Sometimes in this world of Casio, Citizen and Timex I yearn for the odd model that doesn’t have that corporate look.  The Casio and G-Shock or the Timex Expedition for example, so this week I decided to have a look at some different watch models and styles from two Brands, Lorus and Pulsar.  Although specialising in a lower price point as a sales philosophy they do manage to produce some up to the minute watches.
And being part of the huge Seiko empire they have access to some serious watch electronic know-how and are well worth a look.  The first model that caught my attention is the striking Pulsar PV4005X1, which on first impression is Style with a capital S and when you see it up close it really does stop you in your tracks!

Pulsar Race PV4005X1

Whilst it looks the part it also appears to come up with the goods as far as specifications is concerned –

Black dial (Negative) full-panel dot-matrix “style” liquid crystal panel, with Hours, Minutes, Seconds (Digital).  It also shows Day, Date, Month, Year.  Other features are a 10hr 1/100 sec Chronograph, Split time, Timer, 3-channel Alarm,and World Time (33 cities).  For night use it has a LED panel light with auto illumination, Mineral crystal, a Stainless Steel case, 4 screws back and a Water Resistance of 100m, plus a PU strap, rounds up what this model has to offer.  Dimension wise a little big for me at 49mm width, but still smaller than most of the newer G-Shock models, so could well be a popular choice.

As with all digital displays, it does depend on the contrast and whilst it looks OK in the images, it is a learning curve as to how you see it in less than ideal light.  It has of course a panel light operated by the lower right pusher.  (Personally I prefer an Ana-Digi set up as I find analogue hands easier to see these days, but for those into digital this model certainly has bags of appeal).

Note – The LED panel illumination selected manually or on auto has a nonadjustable duration of 2 secs.  From my experience especially at night, the eyes and brain struggle to take in and read dial information in that time.  Timex for example have a 3 seconds option which is much more effective.  An adjustable duration setting would be preferable.

However on balance and certainly for looks it’s a winner and I’ve seen it on Amazon for around £90, so it also appears to win on price too.

Here from their European web site are a few images – these can all be seen HERE.

Pulsar – selection 1

Pulsar – selection 2

I’ll be looking at Lorus (another Seiko brand) in a forthcoming Post and featuring one specific model that a friend has just acquired – might be interesting.

UPDATE –
Managed to get hold of one of these models and it is pretty impressive I have to say.  It’s not too big on the wrist (mine is only 170mm, so quite small) as the case is 13.9mm, but the rubber strap is quite thick at the fitting point on the watch.  The strap has preformed underparts which hold the strap at a curve at the fixing point.  This makes the watch stand out further than perhaps it should from the wrist.  I will play around with fitting an alternative (26mm) silicon strap just to see how it looks and post the result in a further update Post.  Maybe I’m being picky here and it may turn out to be OK anyway – but we’ll see.

Here’s a couple of images of this watch – 1) on the wrist and 2) in comparison to a Fossil with similar display set up.  I note that the matrix “style” display on this Pulsar is certainly one of the best I’ve seen.  It has a similar luminescence almost on a par with my Breitling Aerospace, which has always impressed me.  So full marks to Pulsar!  ALSO – In reality the matrix “style” display clarity is exceptional and as the figures are so large, 2 seconds is easily enough time to read the time/data in the dark – very impressive and I stand corrected!

Pulsar on smallish 170mm wrist is actually not to bad at all.

Comparison to Fossil with similar display set.