Person's V535 - Eiffel Tower

It seems like the big watch companies have worked for many different fashion brands over the years, making lines of watches for their sale. Today's watch is another of those.

This watch is by the Japanese clothing brand Person's. The Person's name/clothing was first seen in 1977, when the name and logo was first used by Takaya Iwasaki, before becoming a brand in 1979. The brand produces clothes (as well as shoes, hats, watches, bedding, glasses, and cosmetics) which mix eastern and western dress culture, and are "people orientated". The Japanese Person's brand and logo was also used by an American company I'm the 80s, but these items are not related to the Japanese company (and there was a legal trademark dispute about this).

The watch appears to be a Seiko collaboration based on the model number V535-6A50. Inside it shows that the V535 module (which uses a 927 battery) and the case was made by the Seiko linked Shiojiri company. I blogged another Person's watch in November 2014, but there, it doesn't seem to have been a Seiko style, so it may be that there was not an exclusive link between Person's and Seiko (at least for the whole time they've sold watches).

The watch itself is a 3 hand dial design which also has a 4th rotating item - a disc which follows the hour hand rotation. The face features a stylized sketch of the Eiffel Tower and the Person's logo. The rotating disc is visible on the top half of the dial, behind the tower, and has pictures of an aeroplane and stars (so they look to fly past the tower). The case design reminds me a little of the Boy London watches, with a round case with the Person's name moulded into the bezel.

From the serial number, it appears the watch could have been made in 1989, 1999, or 2009, and I would think that the 1999 or 2009 dates are the most likely.

Okaya City Nagano watch

I've blogged all sorts of commemorative/ promotional watches on my blog so far, but I think this is the first which is for a city!

This watch is made for a place called Okaya City, which is a small city in the Nagano Prefecture (county) in Japan on the banks of Lake Suwa. The city was founded in 1936 is in the centre of the prefecture and has a population of just over 50,000. After WWII, the city established itself as a place for high precision manufacture, and is now home to Seiko Epson and Olympus.

The watch is a standard round case analogue watch with a 3 hand dial design. The face features a picture of a colourfully dressed person holding drumsticks with the Okaya City name on their drum. In the background, the picture has what looks like bells, trees, and maybe a city landmark.

The back has the city name engraved into it, as well as the usual watch information (water resistant, stainless steel and base metal).

The watch is made by Seiko (which is appropriate as they have a base there), and is based around the V701 quartz module (which inside is revealed to be a Shiojiri V70C). It was manufactured in a year ending in a 5, so could be 1985 for the 50th anniversary of the city in 1986, or 2005 for the 40th anniversary of the twinning with Mount Pleasant, Michigan, US, or something completely different. My guess for the watch style is that it's an 80s watch, but possibly 90s.

Mickey Mouse Comic Strip watch by Lorus

I'm working at the opening of a library today so thought that a comic strip watch might be appropriate. The comic also mentions the movies, and as the library shares the same building as a cinema, it makes it especially right.

The watch is a Disney Mickey Mouse comic strip watch which works from one end of the strap, across the face, and down to the other end. The story tells of Mickey going to meet Minnie for a trip to the movies. She is running late, so Mickey let's on that he new that would be true and so told her that he'd said an hour early as he knew that was likely (which is told on the watch face). This backfires, as when Minnie finds she has more time, she uses it to get changes again!

The watch part is a 3 hand dial design by Lorus. Lorus is an company under the Seiko Corporation, and this was one of multiple watches that Lorus made for Disney. It uses a V515 module and has a full model number of V515-6610. On the back it also says Shiojiri Ltd (probably named after the city of Shiojiri in Nagano). Shiojiri Seiko make a range of watch movements and would have been the supplier of the V515. I don't know when the watch is from as there is no serial number, but I'd guess it is from the 80s.