LTD EDN x SeaHope 12-5-9 B Version - Jon Burgerman

It's the opening night of the NuArt festival in Stavanger tonight, so I had to wear an arty watch. It's also the music festival, so I need something bright, so today's watch fits both needs.

This watch was actually designed by an artist called Jon Burgerman who I had the pleasure of meeting at last year's festival. Jon is an English born artist living in New York who has a vibrant cartoon-like style, and never seems to stop doodling.

The Jon Burgerman design is part of a collaboration between the SeaHope watch brand and Love Through Design. I've blogged quite a bit about SeaHope, and you can find much of the info on the SeaHope summary page. The Love Through Design company work with various key artists through all areas, and act as a consultancy, organizing events and exhibitions, and art licensing. They also work to produce very limited edition watches with the profits going to charity. This range with the 12-5-9 B Version watch was done for the War Child charity and featured 6 designs by 6 different artists, with only 100 of each design being produced.

The watch itself follows the same pattern as a normal 12-5-9 with LEDs in groups - 12 hours, 5 x 10 minutes, and 9 minutes. Pressing the right hand buttons sets off one of several patterns of flashing lights before settling on the correct time. The left button is just for setting. The strap is set into the edge of the face, so you only see the middle strip of the case. The back has the edition number, LTD EDN x SeaHope, Jon Burgerman's logo, and a quote from Martin Luther King Jr - "The time is always right to do what is right."

This version was released in late 2011, but the B Version design originally came out sometime in the 2000s.

Alternative A.L.I.V.E Living touch screen LED watch

I have another light-up watch again as the music festival is still going on.

This one is a design you can find all over the Internet in different variations, however this one is the only one I've seen with a makers name on the face.

The watch is by Alternative A.L.I.V.E Living which (according to the front text) is a Paris based brand established in 1996. A quick Internet search was unable to find this company though. There was an instruction manual (in Japanese) where the model number AC-W-BCG68 is shown.

The face has numbers (unlike most of the others you see online), but there are no hands or buttons. You show the time by pressing the face (quite hard) which starts one of several light patterns before showing the time. Around the dial is a ring of 60 LEDs in blue with white ones at each hour. The ring fills up to the right minute while the hour light flashes. Time is set by holding your finger on the face for a few seconds.

The back just states that it has a stainless steel back and that this is No. 539.

Flash Master light up watch

It's back to the dance music festival again tonight, so I needed a watch that was bright.

Today's watch is called the Flash Master and is a mysterious watch.

It is based around a standard 3 hand dial watch with a very clear to read dial. The unusual feature is hinted about by the instructions on the dial saying pull on, push off. This relates to the red button at the 4 o'clock position.

Pulling the red button sets of the light show with multi coloured LEDs at the 7, 10, and 2 positions (red, green and yellow colours).

There is no information on the watch face or case, so I have no real information about it.

Zeon released a version with a model number of ZR14675, which looks identical, but only had red lights.

Swatch GE111 Psychedelic Red

Today's watch is a Swatch watch, and is the first Swatch watch i bought after starting my watch collection officially. It was actually my second Swatch, but that one I'd bought before I realised I was a collector ;-).

This model is one of the Swatch Originals range which is a set of standard dial watches in a plastic case.

This particular model is called the Psychedelic Red and was part of the Spring /Summer collection from 2003. The model has the number GE111.

The watch has no hands, but works with two transparent discs with dots on. The outer smaller silver dot is for the minutes, and the hour dot is larger, closer to the centre and white.

The case is transparent and you can see the quartz module through the back. The face and strap are covered with white, silver, and red circles.

Casio Ana-Digi Alarm Chronograph AQ-440

A while ago, I posted about a very unusual Casio called the AQ-441G and didn't know much about it, apart from the fact that it was extremely rare.

Today, I'm posting about the predecessor the AQ-440.

This watch uses the same 307 module as the AQ-441, but was released a year or two earlier. This model came out in around 1985 and is an ana-digi model with an LCD and a rotating disc display. The discs cover the top two thirds of the face with a single line LCD below.

For the analogue display, there are three risks which rotate clockwise, with the hours on the outside, and seconds on the inside. Two thirds of the discs are visible, but the lowest 1/6 is behind a shaded window.

The LCD panel has a 6 digit display, and is used to show either time, date, or the other modes which are chronograph, alarm, and dual time.

This model has a silver case with an angular appearance, and a strap design which is matched to the case (part number B-762N). The AQ-441G had a more rounded case, and much less of the discs were visible, but the insides were the same. I've seen variants of this watch in gold, or with a black set of discs.

A comment on my last post said that the AQ-441 was rare even after a couple of years from manufacture, and that it was one of the most expensive watches Casio made at the time. I'd guess that the same applies here as there seems to be a similar number of hits on the Web.

Seiko Cross Training S610

It's a sporty watch today, and it definitely looks the part.

The watch is called "Cross Training" and there is also a variant called "Interval Timer", and is by the Japanese watch giant Seiko. This model is the S610-4000, and it is usually the -4010 that has the interval trainer name.

There is very little online, apart from some auctions, but it's almost always referred to as being ultra rare (and those are the -4010s, and with even less links for the -4000 it appears to be rarer).

It was released in the early 90s, with the first models from 1991, but this one was made in 1992.

Tge first thing you notice is the large clear LCD display covering half the face (-actually, you probably notice the colours first, and then the screen). This has 3 lines of information, with the bottom two both being a massive 7 digit display, with a small display at the top.

The mode button is on the front for easy access, and scrolls through the time, stopwatch, (dual) timer, and alarm modes. The 7 digit display is put to good use in the stopwatch mode as it allows everything from hours to hundredths of a second. It measures lap times, and has the ability to store 30 laps in memory.

As befits a sports watch, it is 10 bar water resistant, and has a robust thick strap (with the part number AL 19 B 18).

Sanyo RaWatch R10P AM Radio Watch

Another watch I've unfortunately been unable to fix today.

The watch is by the Japanese electronics company Sanyo (which is now a subsidiary of Panasonic).

It came out in the mid 80s and is a watch and AM radio called the RaWatch. Sanyo produced quite a few different radio watches in the 80s (both AM and FM radio options). This model has the designation RW-R10P (-the RW is only mentioned on the box which I found in a photo).

The watch has a mono headphone socket on the bottom left, and tuner dial on the bottom right. The top right has another dial called ATT. which I think means attenuation.

The watch part has a basic LCD display, with mode and setting buttons, and will display time, date, (and I'd guess seconds). Across the top of the LCD is a marker for the day too.

There isn't much info on the back of the watch, as it just has the Sanyo logo and model number. Internet searching has shown me that the watch originally cost 7,500 yen, and it included the ear piece in the box.