Ultraman Classic Edition Watch - 1996

It's Ultraman day again today.
This watch was made in 1996 (as a limited edition?) to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Ultraman episode.

Ultraman was first aired in 1966, produced by Tokyo Broadcasting System, and special effects specialists Tsuburaya Productions (who have the copyright shown on the back). The face on the watch is of the original Ultraman, who was the transformation of Shin Hayata, a Science Special Search Party member, who defends earth from alien monsters.

The watch is a 3-hand dial under an Ultraman-shaped plastic glass. At the bottom of the display, it states that this is a Classic Edition. The back shows that this is copyright 1996 Tsuburaya, and licenced by Ultracom.

Storm/Sun 99 Ltd. Lightning Bolt, Large Arrow, Rotating Dial watch

Many times I don't know the name of the watch I've posted, and can't find it online. This is the case today, hence the weird title of the post.

This style of Storm watch is one that I've only seen once - the day I bought it!

It has rotating discs for both hour and minutes, and the time is read at the bottom of the arrow (at the point of the lightning bolt on the face). The time is set using the crown on the side, and there is a button to illuminate the electroluminescent back-light.

The strap has a metal section on the lower part imprinted with the Storm name, and Storm is also imprinted in the back of the leather.

On the back, it also mentions it is copyright Sun 99 Ltd. This company is the parent company which owns the Storm brand name, but I've not seen it mentioned on other Storm watches.

Voltron "Time Keeper" robot watch by Impulse Ltd.

I'm posting another watch that I've not worn today. I've only ever come across this once, so I don't want to open the original packaging!

The watch is a Voltron Time Keeper watch, and is a transforming robot watch from 1985. It features the super robot Voltron from the 1984/85 TV series Voltron Defender of the Universe. Voltron was made up by earth's Voltron Force's vehicles which combined to make the giant robot. The Voltron TV series was edited together from two Japanese cartoons Beast King GoLion, and Armoured Fleet Dairugger XV by Peter Keefe.

The watch is based on the original series featuring Lion Force Voltron (Voltron of the Far Universe), who protected the planet Arus from the evil King Zarkon from planet Doom.

This Voltron watch was made in Hong Kong for Impulse Ltd. In watch form, it's a rectangular watch similar to the Kronoform robot watches. It has a basic LCD module with time, date, and seconds. Unlike the Kronoform watches, this Voltron watch has a magnetic connection, so can also be connected to metal items (as the box quotes "such as refrigerators, lunch boxes, night stands, school desks etc.).

ODM Mysterious +

It's a Mysterious odm (or o.d.m) day today. Odm stands for original, dynamic, and minimal, and make a range of interesting design watches, with a tag line of "the art of experiment.........".
This one is a Mysterious + with a model code of DE05, and I have published a Mysterious VI before. Both watches have a similar shape, with just the display being different.
The watch has no buttons on the front or sides, and only 1 button on the back to put in setting mode. For the time, the digits are shown oriented vertically. To show the date, you need to flip the watch upside down and back to switch the display. Time setting is done by the same method, with each flip changing the digit by one.

Casio Casiotron 04-502

Back to the retro again today!
When Casio first released their LCD watches in 1974, they started the Casiotron range. The Casiotron was the first digital watch which could show year, month, date, day, hour, minute, and second.

I think that this is one of the limited re-release versions from 1997,which were issued to commemorate the first Casiotron, but it could be one of the originals from around 1975. It uses an old-style LCD module with hour and minute on the display, along with a bar across the top for seconds (-a marker flashes every second above a number showing which group of 10-seconds).

The watch has a model number of 04-502, using the 04 module used by other 1970s models.

326 dog car watch by MegaHouse

This watch took me a while to find, as a search for 326 gives a lot of useless results!

It turns out 326 is a pseudonym for a Japanese artist and singer called Mitsuru Nakamura (born in 1978). His site can be found here. He has also worked on a couple of computer games; Gitaroo Man for the PS2, and a game (326 World?) for the Wonderswan console (code SWJ-MGH002). The Wonderswan game was also released with MegaHouse Corporation in 1999, same as the watch, so I assume that the watch was one of a series released as a promo. I have 4 different design watches by 326, and will blog them in the future. The watches also refer to copyright also being held by anan (Japanese women's magazine), so this may also be linked to that magazine.

The watch is a 3-hand (well, 2-hand and a disc), with 326 on the rotating dial for the seconds. On the face, there is a picture by 326 showing a pink-haired girl sitting on a dog with wheels, driven by a man with glasses - yes it is as strange as it sounds, but you can see that from the photos ;-).

Merry Toys "Sea-Saw / Teeter Totter" plastic mechanical watch

Today is a simple cute kids watch. The watch features bright plastic parts, and a little gold sea-saw on the bottom with a boy and a girl on the sea-saw (or teeter totter in some parts of the world). The sea-saw rocks with the time (and makes quite a lot of noise).

The watch, including most of the mechanism, is made of plastic, and has a 2-hand dial. It was made by Merry Toys (which the back states is "A Division of Leisure Dynamics Inc.") who worked out of Cincinnati, Ohio.  It seems to have been from the 1970s. Value-wise, one in good condition sold recently (late 2011) for just over $50.

Citizen Independent 1481010 - D400 G.S.D Purple

Another of the 1481010 collection today!
This is another of the D400 LED displays from the range, and the Freshjive version of the model has previously been blogged.

The LED module for this watch is what is dubbed the G.S.D display. This stands for Graphical Sparkle Display, and is so called because the LED lights seem to flicker (or sparkle if you prefer). As with all of these D400 watches, it is a true LED watch with time and date functions. Pressing the bottom button shows the time followed by a pattern depending on the hour (or a series of dots if the battery is running low).

