Seiko Alba Field Gear V701 Thermo and Lens

Today's watch is definitely designed for the outdoors enthusiasts.

It was released under the Seiko Alba brand, in a line they called Field Gear. Most of the Field Gear watches have a rugged feel to them, but only this model was designed to help in the great outdoors!

The watch itself is a standard 3-hand dial watch based on the Seiko V701 module. It has a strong woven strap, fastened with velcro with size adjustment. What sets it apart from the other watches is the additional functions built into the case.

The first item is the thermometer dial, which I guess uses a bi-metallic strip which coils and uncoils with temperature.

The second item is maybe noticeable in that the watch face looks a little magnified. When you open the lid, the magnifying lens stays on the lid, and could be used for either starting fires, or examining things.

The final item is the signal mirror which is hidden under the lid. If you get lost or stranded on an island, you can use this to reflect the sun to attract passing aircraft or boats, (or just annoy cats if you don't venture too much into the wilderness).

Unusually for a Seiko, there is no model number on the back, but from the catalogue I know it is V701-1Y9-2L9. The catalogue number is APBT093, and it was sold for 11,000 yen.

The watch originally came out in the early /mid 90s (1996 or earlier), but had stopped by 1999.

Ologi Oval LCD watch - with Werewolf Alarm

Today's watch has caused more annoyance and sleep loss than the rest of my collection put together!

As I buy used watches from all different time zones, sometimes an alarm is left on accidently at a weird time. This is hard to find when you have a large number in one place, but I can normally find it by a process of elimination.

Except one time...
In the middle of the night about 5-6 years ago, I was woken by a watch alarm going off. I wasn't quick enough that first night to find it, but narrowed down where it was. The second night, again I wasn't quick enough, but checked all of the watches in that area, and none had alarms on. The night after was silent, so I forgot about it.

A while later, the same thing happened. A few nights of alarms and none with an alarm running, then silence.

The third time this happened, I was closer to the watch when it went off, and located that this watch was the culprit. What I saw was the display flashing with the words "full moon" and a picture of 3 wolves! And it can't be switched off!!!

The watch is by Ologi, which is a sub-brand of fashion and sports watch suppliers GSI that was started in March 2000. The Ologi line was released to offer affordable and innovative fashion watches. The name came from the ending of both technology and horology.

This model has a dot matrix LCD display with quite a high resolution, and normally shows 3 lines (time, date and month, day).

It has a lot of modes: alarm, stopwatch, timer, memo, anniversaries, world time, and decision making (and werewolf warning). The decision making mode is the most unusual as when you press enter (the front button), the display shows a hand rubbing a lamp, followed by an answer (such as "yes", "fat chance", "don't bother", "check it later", or "no clue").

On the back there is a number which may be the model number 59-010

One problem is the date, it only has the option to go between 2000 and 2010, so to have the right day shown, I've had to set it to 2007.

So if you are worried in the middle of the night about werewolves from the last decade, this is a watch for you!

Citizen Independent 1481010 Round D420 Turquoise

Every autumn, there is an electronic music festival in my town. Today is the pre-party, so I needed a flashy LED for the occasion.
The watch I chose was a D420 module LED watch in the Citizen Independent 1481010 range. I've featured the square leather strap 1481010 that uses the same module, but they also issued a more common rounded version.
The 1481010 range was released in the late 90s and had a large number of interesting designs. More can be found about the range in my overview page (link).
The D420 watches have a matrix of 5x5 small LEDs, which show the time in two ways. The default is an abacus display where the two digits of the hours are the top two rows showing greens for 1 and red for 5, and the bottom two rows for the two minutes digits (orange for one and red for 5). The second mode shows the time in sequential digits with a colon shown between the hours and minutes. After the time is shows, there is a quick animation with the LEDs.
To show the time, you press the large silver button on the front, and if you are still uncertain, the watch sometimes shows an animated arrow pointing at the button.
The model is part of the G.S.D (Graphic Sparkle Display) collection, but does not flicker the same way as the D400 watches. It was released in late 99 or early 00 for 14,000 yen. This particular colour version had disappeared from sale by 2001.
The full model number is D420-S76159, and the catalogue number is IT21-4552H.

