Seiko F033-5000

Today's watch is one of my old LCD watches - the Seiko Quartz F033-5000.

The watch was released in 1978 based on the F033 module (which was first featured in 1977) and is a simple 5 1/2 digit LCD panel (with only a 1 possible for the first digit). Pressing the button displays day and date (day), but the settings mode included the month (presumably to determine how many days before going back to 1 again). For the day name, there are some extra segments in the digits to allow different letters (for example the T in SAT). 

The more unusual part of this watch is the display panel. This model features a special reflective display panel (sometimes called a fluted display) which makes the numbers really clear to read and have a wide viewing angle.

Original price in 1978 was around 27,000 yen

Overall, I think this model is a nice thin and light 1970s watch, with an attractive light (and light catching) face.

Seiko Alba Wired - Beams W510

Today's watch is a special edition of a design I've featured on this blog before.

The watch is one from the Seiko Wired line of watches based around the W510 module, and this one was released under the Seiko sub-brand Alba. The Wired watches seem to be a high tech line released from the late 90s which blended advanced technology and elegant fashionable designs.

One of the designs that was used in several watches around the turn of the century was the high complexity curved digit LCD display. This display used many more segments in the digits than normal, leading to text which looked more like a printed font than normal. I featured a watch from the ViViDiGi line with this W510 module in June 2013, and there's been a few others on the blog too (see under the Wired tag).

This particular model is a special watch designed for the Japanese brand Beams. The Beams brand are a popular clothing, accessories, and interior products brand originating in 1976 from Harajuku, Tokyo, and they've produced a few watches over the years. It has a different colour scheme (black with red trim) than the other W510 watches I've seen, and has the Beams name at the top of the display. The back also the Beams logo (a planet with the path of a satellite around it), along with the text "Beams. Basic & Exciting". The other text on the back is the standard information that it is stainless steel, 10 bar water resistant, and made in China.

This watch is from 2001, and has the full model number of W510-4A50.

Conran Y167

I know today's watch is designer, but the question I'm left with is which designer is it..?

The watch is by Conran, and is a 3 hand dial design (or more correctly, 2 hands and a disc for seconds). It has a round metal case with a thick rim/bezel, and with the silver disc for the seconds, it makes the hour and minutes hands only visible in the white ring inbetween.

The back shows this is made by Seiko, with the watch using a Seiko Y167 quartz module, and having a typical Seiko back plate layout. It tells me that the watch is a mixture of stainless steel and base metal, is water resistant to 5 bar, and was made in Japan.

The serial number suggest a date of 88, 98, or 2008, and based in the design, I would guess 98 is the most likely. The full model number is Y167-0A40.

As the watch face only has the name Conran, the question of which designer is a challenge, with both Jasper Conran and Terence Conran being famous designers. There are very few links online with Conran and Y167, but one of the watches for sale in Japan mentions it is Terence Conran, so I'll have to assume at this time that they are correct. Sir Terence Conran was born in 1931 and is a designer, restaurateur, and writer. In his early career, he designed a shop for the designer Mary Quant, and is most known as the founder of the Habitat stores.

Alba W800 Compass Watch

It's sunny again today, so I thought I'd choose a colourful model for today's watch. The watch I chose is by the Seiko brand Alba, and is one I've nicknamed the Alba Pokéball watch due to the colour scheme of the face.

The watch is based on the W800 module and it seems has been marketed under the 3 main Seiko brands, Alba, Pulsar, and Lorus.
It is an LCD watch with a very busy display to show lots of information at the same time. The bottom third of the screen is the time and date display over two lines. The remaining 2/3 is dominated by a circular area where the compass mode is displayed, but acts as a crude seconds marker when the time is on. Around the top half of this circle is an area which fills with the seconds (10 segments), while at the sides of the bottom half of the circle are boxes which show the selected mode.

The W800 module is a compass model, but doesn't seem to give a live compass display. From what I've read, you select the direction you are wanting to find, point the watch at the sun, and it will then point to the direction you are wanting. The watch has the other normal digital watch features of chronograph (with recall function) and alarm. Setting the watch is simple, and is done by holding the top left button until the display flashes, and then using the right side buttons to change the time (bottom to change the number, and top to move to the next option/number).

The case is a plastic design with metal back, and this variation is a light purple with yellow and light green buttons. The face is red and white with a light green circle, and this is what gives it the Pokéball appearance. Overall, the watch is 10 bar water resistant, and it was assembled in China.

The full model number is W800-0010, and both the serial number and the start date for the module date function show it is from 1992.

