Japanuary

I went for one last thrift safari on New Year’s Eve. I bought a bag of busted watches and found this gem inside.

It’s a 1999 Spoon Chronograph. Spoon was a sub brand of Pulsar (which is a sub brand of Seiko) aimed at attracting a younger demographic with bold, futuristic designs.

These watches were mostly made for Pacific Rim markets. The majority of Spoon watches seem to have been digital with LCD or LED displays, but there are a few analogue chronographs like this one floating around the Internet. These chronos share a lot of design cues with Alba, another Seiko sub brand. I believe they all have the same movement.

It’s got lots of depth and great details so I’m kinda smitten, even if the bracelet and the Spoon logo look kind of dated (a NATO strap would look good a think). And the realization that everything from the 1990s is officially vintage now. Researching this watch also sent me down a rabbit hole of Japanese watch design stories, so you can expect to read more on that nation’s horological history this month.