Citizen C480 Ana-Digi "stripy"

While checking out my blog for info, I found out that I hadn't blogged the watch I was wearing today.

The watch is an ana-digi model by Citizen, based on the C480 module. I'm not sure which year this is from as the module has been around for a while so it potentially could be 84, 94,or 2004. I blogged a Trans Continents watch from 2000 with the same module many years ago. Citizen Trans Continents C480

This watch has a 6 digit LCD display where most of the functions are shown. There are options to display a dual time or date and day, and there is also an alarm and chronograph (down to 1/100th sec). The LCD also has a back light, on the same button as the chronograph start/stop. The dial is crown operated and does not link with the LCD.

Power is supplied from an SR927 battery size.

Design-wise, they have thought this through well with stripes on the dial leading into a line pattern on the case and through onto the pattern in the finely linked strap.

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.

COGU "Jump-Hour" Automatic Watch

Today's watch has one of the most awkward ways of telling time that I've seen in a mechanical watch.

The watch is by the brand COGU, which is a brand I've blogged before, and appears to be a Chinese brand which is said to be an Italian brand founded by Cosimo Gucci. Many things do not make sense with the brand/description so I can't vouch for the accuracy, but they make some interesting watches.

I called this watch a "jump-hour" but it isn't like the more common jump-hour which has a rotating disc. Instead this watch has a normal looking dial, but closer inspection shows the numbers are scattered around the dial. The way the watch works is that at the change of the hour, the hour hand jumps 5 numbers clockwise (5/12 of a rotation) around the dial (instead of the usual 1/12th), but the minute hand rotates as normal. It takes the first few minutes of the new hour for the hour hand to move though. This is all powered by an automatic mechanical movement with a glass window in the back where the weight (and some of the mechanism) can be seen.

Because the hour hand doesn't move during the hour, and the number placement is definitely abnormal, it is a watch that takes some time to get used to telling the time on. But it's definitely a cool idea and fits well into my collection

Deadman Pcychoroid GV8695

My watch today is another of the wonderfully varied Deadman watches. The brand was released in the late 90s and seems to have sold many different styles, but seem quite rare. 

This time it is model number GV 8695 and has the name Psychoroid. 

The watch has a standard Japanese miyota module powering a rotating disc design in a quite elegant looking rounded case.

Withings Scanwatch 42mm

I'm still wearing a smart watch with fitness tracking, so not got back to wearing different watches each day (but considering restarting the trend).

Previously I blogged about the 38mm Withings Scanwatch, but after many years of wearing day and night the back came off and the insides got damaged so I needed something new. As I had been using the Withings system for a while, I changed to the 42mm version of the Scanwatch. The 42mm has a thicker case and wider bezel than the 38mm version, but retains the same functionality (steps/height counter, oxygen saturation, pulse, ECG, and breathing exercise). This time I went for the black version, with the same style of oled screen and steps tracking dial. This model has a two hand dial, but this time with luminescent hands for telling time at night without needing to use the (very bright) oled screen

Metro Starlike

Today is another of the watches from the mysterious Metro brand. I've blogged about this brand before, and what it looks like is that they are a Japanese brand (possibly linked to a furniture store), but with very little firm information around.

This model is called Starlike (deviating from the more common American city naming convention). It is an automatic mechanical watch with a 3 hand mechanism, but only using 2 hands. The seconds hand is replaced by a rotating disc which makes moving patterns with another disc below. There is also a date marker at the 3 o'clock position. 

The strap is a leather strap with a matching geometric pattern, and a Metro branded buckle. 

My best guess is that this is from the late 2000s, and I found an auction article which suggested an original sales price of ¥12600.

Withings Scanwatch 38mm

It's been quite a while since my last post, mainly due to other commitments, but also because I started wearing smart watches.

But, I just saw my blog had hit 1 million total pageviews, and thought it would be nice to get back to blogging sometimes again (and I still have a lot of cool watches to come) .

My first watch back is the Withings Scanwatch which I've been wearing a lot over the last couple of years. This version is the 38mm model in white and silver (model number HWA09). 

The watch is a hybris smartwatch with an electronic 2 hand dial, round oled screen, and small activity dial. The activity dial shows the percentage of your daily target (set through the Withings Health Mate app), while the Oled screen shows the other functions.

The oled screen is triggered by pressing the crown, which displays time and date, and rotating the crown allows you to scroll through the various functions. As you would expect, the watch has pulse rate, step counter, and distance/floors measurement, but this watch goes further with a medical grade ECG and oxygen saturation (SpO2) reading from the sensors on the back. These can be used in conjunction with the sleep tracking to provide estimes of breathing disturbances in the night. 

The watch is charged through a USB adapter, and I usually get around 2 weeks of use before recharging (but this drops if the monitoring features are used very frequently). 

The watch is on the map at the moment with an rrp of around $280

EleeNo Lite ART009 Wheel (variant)

A quick blog post today as the watch I'm wearing is a variant of one which I've blogged before.

