"Timex Japan x Snow Peak × relume Journal Standard Outdoor Fun Time Camper."
December, 2019
Hi, this is Alan. My contact information is at the bottom. As always, thanks for reading, and for your interest in these reviews.
Here are two interesting watches from Timex Japan, in collaboration with Snow Peak and relume Journal Standard. You can see from the first picture above, it is unusual in that it is missing most of the dial.
OUTDOOR FUN TIME CAMPER (this is such a great name) from triple collaboration TIMEX Japan x Snow Peak x relume JOURNAL STANDARD, in green and black.
Thank you for reading.
I hope you will like it.
Alan
Contact:
Website: Alan's Vintage Watches
The watches, in both olive and black resin, are based on the Original Camper model, with the addition of the snow peak logo, but completely missing hour numerals, luminous triangles, and hash marks between 7 and 4. From 4 to 7, the dial is identical to Original Camper. There is just this huge, dramatic void everywhere else.
But before we go into the meaning of the dial, or maybe even its semiotics, let's get to know the responsible parties.
Snow Peak is a Japanese company founded in 1958, with stores also now in other parts of the world. Snow Peak refers to the renowned Japanese mountain Tanigawa where the founder frequently challenged himself. Initially selling mountaineering equipment, the company shifted in the 1980s to focus mainly on camping equipment, especially in light of the "booming national interest in auto camping." Innovation is key to the company, where they say "we are also users." It is their intention that we "reconnect with the natural world, and the rest of mankind."
"relume Journal Standard is a unisex Japanese fashion brand that focuses on modern Japanese style and trends. The brand reflects this concept with a minimalist design philosophy, making simple yet stylish clothes for everyday wear." (source)
(Above image from Timex/SP/rJS)
The black version, above, was sold through relume Journal Standard shops, and the olive-green version through Snow Peak shops.
So, what is going on with this dial. Why the expansive void, and what is so special about 4 through 7 o'clock? Well, the times between 4-7 are meant to symbolize the "times around sunrise and sunset." This is, of course approximations, and will vary depending on where you are on Earth, and the time of the year, etc. So this is not mean to be taken strictly, or literally, but probably meant to be symbolic, more about "a chunk of time, with the intention of being at the beginning and the end of the day."
To better understand the intention behind this dial, please read below the machine translation captured from the Snow Peak Japan website:
In another place in the Snow Peak e-commerce site, I saw the following, also machine translation:
"This time, based on TIMEX's classic model "Original Camper", based on the concept of "a clock to create time without being tied up by time to enjoy playing in the field", from 4:00 to 7:00 (sunrise, sunset (Average time of), the bold arrangement that only the time range is left and everything else is removed.
Sunrise is the time to take the morning sun and rejuvenate the day, and sunset is the time to start the bonfire. There are many others, but the sunrise and sunset times in the camp are very special times of the day. While interacting with nature and people, leave only the time when you feel it is better to care and leave others blank so that you can enjoy the interaction with nature and people more freely."
Woah, there is a lot to unpack and process from these statements of intention and purpose. I would say that the watch encourages a certain type of mindfulness, that I will try to summarize as best as I can, after the jump.
(Warranty card for the black case version, purchased in-store, on the day of the drop, December 13, 2019.)
So, I would say this watch design has as its purpose, the goal of encouraging a certain type of mindfulness. The inclusion of certain hours, and omitting all others is symbolic of having an awareness that within 24 hours of of our day, "there are times to do these things," and then there is the rest of the time.
Of course, most people don't wake up at 4 am, and most people are not starting a bonfire at 4 pm. Therefore, I don't take these time frames literally. But taken symbolically, it is to commemorate "beginning of day," and "end of day" activities, activities that involve food, friends, family and other loved ones, fire, exercise, and watching sunsets and sunrise. Indeed, "asahi" (朝日) means literally "morning sun," and we are asked to "soak up the Asahi." How nice is that.
The other times are left blank, as I see it, so as to not feel constrained by schedules and demands of a highly connected world, to "disconnect" for a while, "so that you can enjoy the interaction with nature and people more freely." It's a beautiful sort of "manifesto" symbolically encoded on a humble wristwatch dial. It also pays homage more to the "outdoorsy" and less to the "military" provenance of a watch that was, after all, in 1983 named "Camper Watch" as the civilian conversion of an earlier military iteration.
It is all really quite beautiful.
A view of the Tanigawa Mountain Range taken from Mount Tanigawa, photo from the National Parks Japan Instagram.
Classic green case of the Original Camper, black matte dial, with a slightly more olive-brownish-green color to the strap.
Snow Peak website.
The box of both watches has a silvery drawing of two people who are clearly camping. One sits on a folding chair with relaxed posture, enjoying a drink. The other is cooking food on what is a pretty strange looking "fireplace." it's not the "pit" surrounded by stones typical for campfires, but some above ground contraption. I had to find out what this thing was.
It is the Snow Peak "Pack and Carry" folding fireplace, made from stainless steel, which "folds up flat for easy carrying and storage, and it keeps the fire off the ground to make clean-up easy and prevent heat damage to the land." Below is one in action, from this site.
Comes in three sizes, to fit your particular campfire needs.
The dial is really idiosyncratic. Also, I like how the hour sector is asymmetric. I don't think the effect would be so unusual and striking if the hours were symmetric, like from 4-8 o'clock.
The retention of the TIMEX logo at 12 is good, balances out what would otherwise be a bottom-heavy design. You really need something up there in that black void.
Warranty card for the green version, purchased in-store on the day of the drop, December 13, 2019.
Below, the Snow Peak store in the Shibuya City area of Tokyo, on the tree-lined Omotesandō Avenue.
In-store display of the watches and boxes. Photo taken by my friend who graciously obtained these watches at great personal effort, thank you!
Bar code stickers for the black version above, and green version below.
These people have a view of a beautiful sunrise from their glamping tent. But imagine how much more their experience would have been enhanced if they were wearing the Outdoor Fun Time Camper.
Look at these scouts trying to put up a tent. Only one seems to be really doing anything.
Above pic, this not of either of my watches, but a picture from the Snow Peak e-commerce site. I wanted to include it because it is a very high quality picture of the dial.
end/
The last time I went camping, it wasn't long ago, May 2019, seven months ago, at the time of this writing. I had a blast. I was one of several adult chaperones at my daughter's Girl Scout camping trip. Of course, it included a campfire. Above, one of the parents brought along some vegetables to roast. They were delicious, but guess how many kids ate any of the roasted vegetables. Click the picture or this link to get to my Instagram post, where you can hear the sizzling vegetables over the fire, and make sure to swipe through to see the other pics and movies, on that same post, including some pics of a very rare Timex Camper (older mechanical one!) with a Boy Scouts of America logo!
