Seiko Alba Y735 Panelight

More retro LCD again today, with an 80s model this time.

The watch is by the Seiko sub-brand Alba which is the far east version of the Lorus brand.

It is part of a range dubbed Panelight which covered a set of watches named after Alba's el-backlighting system. These watches started in the 1980s, and this model was from 1989.

Apart from the Panelight, the watch is an alarm chronograph watch, with one alarm (viewed by pressing the set button), and the stopwatch which is activated with the mode button. The watch has a large digit LCD display with 6 digits, and there is a day marker along the top. To see the date, you need to press the select button.

The full model number is Y735-4A40, and it has a Seiko FOM7JB-L strap.

It's actually quite a chunky thick watch for an old LCD, probably due to the need for a CR2016 battery.

Seiko Chronograph A229

One of the older retro LCD watches today, with an example of a 70s vintage watch.

The watch is an LCD Chronograph watch by Seiko with an A229 module. This model is an A229-5030 which was released in 1979, but the A229 watches started with the -5000 in 1978.

The display is a two line LCD, with month and date along the top (months having larger digits), a day marker running between the lines, and the time (in 6 digits) along the bottom.

The watch only has chronograph functions, and has two modes - standard lap and section lap. During these modes, both lines display the chronograph with the bottom one for time, and the other for split (except in section lap mode where the top line resets with every restart). The only other thing the watch has is a bulb based light.

The watch was made in Japan, and has a Seiko strap (with part number XJA451L).

Casio JP-200W Exercise Pulse Monitor

It's retro gadget watch time again!
One of my most popular watches on the blog is my Casio BP-120 Blood Pressure Monitor watch, and today's watch is a forerunner to that one.

The watch is the Casio Exercise Pulse Monitor, and has a model number of JP-200W. It looks like a normal LCD watch with two lines of numbers, apart from the green blob on the right side. This is the pulse monitor's sensor. You start the pulse monitor with the left middle button, which starts by showing the word pulse flashing on the top line, followed by timer. Holding your finger lightly on the sensor starts he reading, with the pulses animated along a pink line of LCD between the two lines of numbers, and the beats per minute (bpm) are shown at the bottom. Above the pulse animation is a line which shows your bpm in relation to the aerobic zone (which I guess can be reset), so you can monitor how long and how far you are in the zone. The main problem with this type of sensor is that you need to hold your finger quite steady, so getting your pulse during exercise is rather hard.

Normally, the LCD display shows day and date on the top line (which can have up to 6 digits), with the time on the bottom line (6 digits with smaller seconds) The watch has other modes - alarm, timer, stopwatch, and exercise data recall.

Module-wise, the watch uses a 1009 module, and this model was made in Malaysia. It came out in 1992 as a sequel to Casio first pulse watch (the JP-100), and originally cost around $50.

EleeNo EG3 Black and Green

It's been a little while since I wore one of my more cryptic time machines, so today it's another EleeNo.

The EleeNo brand is one of the sub brands of the SeaHope watch group. They are known for their range of 'handless time' watches, and have usually been seen outside of Japan under the Tokyoflash umbrella. I have an overview page for SeaHope watches, and there I give more information about the total set of watches.

This watch is the EG3 by EleeNo, which came out in 2007. It is one of a series of watches based around 9 LCD display windows in a 3x3 pattern (sometimes with an extra 4th row). The arrangement is simple with the top row showing hours, the middle row 10 minutes, and the bottom row individual minutes. To get the right number of digits, the hour windows cover 4 hours each (filling the top row of all of the windows first), the minutes in groups of threes per window, and there are two 10 minute blocks per window. As there is a spare block in terms 10 minutes, this is filled with the letters EG which flash every second.

The row below the time windows is filled with 3 buttons. The left starts time setting, and the middle activates the backlight (although I have a problem with a few of these watches that causes the light to reset the time, even with a new battery). Pressing the right button doesn't seem to do anything.

When it came out, it was sold for 9,800 yen.

Hog Wild Bracelet Watch

I was sorting out boxes today, and found this watch. It's in a bad state, and probably beyond repair, but it's been with me through a lot.

I got it in the early 2000s, at the time I was playing a lot of touch rugby. As there was the potential for contact, I couldn't wear a normal watch, so bought this to wear while playing. So this must be one of my most worn watches, as I used it twice a week for 3-4 years.

The watch is copyright of Hog Wild, LLC. Hog Wild was formed in 1996, and sell innovative novelty products for older kids and into adults. The company is based in Portland, Oregon (or Porkland as they call it), but the watch is made in China.

It has a stretchy rubber strap which fastens onto the ends of the plastic watch head. The head houses the watch module, which displays time on it's 4 digit LCD display. There are inset buttons in the back, one for changing the display (time, date, or seconds), and one for setting the watch.

According to the back of the watch, it was made in 2003. Due to it's age and exposure to the elements, the rubber in the strap has now perished, and is quite fragile.

Euston FM Radio Calculator Watch

Today's watch I've been trying to get to work for a while. It keeps flickering into life, but there seems to be a loose connection somewhere inside.

The watch is a China made watch either called, or made by Euston.

It is a watch that has a few features that have nothing to do with timekeeping. Firstly, there is a calculator where the number buttons placed in a circle around the LCD display, and the four functions are placed closer to the display. The display can show up to 7 digits which limits the size of the calculation.

The second feature is an FM radio. There is a headphone socket on the left of the watch, and the radio can be tuned by turning the toothed wheel which is around the front of the case (which turns a small red cog that is the part which interacts with the electronics).

The watch part has time, alarm, and world time, and shows on the LCD display. The world time is selected by the calculator buttons, with each number linked to a different city.

Apart from that, I haven't found many details. The back states the fabrication location, and shows the battery requirements (2xLR44 for the radio and 1xLR41 for the watch).

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.