Naughty Naughty Pets Blue Burt watch

Today, it's time for one of my sillier watches.

The watch is a Naughty Naughty Pets (or NNP) watch and is covered in cartoon characters. Naughty Naughty Pets was a set of stories made into a cartoon series from 2006 about a range of unusual household pets, and also had a range of toys and accessories. The series was written by Scary Stories Inc founder Wendy Ann Gardner. She founded the company in 1997, and was inspired to write stories inspired by her quirky pets, leading to the Naughty Naughty Pets series.

This watch is for the character Blue Burt the budgie and features his image at various places on the watch. There is also a cat on the dial, which I guess may be Killer Kiwi the Devil Cat (although he doesn't look too devilish, but I guess looks can be deceiving). The face of the watch has a 3 hand dial which is offset towards the top left corner (with a crown at the 13:30 position). The bottom left of the face has a picture of Blue Burt behind a magnifying dome on the glass (but on the inside). The top half of the strap has Blue Burt's name pressed into it, while the bottom half has the Naughty Naughty Pets name (printed except for the 2nd Naughty which is pressed in) and a picture of Blue Burt in a night cap.

The watch seems to be associated with the series as it has a copyright of Scary Stories Inc from 2007 on the back, and there is also a Naughty Naughty Pets hologram sticker to show it's genuine.

The model number is GM-NNP-71, which refers to the style as there are a few other watches of this style but for different characters with the same number.

There was a website for the line of watches (nnpwatch.com) but that doesn't seem to exist anymore. It seems to have been made by Menjiana and is on a type called Mini Miniature Watch. Inside is a Seiko Epson AL21E movement.

Flik Flak Sweet Banana

I'm wearing another of the 'cool kids' watches from my childhood today as I noticed the colour matched my t-shirt.

The watch is one of the Flik Flak watches which are a range of Swatch watches for kids. Flik Flak refers to the tick tock of the watch, and the range was started in 1987 to bring the Swatch style into the kids market. One of the things I've read about the Flik Flak watches (but I hold no responsibility about if it is wrong) is that the range was machine washable (40C in a fabric net and without prewash), but due to the age of the models I have I don't quite trust this.

This model is called Sweet Banana and was part of the Spring Summer 1999 collection (and was designed in 1998). The design has a red aluminium case with a yellow face and strap. The face has a picture of an open and part eaten banana in the middle, while the fabric strap has a chain of cartoon monkeys along the length.

The model number for this design is FBB366, and it uses a Swiss ETA movement.

Rubicon Kids SIL-881

Today I was spending time with a couple of children, so wanted a kid friendly watch.

The one I chose is another from the Rubicon watch range, but different than the other Rubicons I've blogged so far.

This is a Rubicon Kids watch, and as it says 'kids' on the back where the name normally is, the name may actually be called kids. It has a model number of SIL-881 on the back, along with the usual catchphrase 'The great trick timepiece'. The Rubicon watches are made by Yazaki Co Ltd. from Japan, and the trademark is pretty recent, but I haven't found out much more.

It is a 2 hand dial watch with the seconds having a rotating disc. The seconds indicator is a little weird and looks like a 4 legged squid wearing a helmet.

The strap is a moulded rubbery plastic one with crocodiles. On the strap, the crocodiles are either dreaming of fishes, or chasing after the fish.

Pokémon Keldeo Watch

I've been with my family today so wore another of my children's watches.

This watch is one of my many Pokémon watches, but a more modern one this time.

Today's model is from 2012 and was released to commemorate the unveiling and release of the Pokemon Keldeo. Keldeo was leaked in February 2012 before being fully revealed in that June. The Pokemon Keldeo is a legendary Pokemon and is number 647 in the national Pokedex. It is called the Colt Pokemon and is a combined water and fighting Pokemon and has two forms depending on the situation in the game.

The watch has a picture of Keldeo on the face, and has a blue and white strap with Keldeo's name on. It has a 3 1/2 digit LCD display as with the other novelty watches, with the standard time, date, and seconds displays. It is more unusual in that the button to change the mode looks like a normal crown design.

The watch copyright is to Nintendo and Pokemon as well as something written in Japanese (as this is a Japanese model watch). The back doesn't give much more away and just has a sticker saying 'made in China'.

Crazy Planet Gumwatch Aqua

It's really hot here today so I thought I'd wear something silly and summery.