The watch is by the 'Handless Time' watch brand called EleeNo which is part of the SeaHope group of watches. I first blogged their 'ART 009 Wheel' watch in 2012, and that post can be found here.

This version has a white disc with red segments showing behind the black face, and comes with a black leather strap.

Storm Salvador

Time for my first post of 2017!

Today's watch I'd another from my selection of watches from the London based brand Storm, and this time it's one of their limited edition watches.

This model is called Salvador, and is a quartz analogue watch with a square case. The front is covered with glass to the edges, except for the right side where there is a sloping strip of metal. The display has one main 3 hand dial, with three smaller dials. The small dials cover date at the top, day on the left, and 24 hr dial on the bottom. Sometimes, I've seen this quoted as being dual time, but I guess that is where they have got confused about the 24hr dial.

I don't know when the watch was released (I'd guess 2000s from the design), but there were only 3000 of this black model released worldwide. The watch was also available in white and blue, and I think those also had a limited number.

The watch has a stainless steel case and strap and is 50m water resistant. The strap has a glass inset in one of the links which has the Storm name behind. There is no mention of the model number on the watch, but one of the sales sites suggested that the model is 4094/BR (with the BR I think referring to the colour).

Nixon - The Iris

Two days running, and I'm blogging!
Today's watch is one of the most bright pink watches I own, and is by the Nixon brand.

This model is called "The Iris" and is sold as a womens watch (although the 39mm case is large enough for it to be unisex).
It has a rounded square design with a tiny window in the centre, where the rotating discs can (just) be seen for the time. There is also a second window at the right side of the face which has a second dial rotating with the seconds, but this only shows different shades of pink as it rotates. This means that inside is a little cramped, with the watch having 2 separate quartz movements, one for each dial! The rest of the face is pink, only broken-up by the mirrored silver Nixon name in the bottom corner, but in the right light you can just about see the two sets of discs through the face. The two movements also makes the placement of the crown a little unusual, with it being on the left side of the watch (so the watch is especially good for people who like to wear their watch on their right arm).

The strap is a clear rubbery design (which seems to have faded to yellow here), and has the Nixon logo cut into the lower half of the strap.

The case is shiny stainless steel, and the watch is 50m water resistant. The back has the Nixon name and the watch name, as well as their usual short catchphrase for the watch, "Eye of the Storm".

From what I can see, it was released in at least 3 different colours, and this one is 'bold pink' with a model number of A106-971

The original retail price was ¥16,000

Happy Halloween - Super Lovers Skull Watch

Hi blog followers.
It's been a while!
As it is Halloween today, and I'm wearing a spooky watch, I thought I'd do a quick blog post while I'm sitting on the bus.

Today's watch is by one of my favourite brands for unusual designs - Super Lovers. The watches are from the Tokyo based company Super Lovers, who seem to release many different watch designs, but only in small quantities.

This particular design uses a watch head designed as a skull, with a small round dial in its forehead. The face also has text around the centre, with phrases "1950-1998 good future for you!", "Tokyo Rock", and "80s New wave ivy punk".

This skull design is coupled with a black leather strap with a presstud type fastening. The strap is also decorated with a skull design, and the words SUPER and LOVERS on the top and bottom sections of the strap.

Inside is a typical Miyota quartz movement, using an AG4 battery.

Metro Design - Omni

Today's watch is another Metro watch, but not the same line of watches I blogged a couple of days ago.

This watch is by a brand called Metro Design, and so far they are a bit of a mystery. I've seen the watches on the Japanese auctions, but when I try to search online, there are too many answers about Metro design relating to city planning for me to find anything about the watches (an when I try to be more specific, I get no results).

The watch is called 'omni' and according to the back of was designed by Romago. It is a large watch, and at a first glance, it appears to just have a blank face with the hour numbers just visible around the edge, and the Metro Design name on the glass. Pressing the button above the crown lights an internal light, and as if by magic, the hands appear behind the glass to show the time. When the light isn't on, you cannot see the hands at all through the glass, no matter what angle you look from. For the time, it has a 3 hand dial design with a quartz movement.

The all black design is followed by the black leather strap, and this has the Metro Design name imprinted into the back of the leather.

The only other information on the watch comes from the back which states it is 3 atm water resistant (suggesting a European market), and that the case and back are stainless steel.

With regards to date, there is no information I've found to be able to definitively determine when it's from, but my hunch is that it is from the 2000s (and maybe 2010s).

UPDATE: It seems like this watch is part of the same Metro brand that I've posted before, but with the name Metro Design rather than Metro Delight. I've seen in an auction that the watch has an instruction manual from the regular Metro brand, and the model number is WW046

Deadman Quartz GV 4089

Even though I've not been blogging for a while, I've been keeping up with trying to find more watches in some of my sub-collections.

