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.

Lego Clic Time Alarm Clock

Today I'm blogging a clock and not a watch. As well as watches and clocks, I am partial to playing with Lego as well, and today's clock links these themes.

The clock is a Lego clock which seems to be called CLIC Time (or Clic Time). The clock is an alarm clock with a 3 hand dial and a 4th hand to indicate where the alarm is set for. It has a rotating bezel on the edge og the glass which has a finger hole to help rotate it.

It is built as a large square lego piece with the pegs on the top and holes on the bottom. This is used as the base for building, and the clock comes with parts to turn the clock into a robot (or to have the robot as a separate toy). The controls for setting the clock and the alarm are also done with lego pieces. There is a small cog fixed to the case which connects to a large lego cog which can be removed from its cross shaped lego axle. On the top of the case is a red block which pops up and turns the alarm on, and you need to fasten lego to the case to stop it ringing (and I have lego Star Wars because the original pieces were lost).

The watch is powered by an AA battery in a slot at the back. There is a model number for the lego clock set which is 4250339. The earliest date I've seen this online is 2011, but it doesn't seem available new now.

Super Lovers New Wave clock

It's weekend again, and I've chosen to blog a clock again...

This clock fits into one of my sub-collections though as it is from Super Lovers.

Super Lovers is a brand from based in the fashion hub which is the Harajuku district of Tokyo. They were established in 1988 by Yasuhara Tanaka and many of the characters used in the designs are designed by his brother, illustrator Hideyuki Tanaka. The brand was inspired by the London club scene of the 80s and became popular worldwide in the rave scene and 90s techno.

I've blogged quite a few Super Lovers watches so far (with many more to come), but today is the first Super Lovers clock. The clock is a round design with the numbers printed around the bezel in a 'runny paint' style of font. The clock face is in a black and white checked with the words New Wave across the top, the Super Lovers name and logo at the bottom, and two identical scribble style pandas in the middle (which I guess are one of the mascots Ken or Merry, or maybe both).

It is a 3 hand dial design with a quartz clock movement of the number RD6833D, and is powered by a AA battery.

As most of the watches have a 90s dare, I'd guess this is of the same era.

Pocket Monsters rocking clock

I've decided that this weekend will be a clock weekend for a change, but today's is a little more outrageous looking.

The clock today is also part of my Pokémon timepiece collection which seems to be getting quite large.

The Pokémon games/series came out in several generations which is how the Pokémon were originally grouped. The Generation 1 Pokémon came out in 1996 and were shown in the games Red, Blue, (green in Japan), and Yellow, and in season 1 of the anime.

This clock is celebrating the gen 1 Pokémon with a couple of the starter Pokémon (Charmander and Blastoise (2nd evolution of Squirtle) ), the well liked (Pikachu and Arcanine (evolution of Growlithe)), and the final legendary of gen 1, Mew (number 151). It is a Japanese model as it refers to Pocket Monsters rather than Pokémon.

It is a large foam rubber watch with a 3 hand dial clock in the centre. On the top of the clock is a see-saw mechanism with the Pokémon on which rocks with the seconds. It is run by a large quartz clock mechanism. The copyright for the clock is to Nintendo, Creatures, Gamefreak, TV Tokyo, Sho-Pro, and JR Kikaku.

As it is for the gen 1 Pokemon, I assume this is from around 1996.

Yoshitomo Nara Walk On flip clock

I decided that I would blog a clock again today, but it is an unusual design.

The clock is called Walk On, and it was designed by Yoshitomo Nara.

Yoshitomo Nara is a Tokyo based artist, born in 1959, who's work is influenced by Japanese pop culture, manga, and TV. His work has a style often described as scary cute - cute simple images which often have a dark theme.

The Walk On clock is a flip clock design, this means that the time is shown on little plastic plates which flip over when the digits change (like the old railway station destination boards). The special part of the design is that each of the plates has a separate drawing by Nara on each one. It works with a 24hr set up, so there are 84 different drawings (24 hrs and 60 minutes). It often is sold with the warning about the colourful language as one of the minutes drawings (the 00) has a swear word on. The flip drawings are sat in a rectangular case behind a perspex cover. Inside is a quartz movement which is powered by a large 'C' size battery. The clock was exhibited in several collections, so was released also as a piece of art.

It came in 3 colours, and this is the beige model. I think it originally came out in the early 2000s as a limited edition, but there may have been several releases as there are some still for sale (around $350 new) but with slightly different text on the front.

Maryland Robot Clock

Today's timepiece isn't a watch, but another of my clocks.

Actually, it's also one of my robot timepieces as it's a little robot clock.

The robot design has a solid body, head, and legs, with swinging arms. It is far less flexible than the Tokima or Kronoform designs, but is more like the DiP:U watch I posted last year. The watch is a normal looking 3 hand dial design with a black face and gold hands. The crown runs through the robots head and is part of the design, being a red bulb on top of its head (similar looking to the silver bulbs making the eyes). The case (or bezel as the back plate calls it) is a base metal, but with a stainless back.