Alba Quartz Y504

Sometimes, it is easier to guess the date on a watch based on its looks, and today's watch definitely has the look of a vintage watch.

The watch is by the Seiko brand Alba, and is based around the Y504 module. It has a 3 hand dial design with a day and date window at the 3 o'clock position. The face is round woth no numbers on, just the hour markers, and has Alba and Quartz written in silver.

The look of the watch is very reminiscent of the early electronic watches and first quartz watches by Citizen and Seiko (for example the Cosmotron), which suggests a 60s or 70s design. As the Alba brand only started in 1979, this pegs the earliest date for the watch. The serial number on the back suggests it was actually made in 1979, so this is probably one of the earliest Alba watches.

Inside, the quartz movement has the look of an old quartz design, taking up most of the space within the case (-a picture can be seen at the website here). It also uses an AG10 battery, and these larger sized batteries were mainly used in older watches (with most modern basic dial watches using the much smaller AG1 or AG4).

The full model number is Y504-8000. There isn't much information about the watch online, but there seems to be a reasonable number appearing on Japanese auction sites (but very little at non-Japanese sites).

Seiko Super Runners 5750 Watch

Today is the hottest day of the year, and with the length of time the sun is up for, I thought I'd try one of my solar watches where the charge is a little weak.

This watch is by Seiko, and is part of their Super Runners line of watches. The Super Runners line is, as the name would suggest, a line of sports watches designed to appeal to runners. The watch features are built around this, with a stopwatch with lap recall (up to 145?), and timer modes, as well as a front mounted lap/split button for easy access.

This model is based around the Seiko 5750 module and is a radiowave control solar watch. It has a detailed display over 3 lines, with the top two capable of showing 7 digits, and the bottom line is a dot matrix array. As well as the runners functions, it also has alarm (x2) and world time features. The case is also 10 bar water resistant for all weather use.

The full model number is 5750-0AA1, and it looks like it was made in 2000 (possibly 2010, but I think that is unlikely based on the status of the battery). The watch is on Amazon though (so it could be newer), where it is quoted with a catalogue number of SBDG001 and a price of $158.

As this is an old solar model, it suffers from power issues. It is a common misconception that solar watches will run forever with the help of the sun, but this isn't actually the case. The solar power is stored in a rechargeable battery, or more commonly a capacitor, to cover for when there is no sunlight. These cells suffer from the same problems as old phone batteries in that the more charge and discharge cycles the watch goes through, the less it can be charged next time. This is not noticeable in day-to-day use,  but over the years, this builds up end in the end, the watch won't hold any charge. The capacitors are normally replaceable, but are specialist items and so are hard to find.

The sun went in and the display died before I took the photos. I'll update the post when it starts to show something again.

UPDATE: It came back to life so here are the photos 

Seiko Wired XYZ W543 Rotating Head Watch

Today I decided to wear a watch from the mysterious line of watches called Wired XYZ by Seiko.

The Wired XYZ range of watches was first released in 2004 (May 21st in Japan) as a line of futuristic designs within the Wired range (that started in 2000). The range initially started with 4 designs (2 digital and 2 chronograph), and were designed under the leadership of Hoshina Ichiro. The XYZ range was promoted by the Korean singer BoA, who had their own branded Wired watch that I blogged in June 2013 (and you can find out more about BoA and the watch here). The XYZ line doesn't seem to be around anymore and the original website has been deleted.

This model has the model number W543-0AG0, but is hard to research as there are no web hits for this number. It is a limited edition of only 100 pieces, and so there aren't too many others out there, so I'm not surprised about the lack of coverage online.

The head of the watch is shaped like a gold bar with a the LCD on the top face. The LCD is powered by the W543 module with 6 equally sized digits (in groups of 2) in a slightly curvy style, and there is a tiny Wired XYZ logo in the corner. Across the top are 3 buttons which switch the display between time and date (with the date having text for what each number means above the digits), or for changing the numbers in time setting mode. The watch case is mounted on a silver cog-like base which allows the watch head to be rotated a complete 360 degrees, so you can use it from any angle. The strap also mounts onto the base and has a part number F2G0-Z-Q.

The back reveals its text as you rotate the head showing the model number, that it is water resistant and made from stainless steel, and it was made in China. There is also text in Japanese on the back of the silver base, but I don't have a translation (so if any reader can translate this, I'd be extremely grateful). There is also a serial number on the back which suggests a 2005 manufacture, and this aligns with the W543 modules date starting at 2004.

Agnès b LCD W205

I've posted a few agnès b  watches on the blog so far, but this one is a little different than all of the others.

