As I build up my watch collection, I have become more and more aware about the number of different watch manufacturers /brands which exist. It's also been quite eye-opening about how many of these brands have little or no internet presence.
Today is a new brand to the blog, and also one which has been difficult to find anything about.
This watch is from a brand called Mary Maison. There have been many different bits of conflicting information about the brand, with a lot seeming to be pure speculation, so I've tried to pull together what I could find. The Mary Maison brand doesn't seem to have any website relating to watches, but I did find a Brazilian shop website called Mary Maison which sold clothes. This could be the source of the name, however with no watches being shown, and a different logo, I'm not convinced. Two other sites have suggested that the watches are American or Japanese. Out of those, I think Japanese is the most likely, as there are not many English language sites with the watches (apart from eBay), and there are several Japanese sites which refer to the brand. As for date, there has been speculation online that the watches were from the 80s, but the oldest website reference was from 2002, and it is well known that there is very little Japanese online info out of Japan in the late 90s, so my best estimate is that they are early 2000s and onward (with a chance for a late 90s appearance, but they don't appear in the magazines of that time).
This particular watch is the F-96005, and is a quartz watch with a rotating disc design. It has an oval face with a time display on the left side for hours and minutes, and right side for seconds. The face is brown with a large white pointer to indicate where on the discs the time is shown, as well as a mirrored section at the top right. On the face is the Mary Maison name in a script font as well as a logo which is a circle containing what is probably overlapping M's made to look like mountains.
The case is black painted/coated metal and is an oval shape with flattened top and bottom where the extensions for connecting the strap are. There are good screws on the case front which look like they are for the strap, but are just decorative. The strap is an extending metal bracelet in a matching matt black colour. The back has the brand name and logo, the model number, and states the back is stainless steel. There is also a phase saying the watch is "Urban traditional quartz".
I've recently inherited a Mary Maison watch. I've searched the internet for information about the brand, but your mentions are all that I can find. Have you learned anything new about the history of the Mary Maison brand?
ReplyDeleteThese watches use a Miyota movement which is synonymous with many Citizen models! The movement is probably manufactured or contract manufactured for Citizen, so the movement is good quality not poorer overseas quality! Brand is almost certainly Japanese dress brand from the early 2000s !
ReplyDeleteI have a Mary Maison pocketeatch with gold chain, I received it late 80s early 90s the brand definitely goes back to the 80s.
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