On the dial is the name Maryland. I've tried finding about the brand, but it isn't a well known make. It seems that there is a robotics centre in Maryland, which is nothing to do with the clock, but is the closest connection I could find.

As I can't find the history of the brand or watch, I haven't worked out the date, but based on the aging of the metal case, I think it may well be 90s.

Super Lovers Computer Clock

Happy Valentines day to any of the watch lovers who celebrate that sort of thing (and happy Friday to everyone else). I couldn't resist the occasion myself and have a slightly love related post today.

Today I have chosen another timepiece by Super Lovers. The Super Lovers brand is from the Japanese company Harajuku Super Lovers who are based in Tokyo, Japan. They started in 1988 and sell interesting fashion designs based on London club culture.

My previous posts were on their watches, but today I'm covering a clock. This is the Super Lovers computer clock and is a very small clock for on a desk or shelf (and is only about 4cm high). The clock is shaped like a computer and monitor, with the clock face in the monitor. The monitor can swivel a little like a computer monitor too!

Removing the front of the monitor takes the clock module out, and you then need to remove the back of this, to get to the quartz movement. The module is made by Time Module Inc who are a Hong Kong brand started in 1987 (maybe as a spin off from Seiko). The module number is PC21A and it takes and AG4 battery.

The clock face is a 3 hand dial, or more correctly, two hands and a rotating Super Lovers logo (a heart in a diamond shape). The face features two of the Super Lovers Panda bear mascots, along with the computers trash bin, and the date 1997 (which is when I assume the clock is from).

Casio GQ-200 Muscle Time Alarm Clock

Today, I'm taking a break from the watches and going for a clock, but one with a very strong watch link...

The watch is called the Muscle Time by Casio and is a watch in the style of the G-Shock watches. It was actually made with the original prototypes of the G-Shock as the inspiration as those had a round design.

The clock has the same rugged design as the G-Shocks, and even has the word Protection moulded into the plastic. It is quite rubbery and tough, and it feels like you could play football (soccer) with it without problem.

At the front of the 'ball' is the LCD display which has two sets of numbers. The main part is the time (6 digits) with the alarm time shown below (surrounded by a black border). The alarm (which is incredibly loud) is activated by a switch on the side, and there are buttons under where is stands for setting the time and alarm. For night viewing, there is a large button on top (hidden inside the rubber) for activated the very bright el-backlight. For power, it uses 2x AA batteries accessed through a rubber covered screw fixed panel on the back.

There were 3 versions of the Muscle Time Alarm Clock released, and this, the GC-200, is probably the most common, however they were only released for a short time, and consequently are all rare now. This model is the GQ-200J-1 (which I've also seen referred to as QC-200) and the original sale price was ¥7,200. The module seems the same as the GQ-100 and the manual for both can be seen on the Casio Japan FTP site.

Swatch Maxi GK102 Nautilus

Some people comment to me that my watch collection is too big, but today's "watch" is bigger than a lot of the others put together.

The watch is a size suitable for a giant and would fit a wrist up to 2 meters in circumference.

It was made by the Swiss brand Swatch, and called the Maxi Swatch. The Maxi Swatch watches first came out in 1985 for advertising and are 10x the size of a normal Swatch (-2.1m or 6.9ft). Of course they weren't designed to fit on your wrist, but instead be hung on the wall (although they almost go from floor to ceiling).

This model is one of 12 designs that came out in 1987 (only the second year they were released) as part of the Fall/Winter collection. It is called the Nautilus and has a model number of GK 102 (or MGK102). It has a 3-hand dial, featuring a nautical theme (compass design and sea green and blue colours).

LCD Wrist Clock

I'm afraid today's post isn't going to be too long as the watch is a bit of a mystery to me. It has no stamps, mouldings, or stickers stating anything about who made it or when.

One thing that is obvious though is the size. It has the largest LCD screen of any of the watches I own. It is only a 4 digit display, making each digit huge (each one almost 2cm high). Apart from its size, the module is very basic, with only time, date, and seconds options. The circuit board size is large too, especially compared to the watch I posted 2 days ago (the Zeon watch with see-through LCD). The display is changing and the time set with the two buttons on the right side.

The strap matches the rest of the watch in being large, and is about 5cm wide. As it's plastic, it makes it a bit sweaty underneath though.
In the title I joked about it being wrist clock rather than wristwatch due to its size. But this is more true than you'd think because it is really a wrist mounted clock. The yellow plastic case and strap is actually a holder for an LCD clock. When removed, the clock stands by itself using a built-in stand!

Apart from this, the only info I have is that it takes an AG12 battery, and was assembled in China.