Alfee & Bose commemorative watch

Keeping up the 90s run today with a watch that has been hard to find out about.

The watch is a special watch that was released "Commemorating the Collaboration between THE ALFEE and Bose Corporation" according to the back. The back has a lot of information showing in the middle "Love All Music, Alfee Bose 1993" and stating that this is an original Alfee/Bose product. It also states that "The ALFEE/BOSE SOUND SYSTEM is a Victory Gained by THE ALFEE and BOSE Corporation".

So following up on this, it seems that there was a speaker/music system released by the high end music equipment manufacturer Bose which was called The Alfee, but this only appears to have been in the far east (and i guess it was from 1993).

The only reference I can find for The Alfee is referring to a Japanese music group founded in the mid 70s. They play various rock styles, being quoted as being prog rock, folk rock, hard rock, and pop rock. The year 1993 saw the release of a special live acoustic album called Confidence, so the sound system release may have been linked.

The watch itself is a 3 hand dial design, but with a very stylised metal case. The watch face is only seen through a smaller window with bars crossing the face. The parts connecting the black leather strap are also designed with a vent design, and the buckle is engraved with Alfee/Bose.

Nooka + S9EZ Zub Zot with Mini NookaNooka

It's been a while since I posted a Nooka, but as I'm off to an opening of an art exhibition, this watch will fit in well.

The Nooka brand was started by Matthew Waldman who's novel designs lead from work with Seiko to running a watch (and accessories) company.

This model is a collaboration between Nooka and S9EZ and features a strap covered in the S9EZ skull logo. S9EZ was started in 2011 by DevilRobots founder Shinichiro Kitai and figurine maker Takuji Honda. They work together in various types of media for the Japanese and international market using the two tone skull logo. It may be a limited edition, but says 001/XXX, so that might just be for show.

The watch is one of Nooka's Zub Zot 20 models. It has an LCD display with a series of dots for the hours, a horizontal bar for the minutes, and a two digit numerical display for seconds. The display can also show the date, and there is an alarm too. This display is called the Zot layout (and is the first Zot I've blogged).

It has a rubber 20mm wide strap with a buckle (the Zub and 20 part of the name).

The watch also has a companion NookaNooka collectors toy. The toy is the representative of the Nooka brand and has a distinctive U shaped head. It can also be used as a stand for the watch which loops around the body and head. So far 11 designs of these have been produced and are linked with the artist series Nooka watches.

Seiko Wired BoA Limited Edition W571

It back to the Wired watches again, and a limited edition too.

This watch is from Seiko's Wired range of watches with their high design watches. This particular model is shown as produced by BoA (and copyright of axev), and is a limited edition of only 500 from 2004.

BoA is a South Korean singer called Kwon Boa (and has used the name with the acronym Beat of Angel), and is referred to as the Queen of Korean Pop. The watch features her logo on the back and on the boxes, and a certificate with a message. 2004 would correspond to her third Japanese album being released and a sci-fi themed Japan tour.

It has an inverse LCD display with a main line of a 4 digit curvy time display. Below that is the year, month, and date (with text saying what the numbers mean just above). There is then a box along the bottom which seems to be the day of the week. It is powered by a W571 module and just seems to have time and maybe alarm modes.

The full model number is W571-0AC0, and has a strap with a part number of F2B8-Z-Q. For strap adjustments, a tool was also included in the box.

Citizen Independent 1481010 Astronaut Snoopy

I'm back with a 1481010 again today, but an unusual and quite rare version.

I've blogged a lot about the Citizen Independent 1481010 watches before, and you can find masses of information on my 1481010 overview page.

This one is a collaboration piece between Citizen and Snoopy. The character Snoopy is a dog featured in the Peanuts comic by Charles M Schulz which ran from 1950 to 2000. The Peanuts characters are very popular in Japan, and there are large Snoopy Town shops selling all kinds of Snoopy merchandise. To be more correct, the collaboration is with United Feature Syndicate Inc who hold the copyright to the Peanuts brand. This is mentioned on the back of the watch, and unusually is the only information that the back shows -there is no model number, makers mark, serial number, or place of manufacture shown, which is unique for the 1481010 watches. The only hint this is a 1481010 Independent watch is by the logo on the face.

The watch design features Snoopy in am astronaut suit standing on the moon looking at Earth with Woodstock the bird (also in an astronaut suit) flying nearby. The image is made up of both etched lines on the case and painted lines under the glass.

It is a rotating disc model with a quartz Citizen 6038 movement, and has a window at the left where the discs showing the time can be seen. It is like the old jump hour watchs, but the dials are continuously rotating.

There is no date on the watch, but from the timing of the range, I'd guess this was late 90s or very early 2000s (most of the collaboration models i can put a date on were out from 1998 to 2001). I've not seen this model up for sale very often (-maybe when I bought it was the only time), so I think it is one of the rarer 1481010 watches.

Kubrick Collection Black by GSX

It's time for a Sunday blog post, and I'm choosing another boxed watch today.

This watch is produced by the GSX company who are a Japanese brand and produce many watches in collaboration with products or films. This one is one of two watches that were part of the Kubrick Collection in collaboration with Medicom Toy Corporation. Kubricks are a set of small collectable block figure toys produced by the Japanese company Medicom and we're first released in 2000. The toys are similar to Lego figures and have specific designs printed onto a standard base shape. Each toy design is a limited edition, and are very popular to collect (and i have to admit that I have a small collection myself).

This watch is a special one done with the Kubricks, and features a rotating Kubrick figure as the second hand. A Kubrick toy also accompanied the watch with a clock based design, and the GSX name on the toy (it's number is PR011). Apart from the Kubrick second hand, the watch is a basic 3 hand dial with a quartz movement. It has a woven fabric strap, and came in two colours. This black version was the most common with 600 being produced. There was also a red strap version, which was limited to 400. The original sale price was 8,190 yen.

The back of the watch has an etched picture of a Kubrick, along with all of the copyright information.

As GSX only produce the watches, the watch is actually made by Best Co. Ltd, which is a Chinese manufacturing company making everything from clothes and footwear to glasses and watches.

Citizen Trans Continents "Helmet" - Glay edition D299

Today's watch is a type I've blogged before, but just in a different version.

The watch is a D299 module watch which looks a little like a motorcycle or astronaut helmet, and was released for the Japanese clothing brand Trans Continents. The Trans Continents watches were made by Citizen, and this one comes from 1998.

This particular version was made as a collaboration with the Japanese band Glay, and features their name under the glass below the inverse LCD display. Glay were formed in 1988 in Hakodate in Hokkaidō, Japan, and we're originally a Visual Kei band. They mainly produce pop and rock music, and are very popular, being the 7th highest selling band of all time in Japan (as of 2010).

The watch itself is a 2 line display LCD watch, with the time on the top, and date & day along the bottom. With the design, you only see half of the hour line when you look from directly above, so you need to look up at the watch to use it. The watch has dual alarms, dual time, stopwatch, and timer. The strap is matched to the body, and is of a design where you need to cut it to the right length (so watch out if you are buying second hand!).

The full model number is D299-L19206.