Citizen C480 Ana-Digi "stripy"

While checking out my blog for info, I found out that I hadn't blogged the watch I was wearing today.

The watch is an ana-digi model by Citizen, based on the C480 module. I'm not sure which year this is from as the module has been around for a while so it potentially could be 84, 94,or 2004. I blogged a Trans Continents watch from 2000 with the same module many years ago. Citizen Trans Continents C480

This watch has a 6 digit LCD display where most of the functions are shown. There are options to display a dual time or date and day, and there is also an alarm and chronograph (down to 1/100th sec). The LCD also has a back light, on the same button as the chronograph start/stop. The dial is crown operated and does not link with the LCD.

Power is supplied from an SR927 battery size.

Design-wise, they have thought this through well with stripes on the dial leading into a line pattern on the case and through onto the pattern in the finely linked strap.

EleeNo Lite ART009 Wheel (variant)

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.

Storm Salvador

Time for my first post of 2017!

Today's watch I'd another from my selection of watches from the London based brand Storm, and this time it's one of their limited edition watches.

This model is called Salvador, and is a quartz analogue watch with a square case. The front is covered with glass to the edges, except for the right side where there is a sloping strip of metal. The display has one main 3 hand dial, with three smaller dials. The small dials cover date at the top, day on the left, and 24 hr dial on the bottom. Sometimes, I've seen this quoted as being dual time, but I guess that is where they have got confused about the 24hr dial.

I don't know when the watch was released (I'd guess 2000s from the design), but there were only 3000 of this black model released worldwide. The watch was also available in white and blue, and I think those also had a limited number.

The watch has a stainless steel case and strap and is 50m water resistant. The strap has a glass inset in one of the links which has the Storm name behind. There is no mention of the model number on the watch, but one of the sales sites suggested that the model is 4094/BR (with the BR I think referring to the colour).

Nixon - The Iris

Two days running, and I'm blogging!
Today's watch is one of the most bright pink watches I own, and is by the Nixon brand.

This model is called "The Iris" and is sold as a womens watch (although the 39mm case is large enough for it to be unisex).
It has a rounded square design with a tiny window in the centre, where the rotating discs can (just) be seen for the time. There is also a second window at the right side of the face which has a second dial rotating with the seconds, but this only shows different shades of pink as it rotates. This means that inside is a little cramped, with the watch having 2 separate quartz movements, one for each dial! The rest of the face is pink, only broken-up by the mirrored silver Nixon name in the bottom corner, but in the right light you can just about see the two sets of discs through the face. The two movements also makes the placement of the crown a little unusual, with it being on the left side of the watch (so the watch is especially good for people who like to wear their watch on their right arm).

The strap is a clear rubbery design (which seems to have faded to yellow here), and has the Nixon logo cut into the lower half of the strap.

The case is shiny stainless steel, and the watch is 50m water resistant. The back has the Nixon name and the watch name, as well as their usual short catchphrase for the watch, "Eye of the Storm".

From what I can see, it was released in at least 3 different colours, and this one is 'bold pink' with a model number of A106-971

The original retail price was ¥16,000

Happy Halloween - Super Lovers Skull Watch

Hi blog followers.
It's been a while!
As it is Halloween today, and I'm wearing a spooky watch, I thought I'd do a quick blog post while I'm sitting on the bus.

Today's watch is by one of my favourite brands for unusual designs - Super Lovers. The watches are from the Tokyo based company Super Lovers, who seem to release many different watch designs, but only in small quantities.

This particular design uses a watch head designed as a skull, with a small round dial in its forehead. The face also has text around the centre, with phrases "1950-1998 good future for you!", "Tokyo Rock", and "80s New wave ivy punk".

This skull design is coupled with a black leather strap with a presstud type fastening. The strap is also decorated with a skull design, and the words SUPER and LOVERS on the top and bottom sections of the strap.

Inside is a typical Miyota quartz movement, using an AG4 battery.

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

Deadman Quartz GV 4089

Even though I've not been blogging for a while, I've been keeping up with trying to find more watches in some of my sub-collections.

Today's watch is one of those and is from the Deadman (or Dead man) watch line that I still only know small amounts about. I do plan to pull together a brand page to cover all of the models I know about (which is more than I've blogged so far) so keep an eye out for that page soon!

