Metro Starlike

Today is another of the watches from the mysterious Metro brand. I've blogged about this brand before, and what it looks like is that they are a Japanese brand (possibly linked to a furniture store), but with very little firm information around.

This model is called Starlike (deviating from the more common American city naming convention). It is an automatic mechanical watch with a 3 hand mechanism, but only using 2 hands. The seconds hand is replaced by a rotating disc which makes moving patterns with another disc below. There is also a date marker at the 3 o'clock position. 

The strap is a leather strap with a matching geometric pattern, and a Metro branded buckle. 

My best guess is that this is from the late 2000s, and I found an auction article which suggested an original sales price of ¥12600.

Metro Design - Omni

Today's watch is another Metro watch, but not the same line of watches I blogged a couple of days ago.

This watch is by a brand called Metro Design, and so far they are a bit of a mystery. I've seen the watches on the Japanese auctions, but when I try to search online, there are too many answers about Metro design relating to city planning for me to find anything about the watches (an when I try to be more specific, I get no results).

The watch is called 'omni' and according to the back of was designed by Romago. It is a large watch, and at a first glance, it appears to just have a blank face with the hour numbers just visible around the edge, and the Metro Design name on the glass. Pressing the button above the crown lights an internal light, and as if by magic, the hands appear behind the glass to show the time. When the light isn't on, you cannot see the hands at all through the glass, no matter what angle you look from. For the time, it has a 3 hand dial design with a quartz movement.

The all black design is followed by the black leather strap, and this has the Metro Design name imprinted into the back of the leather.

The only other information on the watch comes from the back which states it is 3 atm water resistant (suggesting a European market), and that the case and back are stainless steel.

With regards to date, there is no information I've found to be able to definitively determine when it's from, but my hunch is that it is from the 2000s (and maybe 2010s).

UPDATE: It seems like this watch is part of the same Metro brand that I've posted before, but with the name Metro Design rather than Metro Delight. I've seen in an auction that the watch has an instruction manual from the regular Metro brand, and the model number is WW046

Metro Baltimore

The Metro brand of watches is one which I only started collecting quite recently. All of the links I have to the watches seem to tie it back to a Japanese furniture store. They make a range of watches and clocks, most of which seem to be named after places in America.

This watch follows the naming tradition and is called Baltimore. It has a TV shaped dial in a shiny metal case, and has a retro feel to the design. The face features the Metro logo (the word Metro in a script style font with a 5 pointed crown above) along with the Baltimore name, and the word Crystal, which I assume refers to the glass.

It is a quartz model with a 3 hand dial and a date marker at the 3 o'clock position. The strap is metal, and closed with an expanding buckle with the Metro logo engraved on it.

The back of the watch has the logo and watch name along with saying it is a "1970's model". This must refer to the design style, as I think the Metro watches are from either the late 2000s or within the last few years.

Metro LED Date and Time Bar Clock

I've blogged a bit about the Metro brand before, but today's model is not a watch.

The Metro brand seems to be lined to a furniture store in Japan, and they make a variety of clocks and watches. The logo for the brand is the name Metro in a script style font, which is normally found somewhere on the product.

One of the designs the Metro brand seems to be known for in Japan are their LED clocks which come in all manner of shapes and displays. This model is a bar shaped LED with 10 digits in 1 line. The display covers month and day first, with a small gap before the hour, minute, and seconds. The buttons are on the back with there being 3 buttons for modify, add, and reset. The clock is electric powered, using a adaptor to lower the voltage to 12V DC.

I guess the clocks are reasonably recent, but may be from the 2000s. I've not seen this particular model online, so don't have any idea of price or origin.

Metro Manhattan Deluxe

Today's watch is the 5th in my collection of Metro watches, and I'm finally beginning to find more information. I seem to be going through a Metro phase too, as I've found quite a few for sale recently.

The Metro brand is a bit of a mystery, especially as their brand name is such a common word, and their watch names aren't so unique either, but they seem to be quite popular whenever they are sold. However, with today's watch I had a breakthrough. I managed to get a case and manual with today's watch, and on there was a company name, Delight, and a phone number. Searching using this has lead me to a company called Delight Corporation Co Ltd in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. The company is quoted as being a furniture company, which explains why I've seen Metro branded clocks, and I guess they must have expanded into other areas too. The company may no longer be in operation though, as their web address currently has no owner.

This model is the Metro Manhattan, and is an analogue watch with a quartz module powered 3 hand dial design. It has a large rectangular case with rounded corners and a black and silver face. The face has numbers for the hour markers, and the words Metro, Manhattan, and Deluxe printed in the centre, along with the Metro 5 pointed star logo. The back has the same text, and nothing more. The strap is a wide plastic design, tapering down from the width of the case. The model number for this design is WW010.

