Alba Spoon W671 1998 Bridgestone the Victory

Today, I'm back on the Spoon watches with a special limited edition model.

The Spoon watches came out in the mid 90s, and we're some of the earlier unusual fashion watches in the 90s /early 2000s peak that also included the AKA and the 1481010. They were made by Seiko, but all under the sub brands Alba or Pulsar. The Spoon models tend to be curvy and shiny which probably lead to the Spoon name.

This model is a special edition and may have been a promotional item as it is a commemoration for an event (and has only a 3 digit serial number). It was made (or customised) for the tyre manufacturer Bridgestone, and the back states 1998 Bridgestone the Victory. This likely refers to their participation in making tyres for the Formula 1 racing which started full time in 1997 (-they had done one-offs before then). In 1998, they had their first victory in the Formula 1 race at Monaco with Mika Häkkinen taking his MaClaren-Mercedes to victory. This watch commemorates that event, and as well as the text on the back, it has the Bridgestone name across the display.

The watch itself is a Spoon running on the W671 module. It has a shiny LCD screen with the time only visible when the red LED backlight is activated. It has a 2 line display with date and day at the top and time below. Other modes are stopwatch, timer, and alarm.

The full model number is W671-4210, and it was made in 1998.

Pulsar Spoon Ingot W170

Another smart shiny watch again today, and from a brand of watches I've not featured so much.

This watch is made by one of the Seiko sub-brands, but not Alba (as with many in my collection), but by Pulsar (which was more the European brand).

The watch is one of the Spoon watches. This line came out in the mid 90s, and we're the first of the major lines of fashion watches (and a forerunner of the Seiko AKA and Citizen 1481010 lines).

This model is one of the more unusual Spoon watches with a vertically elongated design, and I think it was part of the Spoon Ingot line. The Ingot watches were all made I'm shiny metallic colours (and this makes it hard to get good photos of). It has a 2 line inverse LCD display with date and day in small digits along the top, and a 6 digit time display (with very large hours and minutes, and small seconds). The W170 module also has a chronograph, timer, alarm, and dual time. When switching between modes, the top line shows text as to which mode you are about to use.

The strap is a shiny dark blue colour, matched to the body, and has a part number of 71Q7-G-E.

The full model number is W170-4A20, and the instructions on the W170 can be found on the Pulsar Watches website. I think it came out in around 2000, but I haven't see it in any catalogues.

Seiko Alba Spoon W626 - Nagano Winter Olympics Special Edition

The weather here is still pretty cold, and many friends are going skiing for their Easter holidays from today, so today's choice is a winter watch.

It is a special edition watch to commemorate "The XVIII Olympic Winter Games, Nagano 1998" (to quote the embroidered fabric sign on the inside of the strap). The watch is from the Spoon range of watches that were released by Seiko under it's Alba brand from the mid 90s. The Spoon watches were one of the first of the modern unusual design fashion watches from the 90s, and I guess was inspiration for the Seiko AKA, and Citizen Independent 1481010 watches.

This design is one of the common Spoon designs with the LCD display in a narrow band across the middle of the curved case. The display is a white LCD with mirrored numbers and has 6 digits. It uses a W626 module (full number W626-4000) and has alarm, chronograph, and timer functions. The module also has a light which uses the main button on the watch's face.

The range was for the 1998 Winter Olympics but this one was made in 1997. The original price was 13,500 yen, and had a catalogue number of AZRC002.

Seiko Alba Spoon W650 Vivitix Girls x Hello Kitty

After a few days of novelty watches, today I have a regular watch collaborating with a brand known for for it's novelty items.

The watch in question is one of the Spoon line of watches by Seiko (under the Alba sub-brand, but Spoon watches were also released under Pulsar). The Spoon watches were released in the 90s as a fun sporty fashion line. This watch has a design with the combination of ovals and circles which is typical of the Spoon watches.

This watch was released in 1999 as a special edition. It was made for the Japanese (character goods?) store Vivitix Girls and features Sanrio's Hello Kitty. This is most noticeable on the watch face where Hello Kitty's face in heart symbol is printed inside the glass in a partially transparent, partially reflective ink. It makes it easy to see the symbol, but you often need to turn the watch to different angles to be able to see the time past the symbol.

