For sale is this vintage Ricoh "Riquartz" made in Japan during the '70s. Ricoh is probably most well-known for making cameras, calculators and printers but for a brief period they were making very interesting and well-made watches and were, at the time, among the big three Japanese watch brands: Seiko, Citizen and Casio. Ricoh watches was working and collaborating with Hamilton, sharing technical innovations and working on watches together. Some watches even have both Ricoh and Hamilton on the dial. Ricoh watches are all fully made by Ricoh in Japan and even have in-house movements with unique features, arguably making some Ricoh's more reliable than Seiko's at the time. They also collaborated with Porsche on a watch. Ricoh stopped making watches in the 1980s which makes them quite rare and lesser well-known compared to the other three brands despite producing such good watches. This model, reference number 580504, has a stunning stepped gradient dial which is an electric blue towards the bottom of the dial and fades to a deep blue (almost black) at the top. Each step in the gradient has a Geneva stripe (Côtes de Genève) finishing beneath the gradient that move with the light. To me, the end result evokes the look of a still body of water in a cave. The stick baton indices are high-polish with a white centre to contrast with the dial. The hands also mimic this by being high-polish with white centre. The Ricoh logo, the "Q" symbol and day/date window are applied stainless steel. The stainless steel case has a high-polish sides and bezel but a radially brushed top surface.  It contains the beautiful in-house calibre 580 movement which is way higher quality than most of the quartz movements of today. The cal.580 was released circa 1975 which would indicate that the watch was made around that time. It features a bilingual day/date where the days of the week can be in either English or Japanese Kanji. Sunday is in red while the rest of the days are in black. Comes on the original Ricoh stainless steel bracelet that can accommodate a wrist size of up to 19cm. Fitted with a brand new battery. Condition is great considering the watch was made around 50 years ago. Original finish is still intact and all the functions work as they should. This watch is for those who have a passion for Japanese horology and prefer lesser-known but still quality watches. Ricoh is a brand that if you know, you know. TGV has one in his personal collection and most watch repair that have handled Ricoh watches have great respect for the brand. I have not seen another one of this model come up for sale. Looking for $145 net (buyer pays Paypal fees) + shipping Dimensions are: 36mm x 40.6mm x 11.2mm Lug Width 18mm (According to my calippers) Bought in Japan. \*Returns accepted but all return postage costs are the buyer's responsibility in all circumstances and any fees that we have to pay to re-import the watch will be deducted from the refund amount.