A quick blog post today as the watch I'm wearing is a variant of one which I've blogged before.
The watch is by the 'Handless Time' watch brand called EleeNo which is part of the SeaHope group of watches. I first blogged their 'ART 009 Wheel' watch in 2012, and that post can be found here.
This version has a white disc with red segments showing behind the black face, and comes with a black leather strap.
My Friday watch is one that takes a little getting used to for reading the time.
As is often the case with the unusual designs, this watch is one of the Japanese watches in the SeaHope family. To be more specific, this watch is part of the EleeNo range who are there to produce watches showing 'handles time'. The EleeNo range was started in 2008 by the SeaHope founder Yasushi Kimura. There is more on the SeaHope family on my SeaHope summary page.
This model is in the EG line which is part of the Cyber family of EleeNo watches. The Cyber watches are the EleeNo digital range, while EG means that it tells the time with segmented LCDs.
This is the EG5 and has the additional name Turning Wheels. It works on the 12-5-9 principle, meaning it has 3 LCD wheels with segments that cover hours (12), 10 minutes (5), and individual minutes (9). The watch actually has 10 segments on the minutes wheel, with the last one just flashing to show the seconds progressing. Pressing the button causes the el-backlight wheels to show a turning animation before displaying the time. Time setting is done through the inset button and needs the tip of a pen (or similar) to press.
The design has a rectangular case in silver with a mirrored inverse LCD with a coloured background, and a black leather strap. It was available in a few different LCD colour and strap combinations. Many sites I've found quote this as being an LED watch with LED segments, but as far as I can see, this is purely an LCD watch with a backlight.
The back just has the text "Turning Wheels, EG5, Graphic Art by EleeNo" and the SeaHope website address.
It seems that this watch came out around 2010, and had an initial price somewhere around the $70-80 range. Outside of Japan, it has been available through the usual sites Tokyoflash and Intelligent Watches.
Today's watch is a dial watch which I will struggle to read at a glance, even though it's similar to another model I own.
As you might expect for a difficult to read dial watch, this is another by the EleeNo brand. The EleeNo watches specialise in what they call hand-less time, meaning that the watches show what time it is without using hands in the regular way. The brand is part of the SeaHope family of watches, who are a good start if you want an unusual Japanese watch (and they are linked to Tokyoflash for the overseas distribution).
This model is one I've not been able to find the model number of. It has the same style of display as the ART005 BL TF version, but that is square while this is round. The hand style and case shape is also the same as the ART014 Graph, but the face is a little different.
This design has a round face with two windows for reading parts of the time. In the top half there is a triangular window taking up the middle third which has a faint blue surround, while the bottom half is fully open and has a faint red surround. Down the middle of the face is a black line with the time markers on either side, hours on the top half and minutes on the bottom half. To read the time, you look at where the hands (actually leaf shapes on a rotating clear disc) cross the line, with the colours of the hands corresponding to the window which you use. Either side of the centre line in the bottom window are two pairs of other lines with markers on. It seems that these cover the other minutes so that when the line meets a marker on one of these, it shows the minute (as the centre line only covers 5 minutes increments accurately).
The ART014 come out in the late 2000s, and so I would reckon that this is also a 2000s model.
Today, I decided that the watches I'd been using recently have been too simple for telling the time, so I went for a bit more of a challenge.
The watch I chose is from the EleeNo range of watches that are known for turning telling time into an art form. The brand was founded in the 2000s by a long term Tokyoflash collaborator Yasushi Kimura, and is one of the SeaHope /Tokyoflash family. One of the principles of the EleeNo designs is 'handless time' where even the analogue watches don't use traditional hands for pointing out the time.
This model is one of the analogue watches with an unusual design and is called Rings. It has a round face under domed glass in a rectangular silver case with a thick black rubber strap. In the centre of the face is a silver circle with the EleeNo logo in the middle. Around this silver circle are two rings which are not concentric with the circle or face. They are positioned such that it looks like the ring touches either the middle circle and is spinning around it like a hula hoop, or is going round the inside of the edge of the face. At the points of touching, there is a gap in each circle, and this is where you read the time, hours around the outside and minutes in the middle.
The watch has a model number of ART007 (or ART 007), and the first mentions of this model online are from 2008, making it one of the early designs from the brand.
I've had one of these watches for a while now and this is my second after a dead battery broke the first one. I liked the idea of the design, but I think it is one of the hardest watches to read, and I a couple of times I have got the time completely wrong when trying to read it in a hurry!
The watch is by EleeNo, which is a brand from the SeaHope family of watches. The EleeNo watches specialise in 'handless time' meaning that most of their watches don't show the time with the traditional hand arrangement.