This watch was bought by me when I was living in Scotland (in the early 00s). I was queueing to buy my lunch one day and this was by the counter and caught my eye so I decided I must have it (and it cost me £5).

The watch is made for Crazy Planet who are based in Barcelona, Spain. The Crazy Planet brand was started by the Spanish Chupa Chups S.A. company in the late 90s, famous for their lollipops, to market non-lolipop products.

This product is the Gumwatch Aqua, or as I refer to it, my sweet dispensing water pistol watch. The Gumwatch Aqua has a basic 3 1/2 digit LCD display, and like most novelty watches, has just time, date, and seconds displays. The case is huge, because the majority of the watch is taken up by its special features. On the right side is a button called open, which causes the watch face to flip up, revealing the space for the gum sweets underneath. On the left side is a flip up targeting sight, and the trigger for the built-in water pistol. The nozzle for the spray is at the top/front of the watch so it is easy to squirt people in front of you, and you can get 5-6 squirts from a full tank. The filling hole is on the bottom of the watch, but the water pistol can be detached so you can fill it without getting the sweets wet (or to use it as a separate mini water pistol). This is definitely meant to be a kids watch, but the case is so big, it dwarfs my wrist, and maybe is the largest watch I own!

Les Adventures de Tintin - Snowy the dog watch

I'm blogging a kids watch today, and this time it's of a famous Belgian who isn't Poirot.

The watch is a Tintin watch and was made by Citime.  Tintin is one of the most popular European comics and was created by Belgian Georges Remi under his pen name Hergé. It first appeared in 1929 and has now been published in more than 70 languages. The series followed the adventures of a young Belgian reported and his faithful dog Snowy (or Milou) through stories of fantasy, mystery, political thriller, and sci-fi. The watch mainly features Snowy the white fox terrier searching for his bone, but has one picture of Tintin himself.

The watch is a 3 hand dial design with a wavy seconds hand. The maker Citime could be one of two manufacturers which are Citime Manufacturing from Hong Kong or the French company Oxygen-Citime. The back of the watch is in French, but the Hong Kong brand make promotional watches, so it's hard to tell which it is.

On the back is the name of the series The Adventures of Tintin in French (Les Adventures de Tintin), the water resistance (etanche) of 30m, and the copyright to Hergé/Moulinsart. There is also an engraved picture of Tintin and Snowy in Hergé's recognisable line drawing style.

Alba Mickey & Minnie melody alarm watch Y758

Today, I'm back on the old kids watches again with an old-school Disney LCD watch.

This one is another mystery watch, as the only search hit is for one sold in 2011, and I've not found a single photo online.

The watch is from the Seiko brand Alba, and was made in 1981 (and the model was still on sale in 1982). There are many discussions about these being 70s watches, but as Alba was only started in 1979, most are 80s at the earliest.

Alba had a collaboration with (copyright holders) Walt Disney Productions where they produced a range of Disney watches including Mickey and Minnie Mouse. This model has a Y758 module, and is a melody alarm watch which uses the Mickey Mouse song as the alarm music. The face has a music theme with Mickey playing the flute for Minnie, and their names written across musical staves at the top. The LCD display follows this theme with the markers for days being musical notes above the 3 1/2 digit time display. The LCD also includes Minnie's face and has her winking and blinking every 1/2 second.

The full model number is Y758-5000, and the watch has a plastic construction. The leather strap (which looks to not be original), also has Mickey's head on the buckle. The watch came in 3 different colours (black, red, and brown), and this is the brown version (however the red and on the face has faded). The catalogue number was WK014R and it was originally sold for 7,800 yen.

Steiff Teddy's Watch - Brown

Today's watch is one from a company better known for toys other than watches. It is also a strange watch for a 30-something man to be wearing, but never mind...

The watch is designed as a teddy bear's head. The case is moulded with two ears, and the friendly looking bears face is painted on the watch's face. For toy collectors, the gold button on the right ear (the bear's left ear) will tell them exactly who made the watch!

The watch is, of course, made by the famous German soft toy maker Steiff (or Margarete Steiff GmbH to give the full title), which started in 1880, and began to make their popular teddy bear in 1902. The gold coloured Steiff button on the ear is one of their trademarks, and was added in 1904 to avoid counterfeiting.

This watch is called the Steiff Teddy's Watch, and seems to have been produced around 1991 (based on the only site I found that mentioned a date). It was sold individually (coming in a shop display with a Steiff bear in the middle), and also looks to have been an accessory for the larger bears. Several colours of strap were available, and also a few different case colours too.