For the date of this model, I'm still having to guess. As the company doesn't seem to be around anymore, but isn't mentioned in the late 90s watch magazines I have, I'm guessing this is from the 2000s.

Metro Washington Special Edition

For today's watch I chose something big and square from one of the more popular mystery brands.

This watch is an analogue quartz watch by the Metro brand. It is called the Washington, and follows one of the naming trends the Metro brand uses which is American cities. This does make it more difficult for a web search as the city of Washington has a metro (subway) which swamps the results. The watch is also quoted as being a special edition, but as you don't see too many of any if the models, I don't know how much it really means. The brand itself is a bit of a mystery, with very little written about it, but the watches are always popular on the Japanese auctions.

The Washington Special Edition is a little more complicated than others from the brand I've blogged. It has a 3 hand dial analogue dial, with 2 smaller dials (at 3 an 9) for the day and date. At the 6 o'clock position, there is also a moon phase dial which is not such a common watch feature. The dial is square and quite large (3x3cm), and sits in a larger rectangular case (3.5x4.5cm) with sloped sides. The back has minimal info, just showing the brand and model names.

I haven't yet confirmed the date of the watch, but my best guess is that the brand was around in the late 90s or 2000s.

Metro Philadelpha Digital Quartz

Today's choice of watch is another by the Metro brand.

Metro seem to be a mystery fashion brand which is popular in Japan (with a lot of people bidding on the auctions, often with quite high end prices). Despite this, there is not much online about the brand itself. From what I've seen, they normally make large watches in LED (dot matrix) or with quartz dial/disc movements, and many are named after American cities or towns.

This model is called Philadelpha (not Philadelphia) and is of a rotating disc design, but with an unusual layout. Time is read through 3 windows spread around the face rather than being aligned like the usual disc watches. The hours are read from the top left window, minutes on the top right, and seconds at the bottom. The display windows are very small compared to the overall case size giving the watch a very unusual look. Inside, the watch is run by a Japanese quartz movement. On the face it describes the watch as "Heavy Duty Design Equipment"  and "Digital Quartz". The Metro name and Crown logo are on bottom left of the face. There is text on the back of the watch, but it says exactly the same as the text on the face. The strap is a wide black leather design with a shiny textured surface.

Looking online, it seems that this watch has a model number of WW036, and one Rakuten seller shows the watch having an original rrp of ¥12,000 (but they had been selling them new for 1/3 of that price). It also showed that the watch came in 6 colour variations (black/black, steel/red (limited edition), steel/silver, gold/olive green, gold/blue (limited edition), and rose gold/black). I also liked the shops description which says something along the lines of that you need to get into the habit of reading it, but you'll grow to love it even though the display is hard to read.

What I found online suggests that this is a modern watch, but the heavy discounting and that it is out of stock suggest that it could be a late 2000s model.

Metro Digital System - round LED

Late last year, I mentioned a brand called Metro who produced interesting designs, but were pretty anonymous on the web.

Today's watch is another from the Metro brand, and on the back it calls it the Digital System. It also has the name Huntingdon on the back which may also be the models name (as the other model was also named after a place).

This model has the same large round design of the previously blogged model, but this is an LED watch. Across the centre of the red coloured face are a series of dots in an 18x5 grid. These dots are a dot matrix array of small red LEDs which are used to tell the time. The watch is simple with regards to functions as you can only see time (4 digits) and date but nothing else (not even seconds).

Pressing the large top right button activates the display which starts the scrolling message METRO DELIGHT before the time is revealed. If you are in a hurry you can double press the button to skip the message and jump straight to the time. The bottom right button is the setting button and activates when you hold that in for a few seconds.

I don't know exact dates for the Metro watches, but I think the brand has probably been around since the late 90s.

Metro Costa Mesa

Today's watch is by a brand who seems to have done quite a few nice design watches for the Far East, but doesn't seem very well known on the internet.

The brand is called Metro and they have a logo with the word Metro in a script font with a 5 pointed crown above. I think that their watches are from the late 90s or early 00s, but there is no site or magazine I've found that can confirm this.

Today's model is called Costa Mesa (I guess after the small city in Orange County, California), and has a very retro classic look. It is quite a large 3 hand dial design with gold hands and gold hour markers on a black background. There is a date marker at the 3 o'clock position, and the watch has a dome in the glass above the date to magnify the number. The case is a solid looking brushed steel, with a polished (fake) wood ring around the face. The strap is a black leather crocodile skin pattern design, topping off the very 50s/60s feel of the design. There is no other information on the watch apart from that is has a Japanese (quartz) movement. There is also text on the face which says "Stainless Steel, Round Case, Water Resistant, tastefully styled, fine quality, dependable".