The ONE Odin's Rage Binary Time

To catalogue another watch from my collection.

And it is a LED watch of some year ago (definitely pre-Apple watch) - the ONE Odin's Rage Binary Time

I belive Odin is some kind of Norseman deity.

Above, the time is 16:10; below, the date is February 28.

4 (16):12

4(16):13

February 28,

Highlights: a mineral crystal, and an all stainless steel case.

HoroLex: Часы The ONE Odin's Rage Binary Time: Документирую еще одни часы из каклекции...  The ONE Odin's Rage Binary Time Odin - это какой-то скандинавский бог. Вверху...

Electronika 5 29367

Electronika 5 29367 digital watch ca. 2000.
Has an alarm signal, an hourly chime and also plays two melodies - Turkish March by Mozart and A. Griboedov's Waltz, the latter being available also in a truncated form for use as an hourly signal on the hour.

They don't make them like that anymore.

VreMax: Leader 10 Digital Wristwatch

Re-uploaded the photos in this post, which were not showing due to having been previously uploaded to some (now) malfunctioning photo hosting website.


Now you can see everything once again.


VreMax: Leader 10 Digital Wristwatch: A Leader 10 old-school digital watch from Belarus... Actually it's from my collection but is made in Belarus by the Kamerton factory lo...

A Leader 10 old-school digital watch from Belarus... Actually it's from my collection but is made in Belarus by the Kamerton factory located in the city of Pinsk. In fact, it is none other than the Electronika 5-29367 in disguise, i.e. with a new name and on a wrist strap, whereas straightforward Electronikas were mainly attached to bracelets, stainless steel or not so stainless.



So, Leader 10 (Лидер 10), bought by me for my collection for RUB 400 which is about US$13 in the month of February in 2012 -- almost two years back. 

 

It shows time -- hours, minutes and seconds, date, weekday, has a stopwatch, an alarm, an hourly chime/signal, plays two simple melodies which can also be used to sound the alarm or, somewhat truncated, for the hourly signal. 



Some interesting points about this watch. You can turn off display indication -- you use button one (upper right), press and hold for two seconds -- with the display turned off the watch continues to work, the hourly chime and the alarm are sounded if turned on. This function harkens back to the early days of digital watches when, in fact, you had to press a button to bring up time indication. No Casios or Seikos have anything similar. Apparently this function allows you to conserve some power and make the battery serve longer. As far as I know no-one has yet tested how effective this function is. But it is a thirsty watch; it likes its (electrical) juice and is the fastest to drain the battery of all Electronika watches in my collection, usually in about a year, faster with chimes and alarms on.

Also interesting is that many operating modes and functions in this watch are activated not just by pressing buttons but by pressing and HOLDING them for 2 seconds.



The watch uses a curious method for turning on the hourly signal -- you just press button three (just pressing not holding this time) (lower left) and the indication switches between showing seconds and the date. When the date is shown on the display in normal time mode, the hourly signal is off, but when the seconds are on the display, the hourly signal is on. The hourly signal can just be a beep sequence or an initial fragment of one of the two melodies that the watch can play.

It so happens that the battery has run flat and it's now time for a battery replacement job. The back is a snap-on (pressed) back, you pry it open gently with something, like, a screwdriver or a pocket knife blade.

Under the upper case back there is another flat back which is pressed on by the upper case back to the module and holds it where it should be in the watch. Underneath is some sort of a basic rubber seal. 

The battery is in its place, just move the contact leaf away to get it out or to install a new one, no need to remove the little screw. 

Leader 02 Лидер Electronic Watch

From my collection is this old-school but rather recent electronic watch - LEADER 02 electronic wristwatch made by KAMERTON Factory, Pinsk, Republic of Belarus. 

This watch was made in 2008, and I bought it circa 2013. It works and still runs on the same button cell battery I bought it with. 

Unlike some other Leaders, such as Leader 10, which were clones of Electronika watches or later ChN watches, this Leader 02 has no corresponding Electronika or ChN watch and uses a Chinese module. 

