Diesel DZ-1432

It's Friday, and I'm wearing a giant of a watch today.

This watch is the DZ-1432 (or DZ1432 or DZ 1432) by Diesel. The Diesel brand is a well known name, mainly in connection with their clothing line, and especially their Denim products. In the late 2000s, they started to be noticed for their fashion watch designs, and I feel that they were one of the companies which started the most recent wave of fashion watch popularity. The Diesel brand is part of the Only The Brave holding company, and this logo is a prominent feature of the back plate of the watches.

This model is one of their large but simple watches. It's a analogue model with a Miyota quartz movement inside, and this gives it a 3 hand dial display. The dial is round and split horizontally between two colours (light and dark grey) with different numbering styles in the different halves. The top half has only even numbers towards the edge of the dial with dashes for minutes further towards the centre, but on the bottom half, the hour numbers are in the same ring as the minutes from the top half while there are only hour markers at the edge. Around the very edge of the dial there is also a minute marker track on an angled section. The case is dark grey stainless steel and has an industrial style square(ish) design with visible screws. The design is finished with a soft feeling white silicone or rubber strap with Diesel markings on the strap, buckle, and loop.

The watch back doesn't have much more than the logo, model number, and serial number, just giving the material (stainless steel), water resistance (5 bar), and the CE mark.

Reading online, the Amazon UK site said this first appeared there in 2011, so I'd guess it was released around this time, but it isn't for sale anymore. One other site quoted an rrp of £89, but I've seen it for sale for higher prices!

Diesel DZ-1132

Today is my second Diesel watch this month, but definitely a different size.

The Diesel brand are a clothing and accessories company best known for their denim products. It started in 1978, and is now part of a holding company called 'Only the Brave' which features on the watches back along with the logo, a picture of a face in profile who has a mohair hairstyle.
Diesel seem to have been one of the first big design companies to bring back watches as a form of jewellery (or were at least one of the first I noticed) which happened late in the 00s. Their designs tend to be very noticeable, often with oversized dimensions (in the men's watches especially).

This model is the DZ-1132 (which is also written online as DZ1132 or DZ 1132, but the number on the back has the '-'). It is a large dimension analogue watch with a 3 hand dial design. The watch has a rounded rectangular case with an old style TV shaped face. The dial has two levels, with the left side by the 9 being deeper into the watch than the rest, with the word Diesel on the slope between the two levels. The 9 is also very large and raised from the face, with the only other numbers being around the middle of the dial and covering the hours from 12 to 23. The strap is brown leather and matches the brown face, and online there seemed to be more links to replacement straps than the watch itself. The back details the usual solid stainless steel material (but the watch is still very lightweight) and 5 bar water resistance.

This model seems to be from 2011, but I don't know the rrp.

Diesel DZ7069 LCD watch

Today's watch is by Diesel, and although it is very different from yesterday's watch, it can also be hard to read at a glance (although for different reasons).

The watch is the DZ7069 by Diesel, and is one of their retro inspired LCD models.

Diesel was formed in 1978 by Italian design entrepreneur Renzo Rosso and are best known for their denim and casual wear. They work to have products with passion, individuality, and self expression, and their watches range from the retro style, through to innovative multi dial designs. Diesel is part of a holding called Only The Brave which also has controlling stakes in other clothes companies. The back of the watch has the Only The Brave logo of a man's head in profile with a mohawk hairstyle, which I'd previously (mistakenly) thought was a Diesel range.

The watch has a rectangular metal case which slopes away on the top and bottom (with the Diesel name on the bottom slope). The back states this is stainless steel, and the watch has a 5 bar /165 foot water resistance. In the centre is an inverse LCD display behind a dark glass, and is made in a way that you need to get it in the right light to read the time at a glance, but there is an el-backlight to help. The display is split into 4 sections with metal lines - 3 rows, with the bottom line split in two. The top row is the most detailed and shows either day and date, or the text description of the mode which is about to be selected. The middle row is for the time and has the largest digits, while the bottom segments cover seconds (right) and any status info such as alarm or chime (left). The design is completed with a wide black leather strap which fits into slots in the watch body and is held in place with screws.

Mode-wise, the watch has alarm and chronograph modes, and also has a dual time option. There were a lot of links online about problems working out how to set the time on this model - this is done by holding the top left button until there is a message saying "light on/off". The mode button (bottom left) then cycles through the things to set, with the right buttons scrolling through the numbers/options, and the process is finished by pressing the top left button again.

The watch has an rrp of around £100, but is a discontinued model. I haven't found the release date for the watch, but I'd guess it is a 2000s model.

Diesel DZ-5009 wide leather cuff watch

I've been posting relatively normal watches recently, so today's watch is a little more unusual (but only design-wise).
The watch is by the clothing brand Diesel, and is one of their DZ series of watches. The Diesel brand is probably one of the most high profile brands to be putting out unusual and eyecatching designs.

This model is the DZ5009 and is unisex model, although only for people with thin wrists. It is an extremely wide leather strap watch, being around 6 cm across. The watch case is in a hole in the strap, with the case clamping around the leather. The watch part is a pretty standard 3 hand dial quartz design, but it is less than half the width of the strap giving it an unusual appearance.

From what I've seen, I think it came out a couple of years ago, and had an rrp of around $120.

Diesel LCD DZ-7116

Time for another chunky watch with today's post.

This watch is the Diesel DZ-7116 (sometimes written as DZ7116).
It is a large mens LCD watch, with a solid looking stainless steel case. The Diesel brand was started in 1978 by Renzo Rosso and has been a pioneer in denim and casual wear. More recently, the band has been aimed at the premium casual level, and has been producing some of the more interesting modern watch designs. This model is one of their mens range watches and was released around 2010.

This is an inverse display LCD watch with 3 lines and a more blocky designed digit than a standard LCD display. The top line has the day and date, the middle is the time, and bottom are the seconds. It has dual time, alarm, and timer modes, switched by the bottom button. The top button triggers the light, and doubles as the setting button. Both buttons appear flush to the front of the watch, and actually pivot from the front, so you need to remember to press them close to your wrist to get them to work.

It looks like the original retail price was around $120, but one site was asking for $750.

Diesel DV-7072 Gold and White

Out of all of the modern non-Japanese watch makers, the Diesel brand probably makes the most interesting looking in general.

Today's watch is highly noticeable in gold and white, and features a large dot matrix LCD display. The display is mirrored and shows the time in inverse (gaps for the numbers), but the date and day are normal (dots are activated for the numbers).

This model is the DZ-7072, and has dual time (with a simple toggle between using the select button), alarm, stopwatch, and timer features. There is also an el-backlight. But is also has an unusual feature - a Tips button. Pressing the button reveals a scrolling message where the date normally shows. These messages are rather strange, such as:
"I'm turned on"
"Don't ever leave me"
"Smile at a stranger"
"Youch! Don't press so hard!"
"Radar detects incoming coffee break..."
"Ha! Thought I was sleeping huh?"
"When am I going to get laid?"
I don't know how many messages there, but they are numbered (coming out randomly), and the highest number I've seen is 28 (so I'd guess 30).

The design is set so that the watch case merges with the strap through a white leather panel featuring a metal shield design. As with many watches, the strap can suffer from brittleness, but at least the leather holds things together.

The back shows an etched picture of a person with a Mohawk hairstyle, with the phrase "Diesel - only the brave".

I don't know when it came out, but it is a discontinued model.