Vitaroso large dial watch

Today I'm wearing quite a normal looking and cheap watch that just happened to catch my eye. This was because of the way that the case has been made to taper from the centre of the back to a very thin edge with a low profile dial and glass. This make the thicker part of the back press against you wrist, hiding it and making the watch look like it's incredibly thin.

The watch itself is a cheap brand watch called Vitaroso. The Vitaroso brand can be found all over the Japanese sales sites making all manner of designs for a low price. As with most of these brands that I find, all you find online are watches for sale, and it's extremely difficult to trace the original manufacturer.

Overall, the watch is a 3 hand dial design with a large thin (4cm diameter) dial and Japanese quartz movement. It has an expanding bracelet strap which is colour matched to the watch face.

I don't know when this was released, but it could be anything from late 90s to now, although it looks old enough that I'd guess pre-2010.

Casio Timber Cruiser TIC-130

Today it's another Casio, from another relatively obscure line that they made.

This watch is the TIC-130 by Casio, and is a member of a line of Casio watches called Timber Cruiser. The Timber Cruiser watches seem to be a line of watches released in the Far East only (maybe only for the Japanese domestic market). They appear to be a set of quite chunky and robust watches designed for outdoor life, but having metal cases sets them apart from most of the other outdoor models. There isn't much firm information about the range online, but the speculation is that they are from the 90s.

This TIC-130 model is a standard 3 hand dial design and uses a Casio 1783 module. It has a window at the 3 o'clock position to cover both day and date, with the day in Japanese or English. The watch is 20 bar (200m) water resistant, and has a screw down crown. Above the crown (at about the 2 o'clock position) is a small button which activates the Illuminator backlight, and the numbers and hands are also glow in the dark. Around the face is a thick rotating bezel with compass markings. This version came with a stainless steel strap (to match the body), and the clasp has the same Timber Cruiser logo as on the watch back (which looks like a line drawing of a knife with the Timber Cruiser text as the back line of the knife).

Casio Meta ME-110 - Matsuri Productions

I like mysterious watches, and so have gained a fascination with the Casio Meta range. The Meta range seems to have been released sometime in the 90s, and most of the watches I've seen have been special editions with some sort of collaboration. The Meta range came in 3 watch designs, and had quite a sci-fi feel.

This watch is a collaboration with Matsuri Productions, and is the second Meta watch I've got with that collaboration. The other is a ME-120M.

Matsuri Productions were a psychedelic trance record label from the UK, who were founded in 1994. The label was founded by John Perloff and Japan's most famous trance DJ of the era, Tsuyoshi Suzuki, but no longer exists.

The watch itself has the same shape as the other ME-110 Meta watches, a this one is the ME-110M. The difference comes in the decoration which is specific to this model. The square LCD panel is surrounded by red, white, and blue (probably magenta, cyan, and white) concentric squares, and the LCD backlight also displays a pattern of concentric squares, but with a circle in the middle. The start link on the strap is also engraved with a stylized smoke cloud, and the back has the Matsuri Productions logo. The strap matches the body, and has a part number of S-717L. This particular model/colour is the ME-110MD-4, and these watches were originally on sale for ¥15,000.

It uses a 1828 module which powers a 3 line LCD display with a combination of digits (top two lines), and dot matrix array. For the modes, it has alarm, data bank (30 slot), dual time, world time, and stopwatch.

Swatch Irony Mahagany Flip YGS717GX

I've decided on blogging a Swatch watch today, and this is the first of a different line of Swatch I've not covered so far.

This is one of the Swatch Irony range of watches. The Irony range are similar to the Originals, but come with a metal case rather than the normal plastic. This gives them a bit more luxurious and less playful feel, especially the shiny stainless steel models.

This model is the Mahagany Flip, and was one of several Mahagany versions that came out in 2000 and 2001. This model has a different strap than the others, and was the release in the 2001 Spring Summer collection. It has a 3 hand dial design, and includes two little windows in the face - at the 9 o'clock position for the day, and 3 o'clock position for the date. Surrounding the grey face is a black ring with the Swatch name repeated round it. The case is a silver stainless steel design, and has a matching silver and grey metal strap with a Swatch clasp.

This Mahagany Flip has a model number of YGS717GX, and for the other variations on the Mahagany design, the last letters change with the different strap designs (and release dates).

EleeNo Bingo

I'm glad I don't have any appointments today where I need the exact time as today's watch it not the easiest to read.

The watch is one of the EleeNo handless time designs, and as normal is slightly unusual. The EleeNo watches are from the Japanese company SeaHope, and were normally distributed in the west by Tokyoflash (or Intelligent Design). I have a bit more about SeaHope in my overview page.

This watch is called the Bingo, and so far I've not been able to find the ARTxxx model number. The display is made up of 16 circles laid out in a square grid pattern on a mirrored face. Behind the circles are two rotating discs which cover the hours and minutes. The hours are covered by the outer 12 circles, but as it's a square grid, the 12 o'clock is in the top right corner. Minutes only get the inner 4 circles, so it's much harder to be exact. On the hours disc, there is a shape which fills the current hour, but is shaped such that it will part fill the coming hour. For the minutes disc, there is a circle with an orange line through, so the circle fits the circular window on the quarter hour, with the line acting as a regular hand.

The EleeNo Bingo came out in 2006 and had an rrp of €79.

Vega 9478 LCD Pendant

It's felt weird today not having anything on my wrist, and even weirder wearing something around my neck.

This watch is a a pendant watch, and so is designed to be worn around your neck. It comes with a gold coloured metal chain which is long enough that it sits in the middle of your chest. The pendant is more or less rectangular, but with curved cut off corners so it is really an octagon.

It was made by the Citizen brand Vega, and the back mentions the maker Adec (which is also a Citizen subsidiary). The Vega line was started by Citizen in around 1980 to market low priced digital watches, but was dropped in the mid/late 80s when Citizen moved to concentrate on the mid range watches instead.

Inside the pendant is a 9478 module which powers a 4 digit LCD display. The display is split over two lines with the top for hours (and a flashing star for seconds), and the bottom for minutes. There are two buttons on the bottom, one is hidden for the time setting, and the other changes the display. The display can cover time, date, and seconds, and when the date is showing, it also shows a line between the two numbers so you can see at a glance which mode is displayed.

The full model number is 9478-391349, and from the serial number, I think it may be from 1981 (although the serial number has one more digit than I was expecting).

Boy London Baseball Cap Boy

It's not been so long since my last Boy London, but I'm blogging another today.

This one isn't quite the same style as the previous, and strangely it doesn't have anything on the back. The watch is a 3 hand dial in a square case, and is powered by a Miyota movement (unnumbered) with an AG4 battery. The watch has a back clip which clamps around the black leather strap (and must be opened to get to the back plate which hides the movement). The strap has an interesting fastening with a pin that fastens though two loops, although that means it isn't adjustable in length.

The face features the Boy London eagle logo at the 12 o'clock position. It also has a large black and white picture of a man wearing one of the iconic Boy London 'BOY' baseball caps.

The Boy brand is an underground fashion brand which has covered everything from punk to club wear. It was started in 1976, but took a break between the mid 80s and 2007. With the lack of information on the back, this could be an original 80s model (or a replica), but I think it is likely a newer model.