The difference here is that this model is an agnès b LCD watch rather than the more common quartz analogue watches.

The agnès b brand is a French fashion brand started in 1973 by the designer Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé. The fashion brand is the main business, but there is also a film production company, and Agnès has also funded completion of various movies. The fashion brand started with womens clothing before moving to menswear in 1981. The watches started in 1989 and are made in collaboration with Seiko, with the watches still being produced at this time. The logo is the agnès b name in a script style font, but this also means it is confused by many to read 'agnis b' instead.

This model is based around the Seiko W205 module. It has a small inverse LCD display which shows 3 1/2 digits. The module is one of the typical simple digital modules, and has only time, date, and seconds displays.

The case is quite thick at the centre, where the LCD display is, and there is also the brand logo and 'paris' above and below the display. The case then slopes down towards the strap connection, and the strap is a stainless steel expanding bracelet design (part number E0D7AG-S) where the links rotate when expanding.

The full model number is W205-4480, and this model came out in 1997 or 2007. As I've featured this module before in two Cabane de Zucca watches which came from the mid/late 90s, I'd reckon this watch is also from the same time period.

Alba Disney Mickey & Minnie Y950 Ana-Digi

In April 2013, I blogged about a vintage Alba watch with an analogue dial and an LCD in the glass. One of the conclusions of the blog post was that it was quite an uncommon model.

This watch shares the same module as that watch, the Y950, but this time it is a Disney version.

The Y950 watches came out in the early 90s and was one of the designs which seem to have been reasonably high tech and expensive for the time. The Y950 has a 3 hand dial which uses a crown for setting purposes. The glass has an LCD display built in with various display options. At the top and bottom of the LCD are two lines of digits, the top one able to show letters too. By default, these show day and date at the top and time at the bottom, but are also used by the alarm and stopwatch modes. In the centre of the display you can normally bring up a full month-view calendar with this module, however in this watch, the calendar has been replaced with an LCD picture of Mickey & Minnie.

This particular version is done as part of the collaboration between the Seiko brand Alba and Disney which has been going on maybe since the Alba brand was established. The watch face features a picture of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and above the face are the words 'Mickey & Minnie'.

This watch was made in 1983 (same as the previously blogged model) and has a full model number of Y950-5030.

Person's V535 - Eiffel Tower

It seems like the big watch companies have worked for many different fashion brands over the years, making lines of watches for their sale. Today's watch is another of those.

This watch is by the Japanese clothing brand Person's. The Person's name/clothing was first seen in 1977, when the name and logo was first used by Takaya Iwasaki, before becoming a brand in 1979. The brand produces clothes (as well as shoes, hats, watches, bedding, glasses, and cosmetics) which mix eastern and western dress culture, and are "people orientated". The Japanese Person's brand and logo was also used by an American company I'm the 80s, but these items are not related to the Japanese company (and there was a legal trademark dispute about this).

The watch appears to be a Seiko collaboration based on the model number V535-6A50. Inside it shows that the V535 module (which uses a 927 battery) and the case was made by the Seiko linked Shiojiri company. I blogged another Person's watch in November 2014, but there, it doesn't seem to have been a Seiko style, so it may be that there was not an exclusive link between Person's and Seiko (at least for the whole time they've sold watches).

The watch itself is a 3 hand dial design which also has a 4th rotating item - a disc which follows the hour hand rotation. The face features a stylized sketch of the Eiffel Tower and the Person's logo. The rotating disc is visible on the top half of the dial, behind the tower, and has pictures of an aeroplane and stars (so they look to fly past the tower). The case design reminds me a little of the Boy London watches, with a round case with the Person's name moulded into the bezel.

From the serial number, it appears the watch could have been made in 1989, 1999, or 2009, and I would think that the 1999 or 2009 dates are the most likely.

Alba Hyper-Tech Carbon Twin Sensor

As it's Easter Sunday, it's a tradition to go for a hike before sunrise and watch the sun come up from the top of a hill. For that purpose I decided to wear a watch designed for the hills.

The watch I chose today is by the Seiko brand Alba, and part of their Hyper-Tech (or Hypertech) range. The watch has many names printed on it: Carbon, Twin Sensor, and Alti-Thermo.  I think that Carbon refers to a particular line of Hyper-Tech watches, while the twin sensor and alti-thermo names refer to the fact that this watch has both barometer (altimeter) and thermometer sensors /functions. The design is big and chunky and has a look which is a little reminiscent of the G-Shocks, but with a non-symmetrical shape. There are many screws on the case, and the sensor is visible at the top of the watch. The strap is a rubbery plastic (which suffers from brittleness) with a ridged design and had the part number of PW031.

