Independent 1481010 Neophilia Jonathan Barnbrook + Beams Works D501

After discussing 1481010s yesterday, I thought I'd share another one today. And this one is one of the most limited release watches from the entire range. You can find out much more on the 1481010 range in my overview page (link).

At a glance, this looks like it has the same module as the 'shutter' D500 watches that I've blogged before. A closer look shows that the seconds shown in the middle of the LCD display have a curved look. Starting up the time display reveals the LCD digits which are all very stylised too. This is due to the special edition done for the Japanese clothing brand Beams with British designer Jonathan Barnbrook.

Beams is a clothing brand and department store established in Harajuku, Tokyo in the mid 70s, and have been involved in a few watch designs. Barnbrook is a designer who is most known for work with album covers (including David Bowie and Jamie Foxx), but is also a well known font designer, and this has been put to use in the watch. All of the text on the watch also has a special font. He is well known in Japan, having designed the logo and identity for Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.

The watch has a special D501 module which is a variant on the D500 or D510 (link) with the new fonts. It is part of the Neophilia line within the 1481010s and this particular one seems to have been given the name Ignis. These watches match the 'shutter' LCD design with the resin surrounded metal straps from others in the range.

The display starts as a mirrored LCD with inverse seconds in the middle. The time display below is a standard LCD with 3 lines of two digits which is revealed on a button press (with an animation of the mirrored display opening like a shutter). This normally makes a beep unless you start the light first. This module gives the watch chronograph, alarm, and timer modes too.

It had a very limited release with only 200 being made (so is one of the rarest 1481010s). It came out in 2000, in the middle of the 1481010 era.

The full model number is D501-S92693.

Citizen Independent 1481010 - C353 Turquoise

It's the end of the week and a familiar watch today.

As part of my collection of Citizen Independent 1481010 watches, I've been trying to get every variation that was released, so I have many variations on the same design. The 1481010 range was sold in the late 90s to early 2000s, and included many interesting and noticeable designs. Plenty more information on the range can be found in my overview page (link in the top right corner of this page).

This design is a Digi-Ana (or Ana-Digi if you prefer), and is built around a C353 module. It was the first model in the Neophilia sub - range, and came out in 1999. There is an LCD display at the top, an electronic dial in the bottom left, and an LCD animated pattern in the bottom right. The LCD display is also colour matched in this model, with the numbers being light green. The C353 models have dual time (as the dial and LCD are not linked and can show separate times), two alarms, chronograph, and timer functions.

This particular model has a number of C353-L72820, and the original sale price was 15,000 yen. It's catalogue number was IT21-4495S. This particular colour was only available in 1999, but the style still continued to 2001.

Citizen Independent 1481010 neophilia yellow - D510

Here is the first from my Citizen Independent 1481010 collection - the neophilia (yellow).
The definition of neophilia is a tendency to like anything new, or a love of novelty. So by that definition, my watch collecting habits definitely make me a neophiliac!

The neophilia is one of a number of different designs released under the 1481010 banner between 1997 and 2003 mainly in Japan. For more info on the 1481010 brand, see  http://whichwatchtoday.blogspot.com/p/citizen-independent-1481010-overview.html

This watch has a mirrored inverse LCD which by default shows the seconds. When the time button is pressed, the display changes to a 3 line standard display, which only turns back when the watch has remained still for a set time. The neophilia also has a chronograph, timer and alarm setting.

The full model number for this watch is D510-S90887