The full model number is D400-L18790, and it was made in 1998.

For more info on the 1481010 range, see here.

Seiko Alba Spoon W442 - rounded S.A.M variant

A very quick post today, and I'll try to fill in more info in the coming days.

This watch is a Seiko Alba Spoon watch, with a W442 module. It is very similar to the SAM (Secret Agent Man), but without the database function. It has a large dot matrix LCD screen showing time and date in two different formats.

Pressing the mode button shows a menu with choices of time, alarm, chronograph, and timer. A second press of the mode button (the tm/time option), gives the options for time and world time (along with a system menu for adjusting the LCD display, and the alarm sound).

The full model number is W442-4000.

Citizen Trans Continents - Trans Solar (Eco-Drive) A310 module

It was sunny today so I got a chance to charge up one of my solar watches.
This is one of the Eco-Drive watches by Citizen, but was released under the Trans Continents line.

The watch is called the Trans Solar, and features a 3-hand dial with date at the 3 o'clock position. The solar panels seem to be on raised sections either side of the face, and these power the A310 module running the watch. The face is crossed with lines connecting the (side located) hour markers hidden at the side of the face, and also has a logo showing T/C (presumably for Trans Continents) in the bottom corner.

The strap is Japanese made padded leather with a woven fabric top, and has Trans Continents imprinted on the back (and the number 24).

I think the watch was released in 1999 (but maybe 2009), and has a model number of A310-L19605.

Citizen Independent Automatic, Calibre 8227

Another posh watch day today, and yet another Citizen Independent.

This is another of the updated Citizen Independent line in the late 2000s. It is an automatic mechanical movement which is an 8227 calibre. The design of the watch is such that the face has a cut-away section showing the flywheel (like a partial skeleton), and the back is also open showing the mechanism. The watch is a 2-hand dial, with a separate second hand dial between the 4 and 5 o'clock positions. It also has a 24-hour dial at the 9 o'clock position. There is a mixture of dashes (odd hours) and roman numerals (even hours), but the 4-o'clock marker shows IIII instead of the normal IV.

The full model number is 8227-003070-02

Cross dual dial watch WUX07

I'd known about the company Cross for a while, but only as a manufacturer of fancy pens. It turns out that they also make watches!

Cross started out in 1846 as makers of fine writing implements. In 1997, they released their first range of time-pieces with a limited distribution, with the range being expanded the next year.

The watch has two Japanese quartz movements powering the two different size dials. I was travelling across time-zones today so thought I needed something that could cover both zones at the same time. The centres of the dials are covered by silver circles, the top dial also having the Cross logo. It is 100ft water resistant (30m), and it is unusual to see them using imperial units.

I think the model number is WUX07, but the watch also has the number 010.769 on the back.

Swatch GX128 A/B "As Time Goes By" - Black Rotating Dial watch

On the surface, this watch looks like a normal dial watch, but it is much more weird than that!
The watch has hands pointing to what would normally be 10 past 10, but that doesn't match the numbers...
The way the watch actually works is quite simple, you look at what number the hands are pointing at. The only difference is that the hands stay fixed, but the numbers rotate (like a normal rotating dial/disc watch, but the point you read against is not a single line). For info, the time shown is 1:31

The watch is called As Time Goes By, and was part of the 1997 Spring/Summer collection. It's model number is GX 128 A/B

It has the numbers 709 and 6131 on the back. which suggests that it was made in Japan (although it does say Switzerland on the back). The strap was made in the USA.

Citizen Independent - Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides - 1502 module

Here is another of the Citizen Independent watches that were released for the 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides movie.

The watch uses a 1502 module which has a 3-hand dial with the day and date at the 3 o'clock position. The back of the watch is engraved with the Pirates of the Caribbean logo (pirate skull and crossed swords) along with the watch info.

The full model number is 1502-003328-04

Pokémon Pokétch LCD watch

It's a Pokémon watch day today. This one is a replica of the Pokétch device used by the trainers in the Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum games. The Pokétch device gave the trainers information on the Pokémon in their party, how many steps they've taken, strengths and weaknesses, and many more things depending on how many apps were added through the game.

This watch version is designed as a replica of the device, but only has a basic LCD module with time, date, and seconds (and a picture of Pikachu). The watch is credited as copyright to Nintendo CR-GF-TX-SP-JK. It was made in China by Yujin.

Citizen Independent 1481010 Spawn Special Edition: Angela version

In the late 90s, many special editions of the1481010 watches were released. Today's watch is one of 4 designs released to commemorate the 1997 movie of the comic book Spawn.

Spawn was created by Todd McFarlane, and tells the story of a soldier betrayed by the government and assassinated who makes a pact with the devil to return to earth, but eventually turns to fight for justice.

This watch is one of the 6160 module watches in the 1481010 range (and the only one of this module to have a Spawn edition). I've featured the non-Spawn version in an earlier post. It was released in 1998 and has a limited edition of (I think) 5000. This version is the Angela version, and features the assassin Angela on the packaging (who is the one who sent Spawn to hell). The special edition has the Spawn name on the dial, and the Spawn logo engraved on the strap just above the face. It also has Todd McFarlane signature engraved on the back.

It is a jump-hour watch with the hours in a window at the top (which start changing about 15min before the hour). The minutes are shown by a normal hand, and the seconds by a rotating triangle in the middle.

The full model number is 6160-L18722, and the catalogue number is IT21-4241J RN. It was originally sold for 14,000yen.

For more information on the 1481010 range, see here.