The LCD is split into two sections for the different features. The top display has a dot matrix array and a small area for digits, and is used for the day and date as well as the altitude graph or elevation change and hundredths of a second in stopwatch mode. The bottom part of the LCD has two lines which give the time (6 digits at the bottom) and height and atmospheric pressure above. At the right side of this section is a set of Arrows pointing up and down to indicate the change in atmospheric pressure and hence predict the weather (going up =sun, and going down =rain). The watch is controlled by 5 buttons for the modes, adjustment, start/stop and light (small bulb based). The mode button unusually pulls out to put the watch in time setting mode.

The watch is powered by a W754 module which has alarm (possibly time, altitude, and temperature), altimeter /barometer, and chronograph (with altitude recording).

This model is the W754-4A00 and came out in 1995. The catalogue number was ADQP001 and an original sales price of ¥14,000.

Okaya City Nagano watch

I've blogged all sorts of commemorative/ promotional watches on my blog so far, but I think this is the first which is for a city!

This watch is made for a place called Okaya City, which is a small city in the Nagano Prefecture (county) in Japan on the banks of Lake Suwa. The city was founded in 1936 is in the centre of the prefecture and has a population of just over 50,000. After WWII, the city established itself as a place for high precision manufacture, and is now home to Seiko Epson and Olympus.

The watch is a standard round case analogue watch with a 3 hand dial design. The face features a picture of a colourfully dressed person holding drumsticks with the Okaya City name on their drum. In the background, the picture has what looks like bells, trees, and maybe a city landmark.

The back has the city name engraved into it, as well as the usual watch information (water resistant, stainless steel and base metal).

The watch is made by Seiko (which is appropriate as they have a base there), and is based around the V701 quartz module (which inside is revealed to be a Shiojiri V70C). It was manufactured in a year ending in a 5, so could be 1985 for the 50th anniversary of the city in 1986, or 2005 for the 40th anniversary of the twinning with Mount Pleasant, Michigan, US, or something completely different. My guess for the watch style is that it's an 80s watch, but possibly 90s.

Seiko Alba Neatnik V707

Today's watch is from one of Seiko's lesser known lines of watches - the Neatnik range.

The Neatnik watches were released by the Seiko brand Alba, starting in 1999. A Neatnik is someone who is habitually neat and tidy, and the watch was marketed with the tag line "Are you neat?".

The early watches are easily identifiable by their small dials and aluminium cases. This model is one of the square designs with a deep case. The cases have the designation h.a.o.c, which stands for hard anodic oxidation coating and refers to the manufacturing process. This model is more unusual in that it has a black anodised case and strap. It also has one of the common Neatnik strap designs with aluminium links and a plastic fastener (with a strap part number of F1BGFZ-C).

It is based around a Seiko V707 module, and is a 2 dial design. The larger dial is in the centre and is a 2 hand dial for time. The second dial is smaller, covering the seconds, and is places next to the main dial in a window which gives the feeling they are wheels connected by a belt/chain.

The back has information about the construction materials (base metal (Aluminium) an stainless steel), and quotes it as being water resistant. There is also a set of letters, KMN-MNJ-SGT, which appears on many of the Neatnik watches, but I don't know what it means.

The full model number is V707-5080, and it was made in 1999.

Seiko Alba AKA V782

Today's watch is a smarter looking model from the AKA line of watches.

The AKA line was a set of watches released by the Seiko brand Alba. They come out in the early to mid 90s and ran through to the end of the decade. The watches were one of the early fashion watches which appeared in the 90s compared to the functionality and practical focus of the 80s designs.

This model is an analogue watch based around the V782 module. It has a different style than most of the AKA models I've posted. The design is a little similar to a couple of the watches I blogged in 2012, and as this has a manufacturing date of 1999, I think this style is one of the late designs compared to the more colourful and curvy early AKAs.

The watch has a 3 hand dial design with a round dial in a rectangular case. At the bottom of the dial is a tiny date window too. The case is quite a bit larger than the watch face, and is deeper towards the top of the watch. It has a silver colour and is made of stainless steel and base metal, and the case is 10 bar water resistant. The strap is silver stainless steel and is designed to match the watch case. The first link in the strap is a typical AKA design, having a U-shape (but more square than the others), followed by the standard Y shaped links.

This particular watch was made Feb 1999, and had the model number V782-5090. The catalogue number was AMAZ001, and the original sale price was ¥15,000.