Swatch Turn Around PAN205 Pager Watch

Today's watch is a gadget watch of an era which is now over...

The watch is by Swatch from 1994 and was part of a series called The Beep. The special feature of the watch is that it contains a pager. A pager (or beeper) was the device that would be used to transfer messages in a small mobile package before mobile phones became so popular. Even I am so young that I never really used a pager, and the only times I remember it was from TV medical dramas where they used to ask someone to "page the doctor, this is an emergency"! Pager technology started in the 50s and work through short messages being sent from a radio transmitter to the device. By the end of the 90s, pagers hand become niche products, only being used by hospitals and emergency services as they are reliable and need only a low signal strength to work.

The Swatch pagers were released around the early 90s but have no signal anymore, meaning that they are not so collectable because they don't work. They are larger than the normal Swatch watches and have an ana-digi display. They are also recognisable by the 3 wires stretched across the display which is part of the aerial. Time is displayed on the 2 hand dial (where the hands move in jumps rather than continuous motion), while the LCD is reserved for the pager function.

This model is called Turn Around and was part of the Spring Summer 1994 collection. The model number for this design is PAN205.

The back of the watch has lots of information about the Pager functions. It says it is by Hutchison paging, and can be called on 1128003. It also states the Pager runs on a frequency of 279.7125, but doesn't give the units. There are also two small buttons on the back with the message 'press both buttons and pull wristlet out' which is the way to get to the watch battery, so I don't actually know how to switch the Pager on.

United Colors of Benetton - Date Wheel

Today's post is another short one as I don't have a great deal of information about the watch.

This watch is another by the fashion brand United Colors of Benetton. I've blogged two classes of watch from Benetton - the Benetton by Bulova range, and the United Colors of Benetton watches, and this is from the second category. As I've blogged about Benetton many times before, I won't repeat myself here too much, so please do check out my other Benetton posts for more information.

This model is a quartz analogue watch with a 3 hand dial design. I've nicknamed it 'date wheel' as just inside the ring of text for the hours is a ring of 31 small windows for the date. Behind most of the windows is a bright yellow colour background, with only the right date having an orange dot there. The hands are a matching yellow and orange, while the hours dots are a lime green colour. The rest of the face is a pattern of turquoise (maybe aquamarine) and dark blue, and the case (made from base metal) is painted/anodized blue too. To keep up with the blue scheme, the strap is a blue leather, while the buckle is also anodized blue metal.

The watch back is a smooth shiny stainless steel plate with the typical United Colors of Benetton rectangle logo, and also has the material and water resistance info (3atm). There is also a number which I assume is a model number of 940.0048.20 although I find no official record of this number online.

As for the date of the watch, I have no info and must make a guess. The other United Colors of Benetton watches have seemed to be from the 2000s (and definitely appear newer than the 90s based Benetton by Bulova), so I'd guess this is 2000s too.

S'SQURE 48605G

It's been a long while since I posted anything from this brand (-the last one was in 2013), so I thought it was about time!

The watch is by a company called S'SQURE (or sometimes written as SSqure or S-Squre). Looking at the logo in detail actually shows that the real name is S²SQURE, but this is hard to see when it's normally written so small. The company seems to be based in China, and makes all manner of interesting low cost watches with interesting and colourful designs. Over in Tokyo i saw many of these watches in the watch cabinets of toy shops.

This model is a rotating disc watch with a left side display. It has a round case with an oval design in the middle, and a circular window for the time display. Overall, the design of the face is very similar to (and possibly inspired by) one of the Citizen Independent 1481010 models.

The back shows that the watch has a model number of 48605G, and also states that. The movement inside is Japanese (- I have seen it written that the S'SQURE watches mostly use Citizen movements), and the back also states the watch is 1Atm water resistant. Also on the back is the brand name (large enough to see it is really S²SQURE) along with a picture of a stick man swimming.

I know that this brand has been around since at least the mid 2000s, and I think they are still active today, so I guess this is a pretty new model.

Pokémon Opening Pokeball Watch

Today, I'm wearing one of my silly children's watch, and one of my Pokémon watch collection.

