universe. The gems became one, and other strange stuff happened. Those storylines have been declared non-continuity, thankfully. Despite this fact, the soul gem is the only gem still found in the Marvel Universe. This means the watch is effectively defunct.