Seiko Alba AKA - Square Dial V733

Back to the Seiko Alba AKA range again today.
This watch is one of the designs brought out in the late 90s to appeal to fashion conscious buyers in the far east.

It has a 3-hand dial V733 movement, which also has a date and day marker at the 6 o'clock position. There are no hour numbers on the dial, but the minutes (every 5) are marked instead. The glass is shaped with the central 2/3 being thicker, and then tapering to the top and bottom. This makes the watch catch the light quite effectively! The watch is also 10bar water resistant.

The full model number is V733-5A4O, and this watch was made in 1996. It has an AKA strap with part number F0N5AZ-E

Cheap and cheerful: Blue Silicone band LCD watch

This is the cheapest new watch in my collection, and is one of the most basic.

The watch came from an "everything £1" shop in the UK (about $1.50).

The watch has a 1-piece silicone band which stretches over your hand. The LCD display is encased in the silicone, with only the display visible. The two buttons are operated through the strap for mode and time setting.

It is an incredibly simple module only having time, date and seconds.

Citizen Independent 1481010 - Ana-Digi new strap mod

Quick post today I'm afraid.

This is another of the 1481010s, and is a full Ana-Digi model. The watch has a blue 3-hand dial, operated with a crown. The other 3 buttons control the digital display. Modes include dual time, alarm, and chronograph.

This should have had a metal strap, but has had a replacement leather strap, making it a unique mod!

Nooka Zirc Gold

As my last post on a Nooka (link) has reached 1000 pageviews, it's time for another Nooka on my blog.
The Nooka Zirc is another in the Matthew Waldman's Nooka brand, and is possibly one of the most flashy and noticeable in my collection (and that is saying something!).

The Zirc combines an hour display in a more traditional circular arrangement, with a bar below showing the minutes. The hour display has one LCD dot for each hour, and 60 lines for the minutes. There are markers for am and pm, and to show if the alarm is active.

The watch face is VERY shiny, making it look rather flashy, and has Nooka written on each side, with the buttons inside the 'oo' (or to be more correct, the infinity symbol). The strap is a fine gold mesh with a Nooka clasp.

You can still buy the watch from Nooka (link) or their distributors (as of May 2012) for $300.

Iron Samurai chain link LED watch

Today's watch is one to confuse those who glance at your wrist. At first glance, it just looks like a chain-link bracelet, but in reality there is a watch display hidden inside.

Hidden between the links are 4 7-segment LED numbers (each segment looks like it may be 2 LEDs). Pressing the button illuminates the display, and you can read the time through the gaps.
The watch design itself is found a lot on Ebay, seemingly marketed under several names (Iron Samurai, I've Samurai, Black Lava).

It appears to have been originally released as a budget watch by Chinavision around 2009. Tag lines state that the watch has "blood red numerals encased in stark samurai sword steel like the final battle between all the forces of good and evil in the multiverse". The manual states Yongquan LED watch, and in the instructions there is a slightly strange statement about the watch which says:
"This is a new stylish design of the new exotic products, using high-tech digital technology, the use of digital arrangement with the combination of imported high-brightness LED choose carefully built an impressive grey LED WATCH. When pressing the watch button displays the time, acted like a gap in the Heat from the case broke out, flowing over your every nerve, so you excited, Wow, the time out of their show, really fantastic!"

The original design concept was released by Hirano Tsuboi in 2008, but this had a different type of LED (similar to the original 70s LEDs)

ES Snow-Sport

This watch is another "tribute" designed watch in my collection.

The watch is called ES Snow-Sport, and has no makers mark at all. The back of the watch states it is "not for sale", so I assume it was issued as a promotional item, or free gift.

The watch design seems to be a tribute to one of the 1481010s I posted previously, and shares a lot of the same features. The shaped design, curved metal strap, and front button are similar. Even the curved dot-matrix display with triangular mode indicators on the bottom are very like the 1481010.
Mode-wise, there are less functions with only time, stopwatch, and alarm.

Similarities between this and the 1481010

Citizen Independent 1481010 D390 Red

Another 1481010 again - still more to go as well ;-)
This one is the D390 module version, and has the same style of curved metal strap as the C352 and C353 models.

The watch has a standard LCD display, with two lines: date on the top row, and time on the bottom row. Mode-wise, the D390 has two alarms, chronograph, timer, and dual time. There is also a button below the display which activates the light.
The full model number is D390-L17416, and this watch was made in 1997

For more information on the 1481010 range, check out this link