J-Axis Boston Club Pocket Watch

It's been strange today as I've not worn any watch on my wrist, so I've felt like something was missing.

The reason is that today I decided to use a pocket watch. Actually, it isn't even one for in your pocket as it has its own pocket that fastens to your belt.

The pocket watch seems to be part of a range called Boston Club based on the text on the face and is by the Japanese brand J-Axis. It is quite a small pocket watch and is around 4 cm across. The pocket watch is a 3 hand design with a quartz movement. On the back is the number 20/520-C which may be the model number. From the loop over the crown at the 12 o'clock position is a chain connecting it to the leather pocket. The leather pocket is embossed with the J-Axis name and is designed to fold over your belt, fastening with a press stud. It has a hole in the front so you can also see the time without taking out the watch.

I've blogged a few J-Axis watches before, but now I've found a bit more about the brand. It seems that J-Axis is a brand from the Japanese company Sun Flame Co.

Sun Flame Co was started in 1984, and in April 1987 they developed the J-Axis series. Now, they have sales in the range ¥3.7bn per year, and make licenced watches for companies such as Disney and Sanrio. The J-Axis watches are currently split into 6 series - A, B, C, D, H, and S. There are pocket watches in most of the series, but this watch isn't on the site, so I guess it isn't available anymore.

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 Wrist Camera WQV-10

Today is the 4th in the series of Casio Wrist Camera watches. After the improvements made in models WQV-1 thru 3 comes the best of the models, the WQV-10.

When looking at the screen, you see the first (and main) improvement which is that the display is now in colour. The screen is a 20x20mm display with 6240 pixels (78x80) and is capable of displaying 4096 colours. Because of this, you can select different display colours (3 colours and 2 layouts), and the calendar feature returns, but with the possibility of choosing a day's colour.

The camera is a 0.025 megapixel colour camera (176x144 pixels) with a 1/14" CMOS sensor. As with the others, the lens is at the top of the camera, the screen acts as a viewfinder, and the shutter button is on the front. The watch has 1MB of memory which can hold up to 100 photos, and they can be transferred to a computer (at 115 kbps) through the infrared connection (located next to the lens). Shutter speed is 1/5.5 to 1/1660, and there is a manual shutter speed option. The watch also allows for a 2x digital zoom. Pictures can be given a title within the watch with up to 24 characters possible per image.

The watch uses a 2412 module and has alarm and stopwatch modes as well as the camera and playback. This is powered by a CR2032 battery accessed by the coin opening slot on the back which gives a life of around 6 months of average use. Low battery is signalled by a red marker on the display, and stops the camera and playback modes working.

Casio W-78 Alarm Chronograph

I'm back to the Casio watches today with one of their LCD models.

Today's watch is the W-78 which is an alarm chronograph model. It is a Japanese version, with ones sold in Europe/USA often being quoted as an important model. From the design, it looks like an earlier model, but it is still available today for around $25.

The watch uses a 593 module, which has appeared on the blog before in the A158 model. Time is shown on the LCD display using 6 digits with small digits for day and date above. As it's an alarm chronograph, it has alarm and chronograph functions (to 1/100 sec), but that's it.

The shape is a little more unusual with the watch appearing as round from the front (with mounds for the buttons), but it looks octagonal from behind. The strap is resin and has a part number of 286F6. The only other information I have is that it is 5 bar water resistant and made in Thailand.

Regalo Slide Rule RG6005

Today's watch is a practical one for doing calculations, but isn't a calculator watch, and uses a technique that is not so common anymore.

The watch is by a band called Regalo, which got its name from the Italian for gift. The watches are Japanese, but are meant to represent the boldness and passion of Italy and be a fashion watch of European taste. It is manufactured by Maruman Products, who I've featured on the blog before.

The design is quite noticeable because of the huge size. The face is relatively normal, but the bezel is very thick to accommodate the unusual feature of this watch, a slide rule. The slide rule us a method for performing units conversion calculations. To make it work, you rotate the outer bezel to a required marker, and read off the result from another marker further around the dial. For example, if I line up the kilometres (km) mark with 60 on the outer dial, I can then check the Naut marker (for nautical miles) and see that points to a little under 33. This tells me that 60 km is around 33 Nautical Miles (actual answer is 32.4). The bezel also has speed markings in mph, and I haven't fully deciphered the rest of the numbers.

The time telling part is a quartz watch with a Miyota 6P09 movement. It uses a 3 hand dial design, with 4 small dials on the face. These smaller dials cover (clockwise from 12 o'clock) date, month, 24 hr time, and day. The time is set with the crown, and there is a push button on the side (above the crown) for date setting.

It was originally sold for around ¥9800, but doesn't seem to be available anymore.

Vestal G9 Global Traveller

If there's one thing about Vestal, it's that they know how to make a chunky watch! Today's model also seems to be a challenge to set as most of the Web search results are "how do I set my watch?" posts on forums.

The watch in question is the Global Traveller by Vestal. There seem to have been several models og Global Traveller, and this is the G9.

Vestal was started in California by David Bonaventura in 1997, and sell their own watches as well as making watches for companies such as Paul Frank, Vans, and Harajuku Lovers (-a different company than Harajuku Super Lovers). The company designs and produces many unusual designs with the themes of image and style.

Based on the date setting, this watch seems to have come out in the early 2000s. It has a solid metal case which is curved and blends into the metal strap. The display is an inverse LCD with two lines of information. The top line covers the time while the bottom has a mixture of dot matrix and digits to show day and full date. Modes are world time (which should be expected from a watch called Global Traveller), stopwatch, timer, and alarm (x3).

For anyone who comes across this in the search to find out how to set the watch, hold the light button for 3 seconds.

Umbro U887A Ana-Digi Watch

I'm wearing a sporty watch today, but have been lazy most of the day...

So far, I've blogged some of the main sports brands like Adidas, Nike, and Converse, but today it's the first from another. This time it's a watch by British brand Umbro.

Umbro are a sportswear and football equipment supplier from Manchester, but are now a subsidiary of the American company Iconix Brand Group (since 2012) after earlier being owned by Nike. This watch came out in 2011 (maybe a little earlier), so was during the Nike owned era.

The watch is a model U887A and is an ana-digi design. The dial is a 3 hand dial with a red seconds hand. The digital display is split into 3 areas with a main time display at the bottom. In the top to right is a round display which fills over a minute (with 30 segments that flash twice before the next one comes on). The top left has a 2 line display with day and date.
It is 5 bar water resistant, and has a stopwatch, alarm, and timer. Between each mode, the round display shows a spinning animation before the new mode appears. There is an el-backlight with three colours - blue for the time, green for the date, and red for the circle.