Black Belt Spirit Watch Now On Sale For Black Belt Wannabes

Hey, lazy: want a Black Belt watch but don’t have a black belt? Well put down that Chicago-style hot dog and listen up. The same company that brought you the $3,000 watch for black belts only (you had to submit an application) is offering the Black Belt Spirit for those who want “A choice of life at your wrist.” See? The watchmakers know you’re such a slob that you won’t even care if their motto is grammatically correct and/or totally nonsensical!

This watch is about $500 and has a piece of garbage quartz movement, just right for the clods who can’t do the Iron Horse kata without burping up the remainder of a 99 cent Wendy’s value meal. Real black belts can still get the original watch and then beat up the folks who bought the Black Belt Spirit watch. HIIIII-YA!

Seiko E-Ink Watch Now Available For Pre-Order In Japan

If you’ve been looking to slap a little E-Ink on your wrist and didn’t want to go the Phosphor route, Seiko has the watch for you. The Seiko E-Ink watch is essentially a high-tech LCD watch using E-Ink as the display medium, thereby reducing battery drain.

The watch looks pretty complex but really it’s just your standard world-time quartz. The real value is in the screen simply because, like the Kindle, you can fit a hi-res image on a postage stamp piece of E-Ink which is more than you can say for a lot of LCD devices.

The bad news? The watch is ￥84,000 on Amazon.jp (a little over $1,000) which is a little pricey for my blood. I also think it looks like my Uncle’s Casio LCD watch from 1995, so there’s that.

Seiko Ananta Automatic Chronograph Titanium Watch

This is the mechanical Seiko sport watch to own in 2010. Representing the purely mechanical - versus Spring Drive - movement based Ananta watches in the US, this new for 2010 Automatic Chronograph ref. SRQ009 in titanium. When I first saw this watch I was pretty sure that it was going to be a limited edition, but it isn't. The titanium Ananta automatic will be part of the regular collection - offering a super sporty version of Seiko's high-end world market automatic. I was able to get my hands on it and check it out, you can see an image of it here where it is looking pretty sexy. I can say that it is pretty nice - and a carbon fiber dial watch that I like!

Speaking of carbon fiber, many of you know that I am not so fond of the material for dials a lot of the time. Often because the look of carbon fiber can make a dial hard to read. Here however, the tighter woven look of it is topped with proper dials, and those famous Ananta diamond polished hands. Lume is placed on the hands and hour markers, making for a very easy to read, symmetrical, and attractive dial. I quite like the insertion of the white seconds marker ring as part of the flange that helps break up the black tones. The sapphire crystal also has a lot of AR coating - so seeing the dial is really a breeze.

This is one of two new titanium Seiko Ananta watches for 2010. The other model is an Ananta Spring Drive Chronograph GMT limited edition piece - which is considerably more expensive that this model. The titanium composition of the watch makes for a very light Ananta. At 46mm wide, this is one intensely light watch for its size (still 100 meters water resistant). Titanium makes for a good color tone as well with the darker, monochromatic tones of the dial. Conventional watch wisdom would have a touch of red, or some other color in the dial, but the all black and white tones look good here. The bezel (with a tachymeter scale), side of the case, pushers, and crown are in black.

Inside the watch is the Seiko Caliber 8R28 automatic mechanical movement with a column wheel and a vertical clutch. I wrote more about this movement and other Ananta watches with it here in another article on Seiko Ananta Automatic watches. A good high-end automatic movement hand-assembled in a really nice facility in Japan. I love the "two step" pushers for the chronograph that allow for very precise starting and stopping of the chronograph. While not a limited model, this Ananta Automatic in titanium with the carbon fiber dial will not be easy to find. Price in Europe is 3,900 euros - with the US price being around that (currency converted of course). Yes, the watch is expensive. But given the quality of the movement, the construction of the watch, and the functionality - you'd be better off comparing it to European chronograph watches instead of other Japanese ones.