This model is the GV 4089 (or GV4089), and is one of the more 'normal' designs that Deadman produced. It is a quartz analogue design with a very 60s/70s feel to the design. It has a deep metal case with an oval face covered by thick glass. The face is a 3 hand dial design with silver hands and numbers at the 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock positions on a black background. The only text on the front is Deadman and Quartz, and the back has the brand name and the model number. The design is completed with a silver metal strap with the usual Deadman embossed bracelet clip.

I have confirmation that the Deadman watches were out in the late 90s, but don't know how long they lasted, and when released, they seem to have been sold around the ¥4000 mark.

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.

Super Lovers Floating Dial

Sorry it's been a while since my last blog, so I home some of you out there are still following! I plan to get back to blogging a bit more, but don't think it'll be back to daily updates just yet.

For today's watch, I'm wearing something that expands the mystery of the linked designs even further. Regular readers may remember that I've been following various Japanese fashion watch brands which seem to be linked by common designs. Watches by Deadman, Module, Deep, etc. seem to have produced their own versions of the same watch over different time periods.

Until today, the Super Lovers brand seemed to be separate from this group, but this watch shares a remarkable similarity to the Deadman Live Wire I posted last year. As I have a hunch that the Super Lovers brand commission watches from a variety of manufacturers, I guess it shouldn't be unexpected that they ended up with something similar though!

The Super Lovers brand originate from the  Harajuku district in Tokyo and have been known for their mix of punk, clubbing, and cute influences.

This watch I've nicknamed the Super Lovers Floating Dial as the dial and mechanism is surrounded by glass so you can see right through the watch from front to back, with the only connection to the case being the stem linking the module to the crown. The back glass in this design isn't completely clear, but is in red glass, and has the text Super Lovers All Stars written around the edge. I think the All Stars name might refer to a line of watches, as I've seen it before on other designs.

Time is shown on the "floating" 3 hand dial and is powered by a Japanese quartz module. The dial features the Super Lovers logo which is like the Superman symbol but with a heart instead of the S. The strap is metal mesh with a buckle, and matches with the metal case. There is no information on the back of the watch, but you can see right through to the quartz module.

I don't know exactly when the watch wad released, but I'd guess this was late 90s or early 00s based on the link to the Deadman design.

Boy London B131

On my way out this morning, I grabbed one of my many Boy London watches, and again this is one with a different style!

This model has the number B131 and is a 3 hand dial design quartz watch. The dial is completely unlike any other of my Boy London models, and features none of the normal shapes, symbols, or even styles I've blogged before. This watch has a printed face of what looks to be a photo of a pattern of studs and ball bearings. In small writing between the pattern is the Boy London name, and that is it for the obvious branding.

The back is a design I've seen before, with the B symbol from the B for Boy line of watches they released. The back also has the text Boy London since 1976, referring to the date when Stephanie Raynor founded the brand in London (-for more brand info, see my other Boy London posts).  The only other information on the watch shows it has a stainless steel back, Japanese movement, and is 3atm water resistant.

The date is one of the hard things to measure with these watches, as it doesn't always correspond with the key dates for the brand. Trying to date it from the design also has me confused, as I've not seen anything quite like it, but if I had to guess, I'd say early 00s...

Benetton by Bulova Shaking Salsa

Sorry about the lack of posts at the moment, but I've been a little snowed under, but I've managed to find enough time to squeeze in this quick post. Normal service will hopefully be resumed soon!

Today, I'm picked one of the watches from my Benetton by Bulova range. The range started in the 90s, but so far I've not found out when they stopped. This watch was part of a line that they made called "Time of the World", and they all seem to have had this general case design.

This particular model has a white case (which is a first) with a bright green strap. The face is also green, and has the words Shaking Salsa in purple and black written across it.

I got this model in its box, so I found out that the original sale price was ¥7,000. Unfortunately, the guarantee card hadn't been stamped, so it didn't help with the date (but I think these models may have been from the 90s).

Deadman Quartz GV5766 Red and Blue

This is my second Deadman post in a row, as those one was close at hand and ready to wear.

The model will be easily recognised by long-time followers of my blog as the quartz rotating disc design GV5766. What I'd been finding about the Deadman watches was that there were more different designs than I was finding duplicates of any design, but this model is the exception. So far, this seems to be the most popular of the models, with many different variations of strap colour and texture being released.

This particular version has a silver case and a black face with gold writing. The strap sections are in a smooth leather and this time are red for the top half and blue for the bottom half.

