Swatch Sea Traffic

Today I went for something a bit more colourful with a watch from my old Swatch collection.

This Swatch watch is called Sea Traffic, and has a very colourful appearance. The case is a slightly transparent orange colour with a green, purple, orange, and white face. The numbers on the dial are a mix of standard digits (even numbers) and roman numerals (odd numbers). Towards the outside of the dial is a ring split into 60 alternating orange and white blocks for the minutes /seconds with numbers for the first 10 and then every 5, and the seconds hand is in a matching orange. The strap is a dark purply blue with various patterns such as arrows, dotted lines (like a route on a map), and boat sails.

The Sea Traffic is one of the Originals collection and a Standard Gents design. It was designed in 1993 and released as part of the 1994 Spring Summer collection. The model number is GO101.

Noon Copenhagen 43-003

Today's watch is a little more unusual in design than it first looks, and is by a brand that is new to this blog.

This watch is by Noon, who are a Danish brand based in Copenhagen. Noon Copenhagen was established in 2007 based on their display concept, and they worked with Danish award winning designer Henrik Sørig (who has worked for many companies, including Bang & Olufsen). The company came with the aim of affordable Danish design with a twist, and a motto of "not afraid to be different".

The Noon watches are all based around the Noon patented disc system dial design. At first the watch looks to be a standard 3 hand dial design, but as they promised, there is a twist. The hands are mounted onto discs, with each disc being a different colour either side of the hand. On this model, the watch has red and grey halves which move with the hour hand, while the minutes disc has a clear and a cloudy white (transparent) half. This has the effect of looking like the watch is split into 4 colour sections which change as the time progresses.

This particular model is the 43-003 type and is classed as a "Standard" design on the website. The colour is red and black with  hour numbers around the edge and it has a round silver stainless steel case (5 atm water resistant) and black leather strap, with this colour and case variation designated 43-003L1. The watch has the Noon name and logo printed on the glass on the face, with the name, logo, website and usual info on the back. Inside is a quartz movement which the website quotes as a 2035 module (which I think may be a Miyota module).

This model is still for sale on the website, meaning that it is a current design, and the price is $155.

Alba Hyper-Tech Carbon Twin Sensor

As it's Easter Sunday, it's a tradition to go for a hike before sunrise and watch the sun come up from the top of a hill. For that purpose I decided to wear a watch designed for the hills.

The watch I chose today is by the Seiko brand Alba, and part of their Hyper-Tech (or Hypertech) range. The watch has many names printed on it: Carbon, Twin Sensor, and Alti-Thermo.  I think that Carbon refers to a particular line of Hyper-Tech watches, while the twin sensor and alti-thermo names refer to the fact that this watch has both barometer (altimeter) and thermometer sensors /functions. The design is big and chunky and has a look which is a little reminiscent of the G-Shocks, but with a non-symmetrical shape. There are many screws on the case, and the sensor is visible at the top of the watch. The strap is a rubbery plastic (which suffers from brittleness) with a ridged design and had the part number of PW031.

The LCD is split into two sections for the different features. The top display has a dot matrix array and a small area for digits, and is used for the day and date as well as the altitude graph or elevation change and hundredths of a second in stopwatch mode. The bottom part of the LCD has two lines which give the time (6 digits at the bottom) and height and atmospheric pressure above. At the right side of this section is a set of Arrows pointing up and down to indicate the change in atmospheric pressure and hence predict the weather (going up =sun, and going down =rain). The watch is controlled by 5 buttons for the modes, adjustment, start/stop and light (small bulb based). The mode button unusually pulls out to put the watch in time setting mode.

The watch is powered by a W754 module which has alarm (possibly time, altitude, and temperature), altimeter /barometer, and chronograph (with altitude recording).

This model is the W754-4A00 and came out in 1995. The catalogue number was ADQP001 and an original sales price of ¥14,000.

Deep Skeleton watch

Today's model is from a fashion brand which I'm gaining a bit of a collection of.

The watch is by the Deep watch brand, who I've been collecting for a little while now. There isn't much about them, and the only thing I know from the collection is that they are made in China, and have at least one design which is the same as a Deadman model.

This model is a mechanical model with a hand wind movement. It has a skeleton appearance with the whole face being see through as well as the back. There is no name on the movement inside, but it looks similar to the mechanical movements in the Deadman and J-Axis models. On the back there is no model number, just the Deep name. The face has the numbers printed under the glass giving it a flat appearance. The strap is a black (genuine) leather design.

As with the other Deep watches, I don't know the date, but my guess is early 00s (as they aren't for sale new and the similar Deadman watches were late 90s).

Electro LCD Digital Watch

It's a simple watch which I kept in my collection because I liked the look of it.

The watch is a basic LCD watch called Electro. This may be the name of the company or the watch itself, but from a few of the sites selling it, they reference the company making it as being Daiso. The Japanese Daiso company started in 1978 as a household item company, and has expanded into the ¥100 shop market (which is where it seems the watch has been sold).

This model has the model number of M-2401 and is an LCD design. It has a 3 1/2 digit display panel showing the time by default. There is a single main button for switching the display between the time, date, and seconds, as well as a second inset button for changing the time.

The design has a clear blue plastic case, with a white case inside (which gives it an interesting look). The blue part of the case is one piece with the plastic strap and so is also partly clear.

As the watch was sold at ¥100 shops, it is a low cost model, and is relatively new (but may not be sold anymore).

Diesel DZ-5195

Today's watch is a simple one, so probably a short blog post today.

The watch I've been wearing is by the Diesel clothing brand.

This model is the DZ-5195 (which is sometimes written online as DZ5195 or DZ 5195). It is technically a ladies watch, but suitable for anyone with a small wrist. The watch has a 2 hand dial design in a square face. The case is curved at the top and bottom and fits around your wrist (which would be a problem if your wrist is too wide). The case has a design with dots and dimples which also extends from the case onto the face. Below the face is a small Diesel signature in amongst the dots. The rest of the strap is black leather, and if you look closely the dimples extend onto the lower half of the strap.

The back of the watch has the usual Diesel picture with the profile of a person with a mohawk hairstyle and the Only The Brave name (for the company which Diesel is part of). There is also the normal info on the back such as material (solid stainless steel) and water resistance (3 bar), as well as the CE mark.

Looking at the Amazon site, it says that it first was available in 2011 so I don't think this is old, but it isn't available anymore.

Citizen Shock Sensor II

Today's watch is an old Citizen watch which I haven't been able to find much about.

This watch is the Citizen Shock Sensor II. I've found quite a few links for the Citizen Shock Sensor (the first one), but I've not found another article about the Shock Sensor II.

The watch is based around the D150 module and is a sports watch with an LCD display. It has a 2 line display with the time at the top line and date and day below. The time has a slightly unusual arrangement with the minutes being the largest, the hours slightly smaller, and the seconds the smallest. For modes, the watch has alarm, timer, and stopwatch modes. The stopwatch also has pace and distance options, so I think the shock sensor may register steps (like a pedometer), or it is just a set pace with step length. The button layout is also different with the stopwatch buttons being at the top of the case, giving a total of 6 buttons.

The first shock sensor was out in the 80s, but based on the serial number, this one is from 1990.

The full model number is D150-313712Y.