Bape x G-Shock G-5500 Collaboration Watch

Bape has unveiled a new collaboration G-Shock. This limited edition watch seems to be based on the Tough Solar G-5500. It has the custom ape head in the backlight. And there's some custom white printing on the band. This model is unusual in having a different color set of buttons on each side. The left side has two red buttons, and the right side has to blue ones.

Italian "Art Shock the Street" Casio G-Shocks

Some new custom G-Shocks have been created by artists in Milan, Italy for an exhibition titled "Art Shock the Street". Mr. Wany and Duty Gorn each created their own unique painted G-Shock for display alongside other works of art. It sounds like each of these are one-off pieces that ware not going to be for sale.

    "Characters dreamlike and imaginative design fresh and young, sparkling in the fluorescent colors but also can be ordered as Mars in the cosmos. The dial is a black hole that swallows up everything .. as well as years, months, hours and seconds of our existence, " says Mr. Wany.

G-Shocks can be high art too. There's lots of depth there.

Tokyoflash ditches tradition yet again with Kisai Satellite watch

How many different ways can a wristwatch display the time? So many ways, as fully evidenced by the ever-inventive folks at Tokyoflash Japan. Their latest offering is the Kisai Satellite, a USB-rechargeable watch that relies on three flashing "halos" to display the time in a manner that's slightly less confusing than some of the company's other watches, but still confusing enough to confound anyone asking you for the time. What's more, unlike some of Tokyoflash's concept watches, this one is actually available (for just over $90), and in your choice of black or white with either blue or green LEDs.

Citizen Alterna Pilot Eco-Dive Watch

With a name like "Alterna," you'd think there is something very alternative looking about these watches. There isn't. Just another one of those soft sounding names that Citizen likes to give to their  sportier timepieces. My favorite so far is the "Atessa" watch. Which isn't nearly as feminine  a watch as the name might suggest. Actually, the Atessa is a very powerful and durable timepiece. Citizen Alterna watches make up a really large family of timepieces, most of which aren't available in the US. I wrote about another Citizen Alterna watch here a while back. If you Google Citizen Alterna, you'll find a wide range of some really cool stuff. Problem is that non of them seem to fit a "family mold," and you'll be gouged a bit when buying them online as they are not officially for the US market. Also, the name "Citizen Alterna Pilot" doesn't narrow this collection down completely, as there are other models with this same name. You'll need to use the reference numbers which are: VO10-3831T, VO10-6833T, and VO10-6832T.

I have a feeling that this watch is gonna come to the US market. It is part of a series of Japanese watches by both Citizen and Seiko that are thematically similar to watches popularized by brands such as Sinn, and Bell & Ross. It has all the bits and pieces that make a watch popular in the US. Being easy to read, sporty, "activity themed," and not very expensive. Not sure of the exact price yet, but from the Yen conversion, they would cost about $250-$300.

The Alterna Pilot comes in a series of colors (perhaps more than shown here), in an IP black or brushed steel case that is 42.5mm wide. The strap is Nylon, and is sort of a mix between a stand strap and a NATO strap with some contrast stitching. Very sport oriented, I like that. Crystal over the dial is mineral (OK for this price), and luminant is Citizen's Lumibrite lume that comes in different colors. Case is water resistant to 100 meters. Movement is the Eco-Drive caliber 8637 quartz movement that is light powered. Very interesting choice on Citizen's behalf to leave off the "Eco-Drive" label on the dial.

At first look the dial looks like it has a chronograph, but then you realize that those are an AM/PM (synced 24 hour hand) and calendar indicators (day/date). Some people are gonna like that, others simply aren't. No chronograph is OK, but I would have gladly traded the day of the week indicator for a subsidiary seconds hand. Overall I really like the watches -though ideally I would want Citizen to offer a black case with white colored hands and numerals. The blue is quite compelling though. Hands are well rendered in the style they are trying to emulate, but are too short. An interesting design component is the crown. It looks like a interpretation on modernizing the turnip or onion style crown that classic mechanical aviator watches have.  For the price, these aren't too bad, and might end up at your local Citizen retailer soon. Otherwise look online.