« Man Catches 8 Million Yen Fishing | Main | Sexy Comic Girls Milk Commercial »

December 26, 2006

The Showa Retro Heisei Pop Analog Wrist Watch

Picture_3_7

This is a cool watch. It looks like an old school telephone on a G-Shock body but it's actually neither.

The creators at Maywa Electronics call it the Showa retro, Heisei pop analog* style. Back in the day of the rotary dial phone, there was a number people frequently dial to get the precise-to-the-millisecond time--117. There's a robot lady who says, continuously: "The time is now 8:34 and 15 seconds...peep peep peep." So this watch emulates that by requiring users to "dial" 117 on the rotary dial to get a robotic woman's voice to tell you the time. Plus, you gotta be a diligent dialer--if you fuck up, you'll get a "This longer is not in service" message. It can annoy the hell out of you or make you smile with nostalgia.

*In the Japanese calendar system, Showa is the last emperor's reign, which lasted from 1926 to 1989. Heisei is the current period, which started immediately after that. Awesome.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c5d3253ef00d834642eb369e2

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Showa Retro Heisei Pop Analog Wrist Watch:

» Japanese Retro Analog Wrist Watch from Gizmodo
The Showa Retro Heisi Pop Analog Watch would be great if you were alive in Japan from 1926 to 1989. Then you'd appreciate the fact that in order to extract the time from this watch, you have to dial 117... [Read More]

» More Retro Analog Watch Goodness from Geek News
First, I told you about the very modern Bluetooth watch from Fossil, then the ultra-cool-retro Moonbase Commander watch. Continuing on the theme of cool and potentially useless but geek-chic in watches, now Maywa Denki brings you a retro watch that g... [Read More]

» Analog "phone" watch requires you to dial speaking clock from Boing Boing
This Japanese Showa retro watch has an analog telephone dial on its face; you dial 117 (the Japanese speaking clock number) and the Japanese speaking clock robot lady recites the time to the second. Link... [Read More]

Comments

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

My Photo

Other places to find me

MY BOOK

  • My book, Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan, was published in April 2008. Get it now!

Urusai

Vote for TokyoMango


  • The 2008 Weblog Awards

ETech

we love unko


WAKANNAI