Pokemon Emonga LCD watch

I was with some small kids today so wore a kiddy watch.

The watch is one of my Pokemon watches, but a Japanese model. I can tell that this is not a European or American model due to the name on the face. This model is one for the Pokemon Emolga, but it is showing with the Japanese name Emonga. The face has the name and a picture of the Pokemon, while the strap has the Pokémon's face, lightning flashes, and Pokeballs.

Emolga /Emonga is an Electric Flying Pokemon which first appeared in Pokemon Black and White. Because of this typing, the Pokémon is an electric Pokemon which can't be damaged by Ground attacks.

The watch part is a basic LCD watch with a 4 digit LCD display. It has just time, date, and seconds displays.

The back states the watch was made in China by T-Arts (who have made all manner of Nintendo watches), and the front has the usual copyright marks (Nintendo, CR-GF-TX-SP-GK, and Pokemon). It looks like this was from a UFO catcher machine or a Gachapon dispenser. The back is transparent, so you can see the module and battery through, but the back has been glued in place, so the watch is meant to be disposable.

Citizen J-League C180 - Tokyo Verdy

Today's watch is one with a brittle strap which was a promotional item for the Japanese J-League.

Judging by the watches I've seen, Citizen watches have produced many watches for the Japanese football (soccer) league.  This model is one that is designed for one of the J-League teams, and I guess would be part of a range from the 2000s.

This model is for the team Tokyo Verdy. The team was founded in 1969 and was at its peak in the early 90s when it was the J-League champions. The watch comes in the teams colours, and the face has a picture of the team mascot Verdy Kun.

The watch itself is an ana-digi model with a C180 movement. It has a 3 hand dial, with a curved LCD running around the bottom of the dial. The dial is an electronic model which is set by the buttons rather than a crown. The digital part is where the modes lie. The modes are alarm, chronograph, and timer (but I can't confirm that as it is currently not working), and I'd guess it has dual time too.

Metro Digital System - round LED

Late last year, I mentioned a brand called Metro who produced interesting designs, but were pretty anonymous on the web.

Today's watch is another from the Metro brand, and on the back it calls it the Digital System. It also has the name Huntingdon on the back which may also be the models name (as the other model was also named after a place).

This model has the same large round design of the previously blogged model, but this is an LED watch. Across the centre of the red coloured face are a series of dots in an 18x5 grid. These dots are a dot matrix array of small red LEDs which are used to tell the time. The watch is simple with regards to functions as you can only see time (4 digits) and date but nothing else (not even seconds).

Pressing the large top right button activates the display which starts the scrolling message METRO DELIGHT before the time is revealed. If you are in a hurry you can double press the button to skip the message and jump straight to the time. The bottom right button is the setting button and activates when you hold that in for a few seconds.

I don't know exact dates for the Metro watches, but I think the brand has probably been around since the late 90s.

Super Lovers 60s Model

The Super Lovers watches seem to come in all shapes and sizes, but may well have been produced in only limited numbers. I've seen many different designs now, but it's very rare that I've seen the same design twice, and I've never seen one 3 times!

The Super Lovers watches come from the Harajuku Super Lovers brand which is based in Harajuku, Tokyo. They produce all manner of cutting edge unusual fashion designs popular with the Harajuku Girls who spend their Sundays on Harajuku Bridge showing off their style. The products seem to come from 3 lines, Super Lovers, Lovers House, and Lovers Rock.

This is a Super Lovers watch and is called the 60s Model. The watch comes with a square transparent case with a round face in the middle. The plastic strap is also a transparent design in a matching blue colour. On the front is the Super Lovers logo (a heart in a diamond shape like the superman logo), along with the brand and watch name.

Time is shown on the left side with 3 rotating discs visible through a bottle shaped window. The design is like the early jump-hour watches, but the discs here are continuously rotating.

Inside is a Japanese Miyota (Citizen) quartz movement which can be seen through the watch's transparent back.

Beams - Time can't stop you

Today's watch is a funny looking model, and definitely has a retro appeal.

The watch is by the Japanese clothing company Beams. The Beams brand was started in 1976 in Harajuku, Tokyo, and now has offices in the major fashion centres of the world. Their stores contain all manner of lifestyle products, and they often have a bright or cartoon-like feel.

The watch has the phrase "Time can't stop you", so I've decided thats what I will name it. The case is made from silicone and is shaped like an old Nintendo GameBoy (but with subtle differences on the design to not be a copy) with the Beams name on the front. The strap is a bendy wraparound rubber coated metal design which snaps around your wrist, and is printed with the Beams logo.

The watch part is a simple unit with a 4 digit LCD display. It can show time, date, and seconds, with the button hidden under the gameboy button design below the screen.

These only appeared in my searches recently, so I guess they have been released n the last year or so, and may have been a magazine promotional item.

Alba Spoon W671 1998 Bridgestone the Victory

Today, I'm back on the Spoon watches with a special limited edition model.

The Spoon watches came out in the mid 90s, and we're some of the earlier unusual fashion watches in the 90s /early 2000s peak that also included the AKA and the 1481010. They were made by Seiko, but all under the sub brands Alba or Pulsar. The Spoon models tend to be curvy and shiny which probably lead to the Spoon name.

This model is a special edition and may have been a promotional item as it is a commemoration for an event (and has only a 3 digit serial number). It was made (or customised) for the tyre manufacturer Bridgestone, and the back states 1998 Bridgestone the Victory. This likely refers to their participation in making tyres for the Formula 1 racing which started full time in 1997 (-they had done one-offs before then). In 1998, they had their first victory in the Formula 1 race at Monaco with Mika Häkkinen taking his MaClaren-Mercedes to victory. This watch commemorates that event, and as well as the text on the back, it has the Bridgestone name across the display.

The watch itself is a Spoon running on the W671 module. It has a shiny LCD screen with the time only visible when the red LED backlight is activated. It has a 2 line display with date and day at the top and time below. Other modes are stopwatch, timer, and alarm.

The full model number is W671-4210, and it was made in 1998.

Deep DT-040 Multicoloured Display

Yet again, I've managed to find a brand of watches that are a mystery and hard to research.

Today's mystery brand is called Deep, and the only thing I know about them is that their watches are made in China. During the research, I did find out that lots of websites use the word deep, and that a lot of things have the same model number as this. The Deep watches have a logo on the back which is the word DEEP in capital letters split over two lines of 2 characters in a square, but with the first E (top right) turned by 30° so it looks like it's in the process of being removed or falling off.

The watch is the DT-040 by Deep, and was quite a surprise when I put the battery in as I didn't expect it to be so high tech. The screen is a backlit multi coloured LCD screen with the ability to show yellow, red and green. The screen is made up of lots of tall thin pixels which are used to form animated blocky numbers and letters (normally up to 4 characters which fills the screen). You can tell it is a backlit LCD rather than LED as in certain light and from a certain angle you can see the time without it being illuminated. Pressing the mode button reveals the time with a shutter type animation, before that scrolls up the screen showing the date (day and month followed by year), finally returning back to the time.

The watch also has a good range of modes which are indicated by symbols at the top of the screen, with symbols at the bottom revealing whether the alarm or chime is on and whether it is in 24hr display. The modes are alarm (x3), chronograph, timer, and dual time. The modes also use the multicolour display, for example, the stopwatch shows green when running, but red when stopped. The front states it is water resistant, but there is no information as to how much.

I haven't found any hint of a date, but based on the style and technology, I'd guess it's from the 2000s.

Originally, I'd thought that this brand was one of the many that made simple and cheap mass market watches, but the technology level with the multicolour screen and number of modes makes me think that this brand has a little more behind the name than most.