Reena Matrix

I'm going to be moving about a bit over the next couple of days, so my posts may be a little sporadic!
Today, it's the turn of an American watch called the Reena Matrix

It was designed in the USA, but made in China, and the back states it is covered under US patent D337531.

The Reena brand is a little elusive, as I can find sites selling Reena watches, but no info on the company itself.

The Matrix watch has a green inverse LCD display with blocks set into two columns. The left column is the hours and shows one block where the hour is. The right column is the minutes, and fills up from the bottom in blocks of 5. The bottom right block is split into 4 segments, and covers the individual minutes for each block of 5. Pressing the mode button switches the display to date showing month (left) and date (right).

The design is very minimal with a long thin case, and thin black leather strap.

Citizen Independent 1481010 Dual Display D295

Another 1481010 day today, and a design I haven't featured before! I'm a big fan of the 1481010s, which were released in 1997 as a line of fashion watches aimed at young adults. The range featured many different designs, and if you include all special editions, and all colour variations, there were over 250 variants released before the range stopped in 2003.

This one is from the start of the 1481010 range, and was made in 1997. It has an LCD display, split into 3 sections by the face design, with a round case. I've seen this one referred to as the UFO because of the round shape which tapers from the middle to the top and bottom. The two main displays (and mode indicator in the middle) are all on one square LCD panel, and usually cover time on the top, and date + day on the bottom. It has dual alarms, and dual time, along with the stopwatch and timer modes that are common amongst the 1481010s. When in the other modes, the modes display takes over the top window and the time
is shown in the bottom window.

The module used for this model is a D295, and the full model number is D295-L16819. The model was out in 1997, but doesn't appear to have been in any of the Citizen catalogues of the time!

Citizen Trans Continents 6300 - Lunar Module

Today's watch sounds like it should be on a Nasa mission to land on the moon rather than tell the time!

The reason for the name is that one of the four indicator dials on the face is for the moon phase. It has a picture of the moon that travels across a semicircular window, being a full moon in the middle, a new moon when it has disappeared, and a part moon when it is partially obscured. The face also has 3 other small dials covering day (left), date (top), and month (right). The watch itself is a 3 hand dial in a square case, and uses a 6300 module.

It is part of the Citizen Trans Continents range which seems to have a retro 60s travel theme, but doesn't appear in any of the Citizen dealer catalogues of the time.

This watch was made in 2003, but I don't know how long it was on sale for.

Casio Waveceptor Solar WV-100J

Over the last few days, I've been blogging more novelty watches, so I've gone for something serious today.
Over the years, Casio has produced many lines based on their key features - for example, Casio Illuminator, Casio Databank, Waveceptor, and Tough Solar. Today's watch, the WV-100J, actually falls into all of those categories, but is mainly under the Waveceptor range.
The Waveceptor range are watches which synchronize with various broadcast stations around the world to make sure that the time is always correct. There are two stations in Japan, one in the US, and two in Europe (UK, and Germany) - this model was for Japan and the US only, and doesn't appear to have the option to synchronize with the European stations. It is however possible to manually set the watch either by time zone (so you're covered while travelling), or direct setting.
It is also a solar powered watch, with a ring of solar panels around the edge of the LCD display. At the edge of the LCD, in the top left lies the power meter with 4 blocks, and if the power gets down to 1, some functions start to become disabled. There is also a power saving Recovery mode (which is indicated by a block in the top right of the display) which activates if you use the alarm and/or Illuminator el-backlight too much in a short time.
All this and more is powered by a 2514 module, which has time, date, 4 alarms, dual time, and stopwatch. The data memory stores 315 letters, and will keep small memos - memos can also be attached to alarms to display a message as the alarm sounds.
The watch has a round LCD display, with the time in the centre (4-digits), and seconds below. Above the time is a band of dot matrix (35x5) which normally has date and day, and shows messages depending on where you use it. Around the edge of the LCD are the function markers, signal strength meter, alarm indicators, and power meter.
It is made from steel and plastic, and is 5 bar water resistant. The strap has a part number of S-911L.

Kamen Rider / Masked Rider Transformation Belt Watch Two

Another of my boxed watches today, and the second of a series I began to post in July last year.

It is another of the Kamen Rider Transformation Belt watches which were released in 1998 by Japanese toymaker Banpresto. They are modelled on the special belts which the Kamen Rider used to transform into his superhero form. Four different watches were released, and this is the white version of Kamen Rider 1's belt from the first series. The Kamen Rider series (or Masked Rider in the US) was created in 1971 by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori, and revolves around a world where terrorists convert victims into mutant cyborgs. Kamen Rider is managed to escape the process before he was brainwashed and fights back against the terrorists.

The watch part is revealed by opening up the watch, and like most novelty watches, it's got a 4-digit LCD display, and can show only time, date, and seconds.

It also states on the box that this is a 'Toru Toru item', and I think they might have been a prize in an arcade.

Power Watchz Micro Racer

Now, in the world of watches, you can get all sorts of different non-time telling features. Today's is one of the more silly of those!

Today's blog watch is called the Power Watchz Micro Racer. It has a normal basic 4 digit LCD, and a buttons to switch between the time, date, and seconds display, and to set the time.

There are also two other buttons on the right corners with arrows showing on them, but these are for the extra attachment on the strap - a remote control car! Once the car has been taken off the strap, and the power buttons on car and watch have been turned on, you have a fully working remote control car. The buttons on the watch move the car forwards or backwards while turning (and it goes at quite a speed). At the bottom of the watch, there is a select button which sets one of 4 channels, so you can race with up to 4 friends at the same time. One site I found stated that this was the World's Smallest Watch Controlled Car!

The watch is made in China, but I can't find any more details about it's manufacturer.

DJ Honda Flash Beam

I've blogged a few watches before where a watch brand has collaborated with a DJ and released a model under both names. Today is a watch where the DJ appears, but with no manufacturers mark.

The watch is called the Flash Beam and is by DJ Honda. DJ Honda is the stage name of Katsuhiro Honda, who is a hip hop DJ, music producer, and runs his own clothing company. He has produced many tracks and has worked with the likes of Mos Def and Red man. The watch is part of the clothing company which was started in in the 1990s, and opened in New York in 2000, but I don't know when the watch was released. The clothing line (best known for it's top selling baseball caps) goes under the name h - displayed the font normally used for his full DJ name, and can be seen above the LCD display, and engraved into the back.

The watch itself is a quartz LCD watch with a 6 digit inverse LCD display, with day markers along the top. The watch is controlled by 4 buttons (two front and two side), and has alarm and stopwatch modes (and a button to display the date). The 5th button operates the Flash Beam which is an LED torch mounted on the left side of the watch. The flash beam was especially designed as a feature for some of his watches, and is there with the purpose of giving light while you operate your decks in a dark club!

The back shows just the model name DJ004 (and the label says DJ004-02), and with no module number, I can't tell if the watches were actually made by one of the larger manufacturers. The label that came with it also has the number 7978 but that isn't too helpful either. The original sale price was 12,000 yen.