Deadman Rotating Disc GV2274

Today is my New Years Eve post so I wanted a watch which had a good seconds display.

The model I chose is another from my collection of Deadman watches with a display a little like a countdown clock.

The Deadman (or Dead Man) watches are a mystery fashion brand from the late 90s which I've ended up with a collection of. I don't know how many exist, so if you have one, please get in touch!

This model is called the GV 2274 and is one of their quartz rotating disc models. It has a strange shaped case which is higher on either side and dips down to the centre.

So that wraps up another year on my blog. Happy New Year to all my readers, and see you again in 2015!

Orient Vintage LCD G600102

Today is another of the vintage LCD models, but another which I've not yet been able to coax into action.

This model is another from the Japanese watch maker Orient. The Orient Watch Company were most noted for their mechanical watches. They started in the 1950s, but made some LCD models in the 70s/80s which appear to be at the higher quality end of the market. This model follows the same solid feel and stainless steel construction as the other Orient LCD models I've found.

This watch has a model number of G600102 and is a rectangular LCD panel model. This is a relatively simple model with a 4 digit (3 1/2 digits) display for time and a 2 digit seconds display below. This model only has the basic modes with only time and date display options. There is also a light for nighttime use.

There are no hits online for this model, so I need to guess the date. As this model has more basic features, I'd guess it was an earlier model with a date sometime in the 70s.

Ronald McDonald rotating arm watch

It is another promotional watch for me again today, but this time it's for burgers.

The watch features an image of Ronald McDonald, who is widely recognised as the mascot of McDonald's fast food chain. Ronald McDonald was first seen on TV spots in 1963 as the Hamburger-Happy Clown. Since then, his adventures have been seen in the adverts (including the battles with the Hamburgler which I remember from my youth).

This watch is a 3 hand dial design, where two of the hands are Ronald McDonald's arms with his body painted on the face. The back has a model number of A99-9698 which is not a known number to me, but may suggest a model/module A99. It says this has a Japanese quartz movement, but must have been for a different market as he is called Donald McDonald in Japan.

There is no information regarding the date on the watch, but the look of the watch is very 80s.

GeGeGe no Kitarō Nurikabe watch

Today, I decided to blog a manga/anime watch today which is still in its box.

This watch is from the series GeGeGe no Kitarō which started as a manga (Japanese comic) series in 1960 by Shigeru Mizuki (but with an original name Hakaba no Kitarō). It tells the story of a type of spirit monster called a yōkai and their adventures based on original Japanese folktales. The main character is Kitarō who is a yōkai boy born in a cemetery who fights for peace between humans and yōkai. Many different anime have been produced (one every decade since 1968), along with a couple of live action films and a computer game.

This watch comes from 2008, so could be tied into the anime series which ran from 2007 to 2009, an 11 part anime from 2008, or the 2008 live action movie.

It is a 3 hand dial design watch with the character Nurikabe on the face. Nurikabe is a large grey well-shaped yōkai, who protects Kitarō and his friends using his massive size.

The watch box is written almost entirely in Japanese, so it's hard to work out much information from there. The two names that can be read are Max Co., Ltd and Plex. The Max Co., Ltd company seems to be a Japanese manufacturer of precision parts, while Plex makes toys and TV Hero products and is linked to Bandai Namco. The other information I can see is that the watch was made in China and it uses an SR48 battery.

Casio Film Watch Pela FS-00

It was another watch to match with my t-shirt again today, and it is one of a series I've blogged before.

This is one of the Casio Film Watch Pela models, and the one with the lowest number (but not the first). The Film Watch models are the range of thin and super light watches Casio started in the mid-1980s.

This model is the FS-00 and is a 5mm thick rectangular LCD watch. The particular version is from the Sorbet range and is the FS-00-4A and called Chilly Lilac (although it has a more pink colour). The Sorbet range was 10 different models in pastel colours, but the models also had shorter straps than the regular models.

The FS-00 is a data bank model in the Pela range and uses the 2190 quartz module. The display is set at a 30 degree angle, which is comprised of 3 rows of dot matrix arrays. The standard display has date at the top, time (6 digits) across the middle, and day at the bottom. There is an alternative display mode where it shows animations of animals too. The animals (dog, camel, gorilla, bird, cat, and squirrel) are shown for 10 seconds each and have 2 frames in the animation. It also has world time and stopwatch, as well as the 30 slot data bank, and there is an el-backlight.

I don't know when these models were released, but I think they are 90s watches.

Jasmine Commemorative Watch

Today's watch is a commemorative model, but for something a little different.

