Modern LED with DOW, Seconds, and Alarm

[redleds]

The typical modern LED usually has hours, minutes, month, date, and nothing else. This one, however, also has seconds, day-of-week, and an alarm. It's very surprising since even the 'name-brand' modern LED's from Diesel, Adidas, and Lucky, which sometimes cost as much as $200 US, don't have these features - and this is a cheap watch from Hong Kong that costs about $15. Very strange.



Each of the four buttons on the watch displays the time on the first press, with each second press displaying a different function depending on which button it is, as follows:
upper left: month and date
lower left: alarm set time
upper right: running seconds
lower right: day of week

[bucko170]

The sweat shops in Hong Kong must be full of cloned 10 year old kids knocking these out 'ten to the dozen' for 1p a hour.

[retroleds]

The typical modern LED usually has hours, minutes, month, date, and nothing else. This one, however, also has seconds, day-of-week, and an alarm. It's very surprising since even the 'name-brand' modern LED's from Diesel, Adidas, and Lucky, which sometimes cost as much as $200 US, don't have these features - and this is a cheap watch from Hong Kong that costs about $15. Very strange.

Well, same as with the vintage I';m thinking - the display quality carries the day on the price, right after rarity and case design. That display is pretty hard to look at, and certainly doesn't allude to "class" or "style". Big and tasteless - sort of like a "sneeze guarded" http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sneezeguard buffet at a cheap restaurant. All you can eat, diarrhea for free.

The Diesel OLED and the DKNY 1367(same module used in some Diesels, is quite different(not saying it deserves $200...maybe $100. It is clean, clear dots and not overly bright(although as I have noted before, I pulled the colored plastic off my DKNY 1367 to get it a tad brighter and was quite pleased with it. Even through some Pulsar glass. An unfortunately tight fit for a Pulsar case though.

[redleds]

The typical modern LED usually has hours, minutes, month, date, and nothing else. This one, however, also has seconds, day-of-week, and an alarm. It's very surprising since even the 'name-brand' modern LED's from Diesel, Adidas, and Lucky, which sometimes cost as much as $200 US, don't have these features - and this is a cheap watch from Hong Kong that costs about $15. Very strange.

Well, same as with the vintage I';m thinking - the display quality carries the day on the price, right after rarity and case design. That display is pretty hard to look at, and certainly doesn't allude to "class" or "style". Big and tasteless - sort of like a "sneeze guarded" http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sneezeguard buffet at a cheap restaurant. All you can eat, diarrhea for free.

The Diesel OLED and the DKNY 1367(same module used in some Diesels, is quite different(not saying it deserves $200...maybe $100. It is clean, clear dots and not overly bright(although as I have noted before, I pulled the colored plastic off my DKNY 1367 to get it a tad brighter and was quite pleased with it. Even through some Pulsar glass. An unfortunately tight fit for a Pulsar case though.

What surprised me is that I know it costs money to develop a new module. I find it hard to believe that it's cost effective to develop a new module for a watch that sells for $15 (including shipping from HK!). I don't think the market for LED's is that big. I thought maybe it was a case where the factory is selling a module 'on the side' that was developed for someone else - yet there's no mainstream LED watch that has these features.

I also have an Adidas ADH1600 LED watch, and there's also an almost exact clone of that available for about $15. I don't know what's going on there either; did Adidas actually pay for the development of the module and then were ripped off, or did they just see the module and commission a watch based upon it? I'll post pictures of both in a new thread about the Adidas. (Also the Diesel DZ7108/7107 appears to use this same module).

As far as the display on this watch, it's actually a Frankenstein that I put together from a couple of these cheap HK LED watches. The original had a 'mirror' display that cut down on the glare quite a bit, but it was a horribly ugly case design. I'm actually using a piece of tracing paper as a diffuser in this watch, but it's not that bad in person.

[retroleds]

What surprised me is that I know it costs money to develop a new module. I find it hard to believe that it's cost effective to develop a new module for a watch that sells for $15 (including shipping from HK!). I don't think the market for LED's is that big. I thought maybe it was a case where the factory is selling a module 'on the side' that was developed for someone else - yet there's no mainstream LED watch that has these features.

I'm guessing you can make a module in a modern factory, in China, for $1-2. The case and band maybe another $1-1.50USD. 6 billion people on the planet..annual worldwide watch production is estimated at 1.2 billion pieces a year. Seems like there should be some room for them to sell a 20-40 million digitals a year. At least.

[redleds]

]I'm guessing you can make a module in a modern factory, in China, for $1-2. The case and band maybe another $1-1.50USD. 6 billion people on the planet..annual worldwide watch production is estimated at 1.2 billion pieces a year. Seems like there should be some room for them to sell a 20-40 million digitals a year. At least.

You may be able to manufacture a module for that amount, but designing a new module, testing it, and retooling for production has got to be a significant cost. Why do it when there's already a 'generic' LED module in production (the typical one everyone's familiar with that only displays hours, minutes, month, and date)? One can get a lot of mileage out of a single module by using different case designs, creating several different watches that all use the same module (like in the 70's LED's and true today as well).

Where's the motivation for going through the trouble of creating a new LED module with new features at companies who are only interested in making a quick buck and don't generally pay attention to quality? It seems like a paradox to me.

BTW, the example I cited isn't the only one. I have a few modules from HK that are all different from each other and all have somewhat unique features. I'll post about them if anyone's interested.