This watch has a large round plastic case, and a face which is painted as a Pokeball (which is used to catch Pokémon in the games /TV series), with the centre of the ball being where the 4 digit LCD can be seen. As with the normal novelty watches, the LCD module is very simple, having only time, date, and seconds displays. The Pokeball can 'open' by rotating the bezel, and this changes the picture on the front from the Pokeball to a collection of Pokemon (Pikachu, Bonsly, Marshtomp, Meowth, Septile, and Mime Jr).

The strap is reversible with different pictures on each side, and swapped by pulling the strap out of the body a little which allows it to be rotated. One side is yellow with pictures of Meowth, Pikachu, Minun, Plusle, and Munchlax. The other side is green and has the white outline sketches of lots of Pokemon (too many to name).

Looking the Pokémon on the watch, the newest of them only appeared in Generation IV which dates the watch to around 2005/06, but it has an unusual mix of Gen III and Gen IV characters. The back of the watch gives nothing away about the origin as all it says is 'Patented'.

Conran Y167

I know today's watch is designer, but the question I'm left with is which designer is it..?

The watch is by Conran, and is a 3 hand dial design (or more correctly, 2 hands and a disc for seconds). It has a round metal case with a thick rim/bezel, and with the silver disc for the seconds, it makes the hour and minutes hands only visible in the white ring inbetween.

The back shows this is made by Seiko, with the watch using a Seiko Y167 quartz module, and having a typical Seiko back plate layout. It tells me that the watch is a mixture of stainless steel and base metal, is water resistant to 5 bar, and was made in Japan.

The serial number suggest a date of 88, 98, or 2008, and based in the design, I would guess 98 is the most likely. The full model number is Y167-0A40.

As the watch face only has the name Conran, the question of which designer is a challenge, with both Jasper Conran and Terence Conran being famous designers. There are very few links online with Conran and Y167, but one of the watches for sale in Japan mentions it is Terence Conran, so I'll have to assume at this time that they are correct. Sir Terence Conran was born in 1931 and is a designer, restaurateur, and writer. In his early career, he designed a shop for the designer Mary Quant, and is most known as the founder of the Habitat stores.

L'uomo Musk Gold Quartz Watch

Today's watch is a confusing one...

The watch is by a brand called L'uomo Musk which basically translates to Man Musk. I've blogged watches by a brand called Musk before which were quite robust and quality feeling with a high rrp, while this L'uomo Musk watch is lighter and cheaper feeling, so initially I thought there would be no link. But, there is a logo on the watch which is the male and female symbols intertwined, but with the arrow for the male symbol pointing straight up, which is the same as on the Musk watches. So, it appears they are linked, or one is a copy of the other...

The L'uomo Musk brand seems active in Japan (and possibly Thailand) and produce watches, handbags, handkerchiefs, and lighters. There is one link which suggests the brand is owned by a company called Okazaki which was established in 1967. That company has the same products, and uses an overseas partner for manufacturing, which fits with this product.

The watch itself is a standard 3 hand dial design with a quartz movement. It has a gold coloured case with large areas above and below the dial where the logo is moulded into the case. The dial has no numbers, just hour markers, and has the L'uomo Musk name printed across it. The strap is black leather, but appears to be a replacement. There is no more information on the watch as the back is completely blank (which is different to the Musk watches).

I don't know when the watch is from, but the L'uomo Musk items only seem to have appeared online recently, so I'll guess this is a 2010s model (but could be 2000s).

Deadman GV8292

I seem to have been blogging the Japanese fashion watches a lot recently, and I'm going for another one today.

Today's choice is one of my Deadman (or Dead Man) watches (the 15th on the blog), which is one of my favourite mystery brands. As mentioned in previous posts, they were around in the late 90s, and produced many different designs of watch (over 30 at my last count), but lot much more is published about them.

This model is the GV8292 and is one of their disc models. It has a left sided rotating disc design (meaning the discs are arranged on the left side of the spindle with the hours on the outer dial), which is like the old jump hour watch designs. The watch case is the what tends to change between the models, and this design has a metal case (in black) getting wider towards the middle, except for a narrow band across the middle where the time is. The band is in gold and has the Deadman Quartz text next to the time display. The strap is metal, and in a matching black coating. The back has the usual Deadman info (model number, stainless steel back, name), but also has an 'Assembled in China' sticker.

I have no firm idea on the date, other than knowing that the brand was active in the late 90s, and that they were a low cost manufacturer.