This model, The Graph, follows the design style, and has the model number ART014. It has a round case which raises up to peak along the centreline of the glass. The face is an oval shape with a central line where the numbers sit. The top black half covers the hours with 12 at the top and 6 at the bottom. The hour 'hand' is a white leaf shape on a clear rotating disc, with one side a solid line, and the other a dotted line. Where the white line from this shape crosses the white line with the numbers is the time, and the dotted and solid lines let you know which way it is going (solid for 12 to 6, and dotted from 6 to 12). The bottom half of the face is white with a black text and covers the minutes. This works the same way as the hours, but uses the black 'leaf'. The confusion in telling the time comes from trying to read the wrong hand on the wrong half, and getting the dotted and solid lines mixed.
The watch came out in the mid to late 2000s, and this one was bought in 2008.
I'm glad I don't have any appointments today where I need the exact time as today's watch it not the easiest to read.
The watch is one of the EleeNo handless time designs, and as normal is slightly unusual. The EleeNo watches are from the Japanese company SeaHope, and were normally distributed in the west by Tokyoflash (or Intelligent Design). I have a bit more about SeaHope in my overview page.
This watch is called the Bingo, and so far I've not been able to find the ARTxxx model number. The display is made up of 16 circles laid out in a square grid pattern on a mirrored face. Behind the circles are two rotating discs which cover the hours and minutes. The hours are covered by the outer 12 circles, but as it's a square grid, the 12 o'clock is in the top right corner. Minutes only get the inner 4 circles, so it's much harder to be exact. On the hours disc, there is a shape which fills the current hour, but is shaped such that it will part fill the coming hour. For the minutes disc, there is a circle with an orange line through, so the circle fits the circular window on the quarter hour, with the line acting as a regular hand.
The EleeNo Bingo came out in 2006 and had an rrp of €79.
It's been a long time since I posted a SeaHope watch, so as I recently found one in a box, I thought I'd share it today.
This is another example of the EleeNo range of hand-less time pieces. This brand specialises in releasing unusual watches with one thing in common - the lack of a traditional hand. They are one of many lines under the Japanese SeaHope brand (which you can read about in my SeaHope overview page).
This model is one of the EleeNo Lite range, and is called Stocking. This is due to the way the design looks like a fine mesh of fibre like in a pair of stockings. The time is displayed using two discs, each with a set of concentric rings that are offset to point to the time. The rings are slightly different, with the smallest circle on the hour hand being slightly closer to the centre.
The model number for this design is ART006NLT
It's been a little while since I wore one of my more cryptic time machines, so today it's another EleeNo.
The EleeNo brand is one of the sub brands of the SeaHope watch group. They are known for their range of 'handless time' watches, and have usually been seen outside of Japan under the Tokyoflash umbrella. I have an overview page for SeaHope watches, and there I give more information about the total set of watches.
This watch is the EG3 by EleeNo, which came out in 2007. It is one of a series of watches based around 9 LCD display windows in a 3x3 pattern (sometimes with an extra 4th row). The arrangement is simple with the top row showing hours, the middle row 10 minutes, and the bottom row individual minutes. To get the right number of digits, the hour windows cover 4 hours each (filling the top row of all of the windows first), the minutes in groups of threes per window, and there are two 10 minute blocks per window. As there is a spare block in terms 10 minutes, this is filled with the letters EG which flash every second.
The row below the time windows is filled with 3 buttons. The left starts time setting, and the middle activates the backlight (although I have a problem with a few of these watches that causes the light to reset the time, even with a new battery). Pressing the right button doesn't seem to do anything.
When it came out, it was sold for 9,800 yen.
I'm off to an event for NuMusic and NuArt to celebrate the end of the year, so like for the festival, I need a watch with lots of flashing lights.
The watch I chose is another by EleeNo. The EleeNo watch range is one of the groups under the SeaHope brand. More on the brand can be found in my SeaHope overview page.
With the EleeNo designs, there are several different ranges, and the hi-tech digital watches usually come under the EleeNo Cyber range.
The EleeNo Cyber Dual Touch is one of the newer and most advanced of their watches. There are no buttons apart from the inset adjust button on the side. It shows the time on 66 LEDs with 12 for hours on the top row. Minutes add up in columns from the bottom right until you reach 5, and then starts again from the bottom of that column with a 5 minute LED also showing. As the hour progresses, the columns fill from right to left.
It works by touch screen, which lights where your fingers touch. Each watch has two colours (this is orange and green), and you choose which will display by either running your finger from bottom to top, or top to bottom.
Before the time shows, there is first one of six animations:
A dog
Thunder
A running man
A countdown and explosion
The word 'SeaHope'
and the words 'EleeNo Cyber'
The back of the watch has the SeaHope logo, the EleeNo Cyber logo, DT dual touch, and the battery type (CR2032).