Deadman Skull Watch GV 6674

I'm going to a late Halloween party tonight, so wanted to have a watch with a bit of a horror theme, and this Deadman watch seemed to be perfect.

The Deadman (or Dead Man) brand is one of my favourite lines of watches, but are relatively unknown online. They are a fashion brand which was around in the late 90s, making a wide range of different designs, but I don't know how long they were active for. Some of the designs used have been used by other brands as well, so that just makes it more of a mystery.

This model is the GV 6674 (maybe GV6674), and has the most unusual case shape of the range so far. The design seems to be an alien skull with a large forehead where the face sits, with the eyes and smiling mouth below. The clock part is a quartz analogue 3 hand dial design, with no numbers, just markers at the 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock positions. The Deadman name is on the face, the back plate, and also on the clasp of the matching metal strap.

One other mysterious thing with this design was that one day I also found a fabric sew-on patch with a similar alien skull shape, but with a yin & yang symbol where the clock is here, and it was also being called Deadman...

Swatch Black Board SAB103

Today's watch is my second Swatch Automatic on this blog (-the first was in April this year).

The Swatch Automatic watches were released in 1991 and continued until 1997 when they were replaced by the Autoquartz technology. They have a mechanical automatic movement, and there is a load of information about that on my earlier post.

This model is one of the later models, having been designed in 1994 and released as part of the 1995 Spring Summer collection. It is called the Black Board and has a model number of SAB103. The watch has a white face with black numbers in all different sizes, and the top of the 2 in 12 is an open crescent moon shape with the movement just visible through. It has a black plastic case with matching black plastic strap, and the back is see through so you can see the rotating weight for the movement.

@ #008 by Poll Position

Today's blog is for a watch manufacturer I've blogged about many times before, but this time with a different line of watches.

This watch seems to be from a line of watches called @ based on the only symbol on the dial (which is also on the back plate). The back also has the number #008, so it would seem that this is likely the name of the model (as the text style is too polished to be a serial number).

The only other information is that this watch is by Poll Position Ltd. Co who have featured here before as the company behind the Module watch line/brand. Their background is a little hazy, but the most likely lead would suggest they are an Osaka Japan based manufacturer and/or the Japanese distributor of the French Lip brand.

The watch is a quartz analogue watch with a 3 hand dial design. The face design is simple and uncluttered with virtually no writing. Around the dial is a silver band with small circular holes which act as the hour markers. The hole at the 6 o'clock position is slightly larger, and when you look closely you can see that there is a small date marker inside.

From what I've found, I think that the Module watches are from the 2000s, and can be found new still, so I'd guess that it is probably the same for this watch too.

Q&Q Alarm Chronograph Ana-Digi Watch

Today's watch is another by one of the more elusive brands, who are quite well known, but their links to the larger watch manufacturer are relatively hidden.

The watch is by Q&Q (or QandQ as I've had to write it in the tags as the & symbol isn't allowed), who are a budget but quality brand started in 1976. The name stands for Quality & Quantity, and the links I've found suggest they were part of the Japan CBM Corporation, which seems to mean Citizen Business Machines - so the watches may be Citizen watches after all.

This model is one of the 80s watch staples - the Ana-Digi, with a main 3 hand dial analogue display and a small 6 digit LCD display at the bottom. The analogue display is operated by a crown, while the 3 buttons operate the LCD. All of the different modes are displayed on the LCD, with the watch having date, dual time, alarm, and stopwatch as options.

The back has the Q&Q logo, and states this has a Japanese movement, but assembled in Korea (and that it has the usual stainless steel back and base metal bezel), with a case that is 30m water resistant.

I don't know exactly when this model is from, but the style was very popular in the 80s, so I'll guess that it is from that era.

Benetton by Bulova Cartoon Exclamation

As it's Friday, I decided to wear something colourful, so picked a watch out of my seemingly very large Benetton by Bulova watch collection.

The watch was made by the watch manufacturer Bulova for the Benetton fashion brand, and I've covered so many of these watches in previous posts, so I won't go into details here.

This model is the typical 3 hand dial design, with the standard case shape, but this time with the case in black. The design for this particular model is a pop-art cartoon style, with the face covered in green dots on a light blue background. Instead of the 9 on the dial, there is a curvy apostrophe symbol, and in front of the 3 is a giant exclamation mark. The strap has a matching design, but this time with back dots on a green background, and has cartoon explosions and a 'One Way' sign.

The Benetton by Bulova range started in the 90s, but I don't know yet when they ended.