But what it has instead is a pleasant luminescent back light.

Other functions include:

• Current time and calendar
• Alarm
• Stop watch

It is certainly no Apple watch... but then it doesn't cost $500 (more like $5) and you don't have to charge it every day or fuss about it.

Electronika 5B6-204A

In addition to affordable mechanical watches, cars, radios, etc., I am also into old-school electronic watches and here is a 1984 Electronika 5B6-204A (5Б6-204А) old-school electronic watch from my collection.

Made in 1984 bought in 1985.

If I remember correctly it was me who dropped it and cracked the face glass.

Quality sign on the back.

One of a succession of early Electronika 5 watch models, this Electronika 5B6-204A is also known as the Electronika 30351A.

IT-663N Talking Electronic Watch

IT663N iTaiTek, a cheap Chinese talking watch which tells time in Russian. 

These talking watches first appeared in Russia in the early 1990s and were much ridiculed but simultaneously developed a cult status and a devoted, if rather small, following. This one is a current version.

The watch is really cheap, RUB 150 which is about US$3 and that's a retail price.

Basically I bought it to hear it talk... and also because I am generally into cheap affordable watches.

Hear it talk and tell time in Russian in this mobile phone video.

Curious alarm signals -- what sounds like a cuckoo, a cock crowing and a Russian folk song playing. I understand you can also make it tell the time every hour on the hour.

I haven't checked any other functions; in fact, haven't even set it properly but everything appears to work.

The case back.

A talking watch is useful for partially sighted or when telling time in the dark.

Alarm signals on a talking watch / Говорящие китайские часы 2 - сигналы будильника

Chinese talking watch alarm signals

Casio AL-180

A Casio AL-180 668 module watch from my collection.

First introduced in 1987 (according to some online sources), it remains a true, of cheap, classic. Not sure if the model is still produced. But it is popular with collectors - so much so that there are apparently many fakes sold off ebay.

I am sure that mine is original. It was bought in the now distant year of 1998.

It has no batteries, is powered by the sun (or light in general) and is a previous reincarnation of the solar technology, it has a simple capacitor or something.

Problems? Sometimes it doesn't get enough sun (or light) especially if used in the northern hemisphere and especially in winter or if worn in the premises rather than outside -- then it starts losing time.

Original adjustable stainless steel Casio bracelet.

Casio AL-180 668 Module... stainless steel back (only).

 Bracelet clasps.

Montana... a digital watch

A cheap Chinese electronic watch called for some reason "Montana".

Quite some history behind this watch, in a previous incarnation it was made in Hong Kong when Hong Kong was one of the pioneers and centers of electronic watch design, almost on a par with Japan in the late 1970s and the 1980. This watch was well known in the USSR.

But this version is a cheap Chinese version, whilst retaining the functionality of the original though, especially its famed "melodies" or simple tunes.

You can buy them say in Moscow for RUB 150 which is about USD 3 or 4.

The post Soviet Electronika-77 watch is said to be a clone of the Hong Kong predecessor of this watch lacking only its "hourly chime" and being more honest with the number of the melodies, see below.

Lots of things that are bad (cheap) about this watch: for starters, the bracelet is very poor, too small, made of like tin foil and dropping its push bars easily.  The buttons are not very responsive on this particular specimen. Other than that everything works. 

The number of "melodies" is not 16 as stated but 7 or 8.

Electronika 77

Electronika 77, a Belorussian post-USSR electronic watch.

This one is Electronika 77 and not the Electronika 77A, that is without the "A". But there is no difference function-wise.

It is made by the Minsk Electronika plant.

The Electronika 77 (without the "A") is much rarer than the one with the "A". So it's a rarity of sorts.

The watch is a clone of the 1980s Hong Kong electronic watch called for some reason Montana, known in some parts of the world and maybe still in production but in a much cheaper mainland China version. 

Technical specs [in Russian].

The manual below works with it.