Category Archives for Digi-Ana

Citizen Ana-Digi Temperature 8982-085264 – 2019 SC-Edition

Citizen Ana-Digi Temperature 8982-085264 - 2019 SC-Edition
Citizen Ana-Digi Temperature 8982-085264 - 2019 SC-Edition

Unbeatable Citizen Ana-Digi Temperature

So, here's my first Citizen Ana-Digi Temp.  It is one legendary watch by Citizen released in the '80s.  The most iconic characteristic of this series, is definitely the ever busy dial, that features two analog dials, two digital displays, and a mode indicator panel.  Almost all the subsequent models kept all these layouts, nothing had been left out.

Some time ago I decided to have at least one of these, I want a special one, not a typical one you see out there, even though those are equally stunning, there's gotta be one that really stands out or what I want, a rare one.   Great that my friend Mr. Seth Clary, who is an expert in servicing these Citizen, knew my want on such a unit.  He came across this watch.  He told me this is one rare bird, in an almost NOS condition. However, the original 8982 module wasn't functioning correctly.  He definitely needs some time sorting this out. As soon as Seth showing me this, I knew it, it's going to be mine.  Good news was, Seth told me he found a solution for it, was to replace the main module with a newer, better, and more reliable one, which is a 8989.  As told by him, it is sort of difficult to locate this module.  My thought was, in the later days before the ADT was discontinued, not too many of these watches were sold near the millennium. Thus not many of these, which were still running, would be in the used market.  This is just my wild guess.

So finally, this watch is totally restored by Seth. With the 8989 as the power train inside, yet keeping all the dials and hands preserved, now this could possibly be among the best ADT you can find right now. And I am extremely pleased Seth is willing to let me having it.  I definitely won't pass it on to anyone else, it's such a masterpiece. 

To celebrate its arrival, for the very first time, I made a nato strap for it. Yes, the very first strap made by myself. This watch I don't have a photo showing it's original form, thus I can't tell whether it came with a bracelet or straps. However, we do believe it came on straps or nato.  So, to make myself more comfortable for my first straps, I made a nato. Real leather at 1.5mm thickness, leather loop instead of metal one, and one pin hole only, it's made for me after all.

I don't have much photo I can attach to this blog for the Ana-Digi, but I will update it once I could locate some, and use this a place to store my findings.  Finally, thanks Seth, you made my day! Thanks bro!

Leather nato for Citizen 8989

Casio Ana-Digi AQ-350W

Casio AnaDigi AQ-350W
Casio AnaDigi AQ-350W

Early Casio Ana-Digi Module 305


My first Casio Ana-Digi, was actually given by a friend, who was about to toss it to the garbage bin after putting it away for ages and found it while clearing the cabinet.  As seen on photo, it is in a very beaten condition, crown was mushy, the two buttons are completely stuck, bracelet is lugs are filled with dirt fossil, and the worst part was... he told me the battery was still inside most probably!!!

Well, there's nothing to lose. Picked it up from the trash bin and took it home.  Man, the dirt outside the case was nasty.  Just got rid of those hardened dirt and popped open the caseback.  Ewww.... the area around the two pushers were filled with rust.  Okay, that I can manage.  Yes, the battery was there, and I took it out carefully and prepare for the worst underneath.  Hey!  Not bad at all, surprisingly, there was no leak!!  Thanks to a Japanese made battery, probably that's why.  Then the whole cleaning works started and it took about two hours to do it casually with a coffee next to me.

So, the result was, it's back to life. Everything back to it's working order as specified.  Told my friend and about to give it back to him when seeing next time.  He told me, 'Keep it, I had abandoned it and did throw it away.  You saved it, then it should be yours.'  Okay, then now it is the latest member of my Casio box, sitting right next to s bunch of others, some were also saved abandoned, vintage, and modern ones as new as the Protrek smartie.  The model of it, is AQ-350W and according to the serial decoder, it belongs to the 1992 batch, with the module 305 inside.  Welcome to my den.

Module 305 User Manual​

Seiko Digi-Ana H357-5000

Seiko Digi-Ana H357-5000
Seiko Digi-Ana H357-5000

Shaken,
not Stirred.

James Bond had been wearing a wide range of watches over the long series of movies in all his missions.  Among them, Seiko is one of the brands featured in some of the '70s and '80s productions.

The H357 is one that had appeared in 'For Your Eyes Only', with the digital display showing message from headquarter to James.  From the official poster, you see the actual model appeared in the movie, with the H357 movement.  The one I have here is the other dressy one, with a black dial. The movement is identical though, just a different case and dial are used.

This came mentioned with faulty buttons, but a running module. Opened up, found rusting all around the pushers and the push plates. Carefully scrapped away the rust and cleaned off the buttons that were filled with human remain, it came back to life!

For your eyes only
For your eyes only Seiko
James Bond H357

Seiko Robot Face Digi-Ana H239-5020

Seiko Robot H239-5020
Seiko Robot H239-5020
Seiko Robot Advertisement 1

Seiko Robot Face

The Legendary Seiko Robot Face, H239-5020. Released in 1981 along with the other Digi-Ana, this is the most iconic one with the face looks like a robot.  And they advertise it as a music robot as well.

The most unique design of this watch is the front facing speaker mounted on the crystal.  It is in fact not a real speaker but a mock up. At the center of the speaker is a pipe, that leads to the buzzer inside.  So when the alarm goes off, the sound will come out from the pipe, so it works sort of like a speaker.  A very funny and unique design indeed.

The analog clock is electronically controlled by the crown next to it, unlike the traditional way of adjusting an analog movement.  Digital movement is typical with dual time capability, plus the alarm and stopwatch.

Seiko Robot Advertisement 2

ALBA Digi-Ana Y651-5040

Alba Y651-5040
Alba Y651-5040

ALBA First Digi-Ana Watch - 1980

ALBA earliest Digi-Ana from 1980. My lucky grab from junk bin and lucky fix for my collection. The Y651 features dual time/date, stopwatch and alarm, and an electronic-adjust analog clock.

Found it from a street side seller, sold as junk.  No sign of life whatsoever.  But when I look through the crystal, the dial is pretty clean and the blank LCD screen doesn't show any sign of an aged screen.  There's no rainbow effect nor any liquid leakage.  So, I picked it up and see if I could do anything about it.

Soon as I opened up the case, some acid-crystal inside the battery compartment but not serious, easy clean off without the need of extra work that I can't handle. Then the next thing was, pop in a new battery, IT'S ALIVE!! Case is gummed up as usual and all buttons are jammed with gooey stuff. I can handle those. The scary part is still the C-clips that hold the buttons. Gotta be super careful this time while handling them, it is so light that they could almost float in air.

Learned a few things this time. The chromed plastic casing sucks. The reason why all buttons are stuck, other than dirt, it's the problem with the chromed coating over plastic. Over the time the coating started to bubble that jammed the button. Had to scrape off the coating inside the tunnel and make it smooth again, and a dip of silicone will smooth out the button moving. And replacing the c-clip does need practice. I sort of have a grasp of doing that right.

After a few hours cleaning up the case carefully under the loupe, and restored the bracelet to its original brushed line finish, now it's back to it's '80s glory.

This watch is from the 1980 production, which is a year after ALBA hit the market.  That from the limited resources, believe that the Y651 could most probably be their first series of Digi-Ana watches to hit the market.

So here it is, from junk to gem, a 39 years old watch, which I wouldn't try to guess how long it has been treated as junk, or how far it had traveled.  It's now functioning as what it's meant to be --- a watch.

Alba Y651-5040
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