This watch is from 2013 and was issued to mark the first production from a new gas field in the UK called Jasmine. The Jasmine field was discovered in 2006 and was given approval for development in 2010 by the UK government. Jasmine has about 100 million barrels of oil equivalent and was the largest field to start production in the UK since the Buzzard field in 2007. First production from the field was on the 20th November 2013.

The watch itself is a 3 hand dial design watch in a divers watch style. It has a chunky metal case with a rotating bezel, and the project logo is printed on the face. Inside is a quartz movement, but there are no markings on the watch indicating a manufacturer or model.

It was produced by Polyconcept, who are the world's largest supplier of promotional products. The company began in the 1970s and now operates in over 100 countries worldwide.

J-Axis iXa Skeleton DG733

It's party day again today so I chose another smart looking model.

This watch is another of the J-Axis range watches that I've been blogging for a while now. This model is one of the surprises, as the J-Axis watches aren't a high price brand, but this model is a high quality feeling mechanical watch.

It is a model DG733, with this colour (green) being the DG733-GR. It is a 3 hand dial design powered by a hand-wind mechanical movement. The design is a partial skeleton with a large round window on the dial covering the centre towards the 9 o'clock position. The back is also clear so you get a good view of the mechanism from behind, and can see straight through the watch where the balance wheel is. The dial is green with hour markers for all except the 3 o'clock where there is a big number. The glass is shaped with the flat face having 12 edges angling back into the body. The design is completed with a thick padded brown leather strap.

The J-Axis watches are produced by the Japanese company Sun Flame Co and first came out in 1987. They release watches in 6 series, and this is one of the D Series. This also has the iXa designation which has been on a few different watches, but I don't know what it really means.

This model is still available from the Sun Flame website, and even though it is a mechanical skeleton watch, it is only ¥3,990!

Zeon Tech Solsuno NIL4972

It's time for a family Christmas meal today, so I chose something smart looking with Christmas lights!

This watch is also one which I got from an unusual source - I bought it from an auction TV channel in 2003. I hadn't seen the start of the auction, but caught how the watch looked and rang in a bid, and got it for around £60.

The Solsuno is an LED watch, but with a difference. It uses 138 LEDs to show the time, but no more than 3 LEDs are really required at any one time. It has individual LEDs for every second, minute, and hour, a marker for am/pm, and 5 for other indications (such as alarm). The LEDs are set in rings so they are where the hours, minutes, and seconds would be on a normal dial watch. The time is shown by pressing the top button which sets the seconds LEDs going until the correct second is shown, and the hour and minute then appears too. There is also a flashing mode where the time shows in a quick flash every second - this is the mode I normally use so I don't need to press the button every time I need the time.

The Solsuno watches came out in 2000, with the idea coming from Greenwich (the home of GMT). They were originally distributed by Zeon (who may have been the original manufacturer). Zeon watches are a British company who are one of the largest distributors of novelty watches, and have been featured on my blog many times before. The Solsuno watches are not done by Zeon anymore, so only the early ones were. Many different variations have been released over the years so the watches are quite common. A lot of discussion online has said that people think the watch is too large, even for medium sized wrists, but I have a small wrist and I think it looks fine!

Most of the Zeon models have a ZT or ZR model number, however this has the number NIL4972, but still says Zeon Tech on the back.

Storm Heaven

There are some watches that are a nightmare to search for because the name means so many other things. Today's watch is one of those, as a search for Storm watch heaven leads mainly to a lot of weather sites about watching the heavens to spot storms.

This watch is by the London brand Storm, which is one of my bigger sub-collections, and a brand which I've blogged lots of information from before.

This model is called Heaven and is one of the ladies watches from the Storm brand. I don't know if it is an uncommon design, but I haven't found another online. The watch is a wide rectangular design with a two hand dial. The face has a oily design glass with just the numbers 9 and 3, and nothing else.

The strap is made up of square plates, 2 wide, which are linked with small metal loops. The back section has rectangular links which are all fastened together with the same type of clip as the fastener, meaning that it is easy to remove sections to adjust the length.

Because of the lack of online information, I don't know exactly when it is from. It is a little like the style of the Academiplex from 2003, so my best guess would be that this is from a similar time.

O'Neeon mirror and comb watch

Today's watch is by a mystery brand, but I don't think this one is Japanese.

The watch from a brand called O'Neeon, with the name being shown as a registered trademark. I've seen two watches by them, but I've not found anything online. The watches I've seen have both been novelty watches with different hands designs. I've found one set of references for O'Neeon online, but this was for a manufacturer of wetsuits and drysuits. For this company, I've seen a trademark registered in Sweden in 2006 which registers the owner as Europris AS which is a convenience store chain from Norway. It may be that it is the same company as produces the, but it is a strange combination of products. The strap on this watch, however, is a fabric coated neoprene style, so it may be there is a link...

