Saturday 31 March 2012

Citizen Oxy GlassD D510 Yellow

As it's an Easter party tonight, I decided I needed a Yellow watch, so picked this Citizen Oxy GlassD watch.
The Oxy range is a Citizen sub-brand, and GlassD is a range of watches within that brand.
The watch was released in the 1999/2000 timeframe, and had 5 colour variations.
The watch uses the same D510 "shutter" module was the 1481010 Neophilia model show previously.
The watch by default, shows a mirrored display with inverse seconds, and pressing the bottom right button shows the time. Other modes are alarm, chronograph, and timer.
The unusual feature is the hinges around the buttons, which allow the watch face to rotate. This means that although the strap is quite stiff, the watch is very comfortable to wear.
The watch has a model number of D510-S69888, and a catalogue number of VO10-5565K. The original sale price in 2000 was 10,000 yen.




Friday 30 March 2012

Ultraman Helmet kids watch

A simple kids watch today :-)
This watch is a Japanese kids watch in the shape of Ultraman's helmet.
Ultraman was the hero in a Japanese TV series first aired in 1966. Ultraman is a super-humanoid-powered giant from space who is in reality one of the Special Space Search Party (a special worldwide police force combating the threat of space monsters) who uses a special "Beta Capsule" to transform. He is summoned when times are desperate and appears to fight the rampaging giant monsters.
The watch is viewed by lifting the helmet and is a basic LCD module with time, date, and seconds display.
The watch was made in 1995 by Bandai, and has a model(?) number of 73310


Thursday 29 March 2012

Beauty & Youth x Street Jack special Collaboration

This watch is from the Tokyo fashion label United Arrows, which was started in 1989. Under the United Arrows group, there is a sub-brand called Beauty & Youth, with the concept of beautiful spirits and eternal youth.

The watch was a promotional item in association with the Japanese street fashion magazine Street Jack (which has a circulation of around 300,000) with their January 2012 edition.






Wednesday 28 March 2012

Cabane de Zucca - Chewing gum black LCD

This watch is part of the first range of watches released under the Cabane de Zucca label.
The Chewing gum was issued in 1996, and was available in both LCD and dial versions.
The watch has a gummy rubber strap, with Cabane de Zucca embossed on it.
The LCD module is a W205 with time, date, and seconds modes on the inverse LCD display.
The full model number is W205-4460


Tuesday 27 March 2012

Water Activated LCD wristwatch

Today's watch is not powered in the normal way, as it requires water to work.

The watch contains a water activated battery. The battery required water to work, and is depleted with use - the watch is not water powered (as is often mis-reported). The way it works is that the battery does not contain the electrolyte that is required in a normal battery, and so does not produce a voltage. When water is inserted through the holes in the left side of the watch, the water enters the battery compartment, wets the internals acting as the electrolyte, and power is produced. When the watch dries out, power is lost again, and the watch remains dormant until more water is added.

The watch module is quoted as PM3/W282NZ and has time, date, and seconds display modes.

These watches were initially released in the late 70s, but have been manufactured in the millions. This particular watch was a promotional model for Autotag (car accessories).




Monday 26 March 2012

Nooka ZenH V-Series pattern edition

Today is another of the Nooka watches by Matthew Waldman.

This edition has the ZenH face, and is a summer 2009 version of the V-Series.

The ZenH has the hours, minutes, and seconds as horizontal bars (the top two are the hours, with six sections each). There are also am/pm markers below the display, along with the alarm indicator.

The normal V-Series have the same style head, but with a metal or leather strap, whereas this has geometric pattern across the whole face and plastic strap.



Sunday 25 March 2012

Spaceman Audacieuse Automatic

Today I'm wearing a 1970s mechanical watch.

The Spaceman watch line was designed by André Le Marquand, who was a renowned architect and watch designer.

The Audacieuse was the second design and was released in 1974. There were two sizes of the watch, this being the smaller (ladies?) one.

The Spaceman watches were very popular in Hollywood, and many fake copies have been made.



Saturday 24 March 2012

Citizen Independent 1481010 D380 - Ken Ishii special edition

Today's watch is a special edition of a model I've posted about before.

This is the Ken Ishii special of the "Radioactive " D380 model. All of the D380s in the 1481010 range have the alarms composed by Ken Ishii, but this model has the symbol of the Ken Ishii album Innerelements (1994) on the button, and has a blue metal band. The watch was made in 1998, and released in limited numbers.

The D380 module has the normal functions of time, date, two alarms, and a chronograph, on the dot-matrix LCD display.

The full model number is D380-S68792

For more information on the 1481010 range see this page: 1481010 Overview


Friday 23 March 2012

Timex SSQ gold LED

Today is back to the early days of electronic watches, with an LED watch, thought to be from the late 70s.

The watch is part of the Timex SSQ range, where SSQ stands for Solid State Quartz.

The watch only has simple functions, with one press showing the time, and a second press showing day and date.

The watch back shows it was made in Taiwan, and should use Timex H-cell batteries (but AG12/386 batteries work fine).

The watch also has the number 202 engraved on the centre of the back, which could be the module or serial number.