The watch is a standard 3 hand dial design with a Japanese (Miyota) quartz movement. The case is light (but also easy to scratch) and made of aluminium, and the watch has a leather strap (from Hong Kong).

Ultra Seven - Ring of Stars watch

A while back, I was thinking of posting a watch from a series of Ultraman /Ultra Seven, which I seem to have built up a collection of. I had planned to blog this one as a boxed watch, but when I looked at it, it looked like it might be more interesting than just a basic LCD watch. So I had to get it working and wear it.

The watch is for a series called Ultra Seven (or Ultraseven), which was a Japanese hero TV series and the follow-up to the Ultraman series. The series originally aired in 1967 and followed the adventures of the Ultra Guard and their work to protect Earth from Alien invaders.

The watch features the series title and Ultra Seven's head printed on the strap. The head of the watch features a high kicking Ultra Seven surrounded by a ring of stars.

At the bottom of the face is a tiny LCD display with 3 1/2 digits which can show time, date, or seconds. This is controlled by the two buttons on the right (top to change display, and bottom to start setting mode).

The two buttons on the left side start the interesting feature (that I was hoping for when I got the watch working). The top button is actually a switch which turns on  the lights mode, which sets red LED lights spinning behind the stars (for about 10 seconds). Once switched on, the bottom left button then sets off this light show until you switch it back off again. The clock and lights run off different batteries, with the LCD module using an AG3 and the lights using a CR2025. Watch out when trying to open the back as the back plate goes under the ends of the strap, so the strap must be removed before you can open the watch.

There is no makers mark on the watch, but is says on the back that it is copyright 1967 Tsuburaya Productions, and licensed by Medialink International Limited.

Adidas Race ADM4004

Today I'm wearing another sporty watch by Adidas, but this one is part of their kids range of watches (although it still works for a small wrist like mine).

This has a little more normal look than my last Adidas watch, but is quite high tech for a small watch.

It has an LCD display with large characters across the middle that get taller towards the centre. This line can show 6 digits, but is set to to also show letters as well as numbers. Above this is another line of 6 digits/letters in a much smaller size.

The model is called the Race, and this shows when you use the stopwatch mode. Instead of the time starting when you press the button, it beeps a countdown (two short beeps followed by a longer high pitch beep), while the display shows 'ready', 'set', 'go'. It's different from the normal stopwatches, and is designed as a means to start a race. As well as time and stopwatch mode, there are two separate alarms.

This model was part of the Adidas Spring/Summer 2010 collection and has a model number of ADM4004.

I don't know who made the watch, but it is made under license for Adidas AG, and has a Miyota (Citizen) module. The case and strap are plastic and rubber construction, and it is 3atm water resistant.

Kids Butterfly Watch

Today's post is more about the story than the watch.

As a watch collector, many of my friends and family decide to buy me watches as a present. The problem is that they never know what to get as no-one is sure what I already have. That means that I get quite silly watches sometimes, and as they are presents, the become part of the collection.

Today's watch was a present, and is quite unique in my collection. It is a 3 hand dial watch with a quartz movement and a cartoon butterfly on the dial. The strap is a moulded resin/rubber strap with more cartoon butterflies moulded and painted on.

Everything else is a mystery, there are no makers marks anywhere, and the box just says "Kids". The back of the packaging isn't any more helpful. It just mentions it was brought in by Norwegian Toy Import AS, from Drammen in Norway, and that you should remember that name for further reference. Their website says nothing about the company apart from contact details and the managers name.

Pokemon - learn the time kids watch

Along with my watch collecting, I also find myself occasionally getting hooked on certain games. Pokemon is one of these games, as I think that the "gotta catch em all" mentality calls to the same part of my brain that collects the watches. Where the collections overlap, there are the Pokemon watches!
This watch is from the Pokemon Black and White time, and has pictures of various Pokemon around the strap. The watch head is large, and is a pseudo-ana-digi watch. The colour scheme is that of a pokeball, and there is a picture of Pikachu on the dial.
The LCD module is basic, with only time, date, and seconds options, and the second button is for time setting.
The analogue display is not powered, but is rotated by a wheel on the top right. I guess this is to help kids tell the time, as you can turn the dial until it reads the same time as the LCD, so they can understand how the watch works.