Star Wars Reversible Strap watch

For an adult, I have quite a liking for kids watches - they tend to be more unusual, or eyecatching than most of the adults ones.

Today is another novelty (probably kids, but maybe a bit big) watch, and one from my Star Wars watch sub-collection, specifically an Empire Strikes Back item.

This watch is more unusual as it is designed to be reversible. There are different designs on the outside and inside of the strap - one side is Han Solo, and the other is Boba Fett (who is a Mandalorian bounty hunter who is after Han). The strap is made from painted resin, and rotates on a plastic pivot, held in place at it's desired angle by two small bumps.

The watch part is as simple as expected, with only time, date, and seconds on a 4-digit LCD display. The only thing to note there is that the display is quite large compared to many LCD panels.

The back of the watch also has decoration, and features a holographic sticker depicting, Han's spaceship, the Millennium Falcon in flight.

There is no information about date or maker on the watch, so from it's look, I'll make a (complete) guess that it is from the mid-90s and would have been released for the special editions of the original films.

Zeon Tech Touch Screen Watch

Today's watch is different as it has no buttons! It's also suffering from the brittle strap problem too, so I can blog it, but it's too fragile to wear.

The watch is the Zeon Tech Touch Screen, which was released sometime in the 2000s (at a guess, maybe late 90s). It has no buttons as such, but if you look closely at the screen, you can see 4 segments with lines zigzagging over them. These 4 areas work as the buttons, and correspond to set (top left), mode (top right), light (or snooze, bottom left), and up (for setting, bottom right). Pressing the screen once activates the screen, and little descriptions appear in each corner to say what each bit of the screen does.

It appears to be a resistive touch screen, as a hard press with a stylus works, but only a very light touch is required with a finger.

The LCD display has two lines, the top is a 4 digit time display, and the bottom row is 6 digits (with smaller seconds) and shows information based on the mode. Speaking of modes, this watch has dual time, and dual alarms, but that's it. There is also an electroluminescent back-light.

On the back there is a number, CE1328B/S, which I guess is model number. For batteries, it uses a CR2032.

Kitty Goods Collection - Hello Kitty 35 Years watch

The Hello Kitty brand is quite a phenomenon. Created by Sanrio in the mid 70s, their cat has featured on many completely different products (my wife has a Hello Kitty emergency alarm!), and has gone through many different styles.

There is even a special official magazine devoted to all things Hello Kitty, called Kitty Goods Collection, and today's watch is from that magazine.

In 2009, for the Memorial Vol. 3 edition, they issued a free watch to commemorate 35 years of the cute feline.

The watch features Hello Kitty sitting down and holding a red flower. The front of the watch opens to reveal a small LCD display and two buttons (along with a picture of two flowers and a butterfly). As with most kids watches, it is very basic with only time, date, and seconds.

The magazine, with watch, was on sale for 2000 yen

Dual Dial ConocoPhillips Commemorative Watch

Another quick update today. I'm travelling between two time zones, so thought I'd have a watch good for travelling!

So, the watch I chose was a dual dial analogue watch, so I could have one dial set to each zone, and could easily change the time.

This watch is by PF Concept and features two dials one above another. They are 2-hand dials, and one has numbers, the other just hour markers.

It was released in the early/mid 2000s for the American oil company ConocoPhillips to commemorate the creation of a new business unit. ConocoPhillips are one of the world's largest independent oil companies, and was formed when Conoco (best known for Jet petrol in Europe), and Phillips (known best in the USA for the Phillips 66 brand).

There is no information on the watch about the specific manufacturer, but it is powered by two independent standard quartz modules (with AG4 batteries).

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.