Thursday 22 March 2012

Citizen D28C Expo2000 blue edition

I've realised today that I have a lot of Citizen watches in my collection.
Today's is a high-tech looking watch, released around the year 2000 (this specific example was made in 1999) . The normal version was released under the Citizen GlassD range, however this watch only shows Citizen above the display instead of GlassD. The watch was issued as a special edition for the 2000 world expo in Hannover.

The watch has often been seen with a Citizen 1481010 tag, but this is not an official part of that range.
The watch uses a D28C module which has an inverse LCD display. The display has 3 circles as well as the number and seconds displays.

The top left circle fills and empties the 10 segments by the second.
The middle circle fills up by the second (left side), and 5 second (right side), with 30 seconds to fill or empty. The top right circle shows the mode, of which the options are: time, date, alarm, chronograph, and two countdown timers.
The full model number is D28C-S70991



Wednesday 21 March 2012

Citizen Digi-Ana "Robot Face"

Today is an old Citizen Digi-Ana LCD from 1983, and due to its layout, is often called the Robot Face.
The has a main electronic dial, and 5 LCD sections. The LCD sections are:
Top left - seconds (or fractions of a second in stopwatch mode)
Top right - groups of 10 sec (or same as above in stopwatch)
Middle - mode
Middle left - time or date mode
Bottom - LCD display of time, date, alarm/chime status, or stopwatch.
The watch model is 30-0217, and has a 3078A strap.



Tuesday 20 March 2012

Citizen Independent 1481010 - D500 black, leather strap

Another one of the 1481010s today.

This one, has a similar display to the Neophilia model, and the same system as the "shutter" version I've shown previously, but with a very different design.

For this model, the D500 module is placed in a metal module with metal loops at either end. These loops are connected to the 2 part leather strap, and held in place with velcro and a prestud.

The module screen displays a mirrored display with inverse seconds, and time is shown with a press of the bottom right button. Other modes are alarm, chronograph, and timer.

The full model number is D500-L20280, which is the same for all of the standard leather strap D500s
It first appeared in the 2000 catalogue with a catalogue number of IT21-4611K, but the leather strap version had stopped production by 2003.



Monday 19 March 2012

Cabane de Zucca Safari Zoo - Alligator

Time for another Zoo animal today.
This is another one of the Cabane de Zucca Safari Zoo animals (of which there are four), and is the Alligator version.

The watch is made of a 'scaly' moulded plastic with an integrated band. The buckle cover is the alligator's head - so the watch, when fastened, looks like the alligator is eating it's own tail.

The watch has the W240 movement, and has time, stopwatch, chronograph, and alarm.
The full model number is W240-4120, and appears to have been made in 1999.




Sunday 18 March 2012

EleeNo Lite ART032- Quiz

Sunday Quiz time again! But a slightly easier one this week :-)
The watch is by the Japanese brand EleeNo, who are under the Seahope umbrella. The watch model is the ART032LT which is the 32nd model released under the EleeNo range.
As usual for the quiz, I'll explain how it works after someone guesses the right time!



Saturday 17 March 2012

Citizen Independent 1481010 - C352 Green

Another day, another 1481010 :-)

This is one of the 1481010 watches with the C352 module.

The design is an Digi-Ana with a hexagonal green inverse LCD across the top half, an electronic dial in the bottom left, and a decorative hexagonal LCD in the bottom right (10 sections which fill and empty counting seconds). This version has a resin case and shell, but metal cased versions were produced.

The watch has time, date, two alarms, chronograph, and timer, and has an electro-luminescent backlight.

The full model number is C352-S68555. It was made in late 1998 (but did not feature in the early 1998 catalogue, and may not have been released until 1999), and had ceased production before 2003. The catalogue number is IT21-4353S.


For more information on the 1481010 range, see http://whichwatchtoday.blogspot.com/p/citizen-independent-1481010-overview.html


Friday 16 March 2012

Citizen Independent 1481010 - Lad Musician C353

Another 1481010 today, and a special edition!

This is the Lad Musician version of the 1481010 C353, released in 1999.

The model was created for the Japanese Lad Musician clothing brands, lead by fashion designer Yuichi Kuroda. The brands caters mainly for tall males who want to look like rock stars.

The back of the watch quotes the date 13 APR 1999. I've not been able to find a reference to why that date, but I assume it is the release date.

The watch features an LCD and electronic dial. The features on the C353 module are time, date, two alarms, chronograph, and timer.

The full model number is C353-S73117





Thursday 15 March 2012

Citizen Independent 1481010 - module 1030 orange

Time for another 1481010 today!

This watch is one of the more normal 1481010 collection, working with a normal dial, and having no extra features.

The watch is very similar to an old Citizen design, predating the Independent range.

The watch uses the 1030 movement, and has a model number L16266. The design of watch came in several colours, but I'm not aware of any special editions in this design. The catalogue number of this watch is IT21-4042B, and was originally sold for 12,000yen. This design was sold in 1997/98 (possibly 99), but had stopped production by 2000

For more info on the 1481010 range, see http://whichwatchtoday.blogspot.com/p/citizen-independent-1481010-overview.html