Today's watch is one of those and is from the Deadman (or Dead man) watch line that I still only know small amounts about. I do plan to pull together a brand page to cover all of the models I know about (which is more than I've blogged so far) so keep an eye out for that page soon!

This model is the GV 4089 (or GV4089), and is one of the more 'normal' designs that Deadman produced. It is a quartz analogue design with a very 60s/70s feel to the design. It has a deep metal case with an oval face covered by thick glass. The face is a 3 hand dial design with silver hands and numbers at the 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock positions on a black background. The only text on the front is Deadman and Quartz, and the back has the brand name and the model number. The design is completed with a silver metal strap with the usual Deadman embossed bracelet clip.

I have confirmation that the Deadman watches were out in the late 90s, but don't know how long they lasted, and when released, they seem to have been sold around the ¥4000 mark.

Metro Baltimore

The Metro brand of watches is one which I only started collecting quite recently. All of the links I have to the watches seem to tie it back to a Japanese furniture store. They make a range of watches and clocks, most of which seem to be named after places in America.

This watch follows the naming tradition and is called Baltimore. It has a TV shaped dial in a shiny metal case, and has a retro feel to the design. The face features the Metro logo (the word Metro in a script style font with a 5 pointed crown above) along with the Baltimore name, and the word Crystal, which I assume refers to the glass.

It is a quartz model with a 3 hand dial and a date marker at the 3 o'clock position. The strap is metal, and closed with an expanding buckle with the Metro logo engraved on it.

The back of the watch has the logo and watch name along with saying it is a "1970's model". This must refer to the design style, as I think the Metro watches are from either the late 2000s or within the last few years.

Super Lovers Floating Dial

Sorry it's been a while since my last blog, so I home some of you out there are still following! I plan to get back to blogging a bit more, but don't think it'll be back to daily updates just yet.

For today's watch, I'm wearing something that expands the mystery of the linked designs even further. Regular readers may remember that I've been following various Japanese fashion watch brands which seem to be linked by common designs. Watches by Deadman, Module, Deep, etc. seem to have produced their own versions of the same watch over different time periods.

Until today, the Super Lovers brand seemed to be separate from this group, but this watch shares a remarkable similarity to the Deadman Live Wire I posted last year. As I have a hunch that the Super Lovers brand commission watches from a variety of manufacturers, I guess it shouldn't be unexpected that they ended up with something similar though!

The Super Lovers brand originate from the  Harajuku district in Tokyo and have been known for their mix of punk, clubbing, and cute influences.

This watch I've nicknamed the Super Lovers Floating Dial as the dial and mechanism is surrounded by glass so you can see right through the watch from front to back, with the only connection to the case being the stem linking the module to the crown. The back glass in this design isn't completely clear, but is in red glass, and has the text Super Lovers All Stars written around the edge. I think the All Stars name might refer to a line of watches, as I've seen it before on other designs.

Time is shown on the "floating" 3 hand dial and is powered by a Japanese quartz module. The dial features the Super Lovers logo which is like the Superman symbol but with a heart instead of the S. The strap is metal mesh with a buckle, and matches with the metal case. There is no information on the back of the watch, but you can see right through to the quartz module.

I don't know exactly when the watch wad released, but I'd guess this was late 90s or early 00s based on the link to the Deadman design.

Boy London B131

On my way out this morning, I grabbed one of my many Boy London watches, and again this is one with a different style!

This model has the number B131 and is a 3 hand dial design quartz watch. The dial is completely unlike any other of my Boy London models, and features none of the normal shapes, symbols, or even styles I've blogged before. This watch has a printed face of what looks to be a photo of a pattern of studs and ball bearings. In small writing between the pattern is the Boy London name, and that is it for the obvious branding.

The back is a design I've seen before, with the B symbol from the B for Boy line of watches they released. The back also has the text Boy London since 1976, referring to the date when Stephanie Raynor founded the brand in London (-for more brand info, see my other Boy London posts).  The only other information on the watch shows it has a stainless steel back, Japanese movement, and is 3atm water resistant.

The date is one of the hard things to measure with these watches, as it doesn't always correspond with the key dates for the brand. Trying to date it from the design also has me confused, as I've not seen anything quite like it, but if I had to guess, I'd say early 00s...

Benetton by Bulova Shaking Salsa

Sorry about the lack of posts at the moment, but I've been a little snowed under, but I've managed to find enough time to squeeze in this quick post. Normal service will hopefully be resumed soon!

Today, I'm picked one of the watches from my Benetton by Bulova range. The range started in the 90s, but so far I've not found out when they stopped. This watch was part of a line that they made called "Time of the World", and they all seem to have had this general case design.

This particular model has a white case (which is a first) with a bright green strap. The face is also green, and has the words Shaking Salsa in purple and black written across it.

I got this model in its box, so I found out that the original sale price was ¥7,000. Unfortunately, the guarantee card hadn't been stamped, so it didn't help with the date (but I think these models may have been from the 90s).