Paul Frank TV Watch - I love the robot dance

I'm going out to a couple of concerts tonight, so am wearing a dancing inspired watch.
It was only when I recognised the character Julius the Monkey, that I worked out this watch must be by Paul Frank.
This watch was released in 2008 (for $60), and has the shape of a TV. There is no mention of Paul Frank on the watch, and it just says it is "made for you by your friends at lucid falls industries", and lucid falls holds the copyright from 2004. After a quick Internet search, lucid falls remains a mystery (as I'm assuming it doesn't refer to the Korean musician).
The watch has a 2-hand dial, or a 2-monkey-arm dial if you prefer, so it looks like the monkey is robot dancing. On the face, it has the message "I <3 THE ROBOT DANCE" in LCD style digits.
The watch has a model number on the back of TVTV0607.

LTJ Bukem Good Looking Records Citizen Independent 1481010 D400 LED

This watch is another of the collaborations between Citizen and LTJ Bukem / Good Looking Records, released as part of the Citizen Independent 1481010 collection.

The 1481010 range was released in the late 90s and was marketed at the young and fashionable. It released quite a few special editions with DJs, musicians, and clothing brands. At least 3 different designs were issued with LTJ Bukem, and this is the D400 G.S.D LED model. More information about the 1481010 range can be found in my overview page (link).

Good Looking Records was founded in the early 90s by Drum & Bass pioneer LTJ Bukem (otherwise known as Danny Williamson). The watch collection with LTJ Bukem had a distinctive black metallic sheen and gold writing, and had the LTJ Bukem and Good Looking Records name on the back.

The collection were released in 1998, and this one has the model number D400-S68784.

Apart from the unique colour, the watch is a standard G.S.D (Graphic Sparkle Display) LED watch. When lit, the LEDs seem to flicker (or sparkle) giving it the name. After the time is shown, the LEDs flash in a pattern depending on the hour. If no pattern flashes, just dots, it means the CR2032 battery needs changing.

Vestal Air Mail Hand Grenade Watch SLA004

Today's watch is definitely a watch you shouldn't wear when going to an airport. As it's shaped like a hand grenade, I'm sure it'd at least raise eyebrows!

The Vestal brand was established in 1997, and is marketed by friends, musicians, artists, and athletes who are immersed in music culture. It also produces musically inspired eye wear, soft goods, and accessories.

This watch is called Air Mail and also Grenade (standard issue), and was released in 2007. The case is shaped like a hand grenade, and when the button on the grenades lever (right side) is pressed, the front pops open to reveal the time. The time is shown on a 3 hand dial with the Vestal logo, watch name, and level of water resistance written on the face. The back also has the logo and name (including a little picture of a grenade).

It has a Japanese movement, and steel case, and has a model number of SLA004.

The case the watch comes in is a large metal covered box, and comes with a heavy bottomed watch stand. Inside the box, there is also a guitar plectrum, which is printed with "Vestal says thank you" :-)

GSX Smart No.7 S.T.A.R.S

The title of this watch may have caught some interest from fans of the Resident Evil (Biohazard) games or movies.

S.T.A.R.S stands for Special Tactics And Rescue Service, who are an elite division of the Raccoon City Police Department formed in 1996 to fight terrorism and violent crime. In 1998, they started investigating what turned out to be an organisation responsible for the release of a virus which caused zombies to roam the land.

The watch is a limited edition by GSX as part of their Smart range of watches. This one is Smart No.7 and is a model GSX216, and it was produced by Noritaka Ishida, and designed by Kaori Terashima.

It has the S.T.A.R.S logo and name on the face of the watch, and the meaning on the back. It had a limited release of 1998 copies (to mark the year S.T.A.R.S was formed). The stars logo, yellow hour markers, and hands all glow in the dark. It also states that the watch was 'Made in Raccoon City USA', but I think it was more likely made in China or Japan ;-). The box it came in is also special and has the Biohazard and Umbrella Corporation symbols on.

The watch itself is a 3-hand dial quartz watch with date marker at the 3 o'clock position. It has a chronograph function using 3 small dials on the face. The chronograph dials are min (up to 60), seconds (up to 60), and 1/10 sec (with 2 seconds per rotation). It uses a VD57 (maybe V057 as the text is difficult to read), and has a 2 year battery life.

It's original sale price was 12,600 yen.