The watch uses a W650 module, and has a 2 line inverse LCD display. The top line has month, day, and date, and the bottom line has the time (6 digits with smaller numbers for seconds). It has a chronograph and timer function as well as an alarm.

The full model number is W650-4400

Seiko Alba Spoon Teardrop W850 x Yoshitaka Amano

Today's watch is one that unfortunately I can't wear - it suffers from brittleness of the strap which is common problem for watches around that time.

This watch is by the Seiko Alba brand as part of the Spoon range. In the late 90s, they came out with a teardrop shaped variation using a similar module to the earlier Timetron-H. The teardrop shaped watches have an unusual strap with the expanding section to open it being at the top, directly connected to the watch head.

There were a few special versions of the watch released, including this one from the year 2000. This version was produced with Art Vivant Co Ltd, and to quote the box "embodies the original illustration by Yoshitaka Amano" . It was a limited edition release with only 300 of the watches being made.

Yoshitaka Amano is an artist, character designer, and film scenery and costume designer. He was first notice in the late 60s after working on the anime version of Speed Racer. He is well known to anime and game fans, designing characters for Gatchaman (aka G-Force or Battle of the Planets), Vampire Hunter D, and Casshan, along with providing illustrations for Final Fantasy. One of his illustrations is printed on the watch head just above the display, and shows what looks like a face and a curved wing.

The watch uses a W850 module, which has a large dot matrix LCD display. It has alarm, world time, chronograph, and timer, with all modes accessible directly from a mode menu. The main display has the equivalent of 4 lines with a choice of display styles. The top row shows the mode (time) and the bottom shows day, and the middle two lines can either show date and time, or a double height time.

The full model number is W850-4090, and the watch doesn't have any serial number (just the limited edition number).

Seiko Alba Spoon W442 - rounded S.A.M variant

A very quick post today, and I'll try to fill in more info in the coming days.

This watch is a Seiko Alba Spoon watch, with a W442 module. It is very similar to the SAM (Secret Agent Man), but without the database function. It has a large dot matrix LCD screen showing time and date in two different formats.

Pressing the mode button shows a menu with choices of time, alarm, chronograph, and timer. A second press of the mode button (the tm/time option), gives the options for time and world time (along with a system menu for adjusting the LCD display, and the alarm sound).

The full model number is W442-4000.

Seiko Alba Spoon Core W626-401 Gold

This watch is another of Alba's late 90s Spoon watches. It was released in the second half of 1997,and has a catalogue number of APRC001.

The Spoon range was started in the 90s and was aimed at teenagers. In Japan, it was released under Seiko's Alba sub-group, and under Pulsar in the West.

This one has a W626 module, with a white and mirrored LCD display. It has stopwatch, timer, and an alarm.

The full model number is W626-4010, and it was originally sold for 13,500yen.

Alba Spoon W521 Dual LCD

Today it's another of the Seiko Alba Spoon watches.
This one is based on the W521 module, and has two LCD displays. The bottom LCD is a standard 7 segment LCD, and by default shows the time. The top LCD is a dot matrix display, normally showing seconds.

The watch has world time, 3 data bank slots (not too sure on this as they show CH-1 to CH-3 in the bottom screen, and the top screen allows you to write characters), and an alarm.
The full model number is W521-4A00, and this one was made in 2000.

Seiko Alba Spoon Web W440

Today's watch is from another Alba (Seiko) sub-brand called Spoon.
Spoon watches were started in 1995 to bring new style to digital watches.
This particular model is the Spoon Web, and also has been refered to as the SAM, or Secret Agent Man, This watch is quite complex with a relatively high resolution dot matrix LCD (2 lines of 8x56). The time is displayed on the right hand line, and can be shown in two orientations. The left line normally shows the day, but also shows random quotes (I'll list some at the bottom of the post). Pressing the bottom button in time mode also gives a quote, whereas turning the button brings up the date.
Other modes are:
- address book
- memo/messages
- chronograph
- timer
- alarm
The full model number is: W440-4000
The watch has a catalogue number, and had a price (in 1999) of 21,000 yen.

List of quotes can be found after the jump: