Casio G-Shock DW-5600 Summer Gradation Midday White

I'm going to see a concert tonight by an artist called LidoLido. One if his songs has they lyrics "spending hours trying to change my comprehension of time, so I cop another G-Shock", and he gestures to a white G-Shock he always wears. So today, it seemed right to wear a white G-Shock!

Today's Casio G-Shock is a more modern model than most of my G-Shock posts. This model was released in May 2007 and was part of a range called Summer Gradation. The range came in 3 colours, and were based on the colours of the sun and ocean on a summers day. This model is the white version called Midday White, with an ocean coloured face, and had a full model number of DW-5600L-7.

The DW-5600 watches use a 1545 module, and are much more basic in look (and less rugged looking) than a lot of the G-Shocks. It does have the standard alarm, timer, and stopwatch modes, but none of the special features, sensors, or animated displays found on other models. It is of course still shock resistant, and water resistant to 20 bar.

The display is a 2 row LCD panel with time (6 digits) along the bottom, and day and date across the top.

These models are quoted to normally be most popular with the young surfers as they don't need the same protection for their watches as other more extreme sports fans, and the designs often represent more beach and sea themes.

Ronson Ana-digi Alarm Chronograph

A new maker today, but another in the Ana-Digi collection. I bought this one because of its passing resemblance to one of the 1481010 models.

This watch is by the Ronson brand which is actually an American lighter company which started in the 1880s. Not much is mentioned about their watches, but the back states it was assembled in China. The module used is a Japanese quartz CC85 module which appear to have been used in Citizen Freeway (or Free Way)  watches, suggesting that Citizen made the watches for Ronson as a collaboration.

It has a single module for both the analogue and LCD displays. The analogue display is a small 3 hand dial, and uses a crown for setting. The LCD is split into sections for time, mode, and seconds information. The time is a 6 digit panel with smaller seconds, the mode display covers which modes are not in use, and the seconds display fills and empties by the second up to 10, but shows 1/100th sec in the chronograph mode. Apart from the chronograph, there are dual alarms and a timer mode.

The watch was originally sold in Japan for 12,000 yen, and has a full model number of CC85-A42756. The catalogue number was AA92-3661N.

Citizen Independent 1481010 D500 Plastic Links

The D500 "shutter" moduleSally Vox is a versatile and we'll used module, and was featured is a lot of different Citizen watches in the late 90s, including a lot of the Citizen Independent 1481010 models. You can find out all about the 1481010 range from my 1481010 overview page.

This version of the watch has a distinctive wide plastic hinged strap which screws into a rectangular aluminium case. The watch case was mostly (maybe always) silver, but there are a range of different strap colours, along with variations on the colour surrounding the mirrored LCD display. This design came out in late 1999 as part of the fleur de lys range and was on sale until the end of the 1481010s  in 2003.

As with the other D500 watches, the default display is with seconds only showing in the middle. Pressing the display button makes the mirrored LCD reveal the time below with am animation looking like shutters are being opened. Normally, the watch beeps when you do this, except when the light is activated first. Other modes are alarm, chronograph, and timer.

Working out how to change the time is a little complex, but it's done by displaying the time and then holding both of the top buttons.

This particular model has the smoky black strap and black LCD surround. It has a full model number of D500-S73109, and a catalogue number of IT21-4501K. The originalsale price was 15,000 yen. 

Like many 90s watches, you need to watch out for the straps becoming brittle (but you may notice a slight sticky/oily feeling of the surface as a warning).

Casio Art Casual PTM-10 Dinosaur Green

I've decided I have quite a lot of the Art Casual watches by Casio, but I still don't know much about them...

What i do know is that they seem to have been for the Far East market only, and were probably released in the 1980s to compete with the simple and colourful Swatch watches. The range came out in various designs, modules, and series.

This watch is one of the PTM series which the majority fit into. It is also the second PTM-10 watch, and this tells me that the PTM-10 series appear to all be covering different Dinosaur patterns, and so I'd guess that each series had a theme to the design.

As with the others, it is a basic 3 hand dial design, and this time it's using the 381 quartz module. It also features the fully printed strap and face that marks out the Art Casual watches. From the face of the watch, you can only see vegetation and a grey trunk, but looking on the top half of the strap, you then see the dinosaurs head (along with some flying dinosaurs). The bottom half of the strap just has more vegetation.

I haven't identified the featured dinosaur, but it could be a Diplodocus. This dinosaur was from the late jurassic period, which fits with the era of the dinosaur shown on the other watch i blogged.

The full model number is PTM-10-3E2, and it has a strap part number of 206 P6 (bottom) and P8 on the top half.

Nooka Zub Zibi Zirc - Blue Glow

A lot of the Nooka watches I've posted so far have had a certain look - square displays with a combination of bars and numbers. This Nooka watch is a little different, and is full of hexagons.

The watch is a Zub Zibi Zirc and is a smaller watch than many of the other designs. It has a hexagonal face with a square LCD display in the middle. There are two parts to the display - the hours are in a circle and represented by 12 blocks that fill as the time progresses. The minutes are shown in numbers in the middle, but instead of using the usual 7 segment LCD digits, these are made of 13 hexagonal blocks, making each digit look very rounded. Controls are by the buttons on either side of the case, and these are arranged to look like the infinity symbol that is used for the two o's in the Nooka logo. This model has dual time modes, and also includes an alarm.

The module is encased in a rubbery resin case, which in this case glows blue. The strap fastener is a little unusual, with the lower strap clicking upwards onto a peg on the buckle.

The back has a lot of text as well as the Nooka Mindstyle marks, and explains the laws and patents that the watch is covered by.

The watch is also 3atm water resistant, and has a backlight for nighttime use.

Nooka is the brainchild of artist/designer Matthew Waldman, and is a fashion design company based in New York. Everything is designed under the guidance of their Nookafesto of Universal Communication, Passion, Interaction, Purpose, Inspiration, and Futurism.

Kids Butterfly Watch

Today's post is more about the story than the watch.

As a watch collector, many of my friends and family decide to buy me watches as a present. The problem is that they never know what to get as no-one is sure what I already have. That means that I get quite silly watches sometimes, and as they are presents, the become part of the collection.

Today's watch was a present, and is quite unique in my collection. It is a 3 hand dial watch with a quartz movement and a cartoon butterfly on the dial. The strap is a moulded resin/rubber strap with more cartoon butterflies moulded and painted on.

Everything else is a mystery, there are no makers marks anywhere, and the box just says "Kids". The back of the packaging isn't any more helpful. It just mentions it was brought in by Norwegian Toy Import AS, from Drammen in Norway, and that you should remember that name for further reference. Their website says nothing about the company apart from contact details and the managers name.

Coca-Cola Icecubes watch

Sorry, but I can't do today's post without massive advertising..

This watch is actually the cheapest I've ever bought at auction - about $1 including postage!

It is a promotional watch for Coca-Cola, but had quite a cool face so I couldn't resist.

It is a two hand, 1 disc watch, with the disc rotating with the seconds. The face has been designed such that the ice cubes printed on the seconds dial look like they are being thrown from a hand into the glass on the other side of the dial.

The back suggests that the watch was designed by Helge Høgberg - Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden. I can't find anything else about him, but the use of a ø suggests he is from Denmark or Norway. The only other thing the back tells me is that it's 3atm water resistant.

The strap is also advertising, with the Coke logo on both parts.