This model is a 3 hand dial design which has novelty hands. The watch has an hour hand which is shaped like a comb, while the minutes hand is a small hand mirror. The seconds hand is a little different, just having a heart on the end. The back of the watch doesn't give any extra information about the watch apart from that the back is made from stainless steel.

I have no idea what price these watches were sold for, but I'd guess this is a 2000s model (if this from the wetsuit maker).

Gobots Blue & Red robot watch

There have been many different types of robot watch made. I've blogged a Gobots watch before, but this is a different style robot than before.

The Gobots watches were sold by the Tonka toy company starting in 1984. The toys were made by Impulse Ltd in Hong Kong, and were in competition with the Takara robot watches from the same era. The Gobots toys were licensed from Bandai, and after Hasbro bought Tonka, they got the toys back again. The Gobots line were present in the US market until it was phased out in 1991.

This robot design is a lot more flexible than the standard square robot watch. The arms have extra hinges, and the legs are both hinged and rotating. As with the other watches in the series, this had a magnetic connector to the strap along with a rotate to lock connection. The design makes it a muck thicker model when folded, and the LCD display is set deep into the body, with the buttons positioned below.

The watch has the standard 4 digit LCD display design, with two button operation. One button sets the time, while the other switches between the day, date, and seconds displays.

Lawson J League memorial watch

Today's watch is a commemorative watch, but I don't know why the date I was significant.

This watch is a Lawson J League watch which talks about the memorial year of 1998. Lawson is a Japanese convenience store which is the second largest in Japan behind 7-eleven. They started in Ohio, but opened stores in Japan in 1975. In the 2000s, the US arm was bought out and rebranded, leaving only the Japanese Lawson stores.

Lawson are now one of the sponsors of the Japanese football association J League. The J League was the professional football league which started in 1993, so the memorial year of 1998 might be the 5th anniversary.

The watch is a basic 3 hand dial quartz watch. The dial is patterned with the Lawson name and the J League logo. The watch has a plastic strap, and the length of the strap is covered with the logos of all of the football teams in the J-League.

Mark Eckō Non-Stop watch

It's my last day of work before the holidays, so I decided on a watch which is a little over the top.

This watch is called the Non-Stop and is by Mark Eckō (or just Mark Ecko if your keyboard can't handle it). The name of the watch has caused all manner of silly questions online about whether it doesn't stop - the answer is that the brand hasn't invented some kind of infinite power source, so of course it will stop when the battery runs out of power!

Mark Eckō is an American designer, artist, and inventor who runs the billion dollar lifestyle and fashion company Mark Eckō Enterprises. Their best known brand is eckō
UNLTD, a t-shirt and fashion company popular in the hiphop and skater fashion world, and recognised for its rhino logo.

This is the second Mark Ecko watch I've blogged, and it is also pretty noticeable. It is a giant silver slab of metal, and is so large (at 6cm x 3cm, and 1cm thick), it has a bend to make it fit around your wrist. The watch has 2 inverse dot matrix LCD panels, the bottom one showing time, and the top one showing day and date as well as the Eckō name. On the face, it says this is a 16-bit watch, which I assume to be referring to the processor chip, but that is a little over the top as the watch only has alarm, timer, and stopwatch modes. Below the displays is a raised section with the brand name, while the black leather strap has studs with the rhino logo.

The back has the brand name and the logo, and has the usual manufacturing location (China), and material (base metal).

The model number is E95009G1, and the watch is no longer available. I think it came out around 2009/2010, but I haven't found the rrp.

Benetton by Bulova - Surfers

Time for number 5 in this Benetton by Bulova sub-collection.

This watch is part of the range of watches that Bulova made for the Benetton fashion brand. I think I've been drawn to this range because of the many different colourful designs they seem to have made. The range seems to have started in the late 80s or early 90s, and (mostly) follow the same case design but with different patterns on the face and strap. There is more detail on the brands themselves in the previous posts which can be accessed through the tags (down the right side on the non-mobile version of the site).

This particular design I've called "surfers" based on the text on the strap. The word surfers has been written across the two parts of the strap in a square pixel type of font with sur on one side and fers on the other. The dial is in red and yellow with blue numbers, and has a large B in the middle. As the B is in the same orientation as the strap letters, if you follow the letters all the way it actually says surbfers.

As with the other models, it is a 3 hand dial design powered by a Swiss Ronda quartz movement, and I think it is a 90s model.