Seiko A239 World Time watch

In 1979, Seiko asked a question nobody had quite answered yet: what if a watch could show you the time anywhere in the world, not as a number you had to calculate, but as a map you could simply read?

The A239 World Time used two separate LCD modules to do it - one for the time, one for a world map with 19 selectable time zones, each highlighted as a glowing segment on the dial. You didn't need to do mental arithmetic about Tokyo or New York. You just looked at the map. For a watch produced at the turn of the 1980s, it was a genuinely elegant solution to a real problem.

The gold-tone version - brown dial frame, red map LCD - is the most visually striking of the A239 variants, and the one illustrated here. Small by the standards of modern watches at just 33mm, it has the purposeful density of a device designed to do something specific and do it well.

This print from the Gizmo collection captures the Seiko A239 in precise technical illustration - one of the more ingenious pieces of wrist-worn technology from an era when Japanese watchmakers were quietly reinventing what a watch could be.

Gizmo is a collection of design-led art prints built around the machines that shaped how we made music, wrote code, played and connected with the world. Synthesisers and drum machines. Cameras and home computers. Calculators and handheld devices that once felt like the future.

Each print is a carefully constructed illustration that isolates what made an object memorable - its proportions, controls, typography, surfaces, and small acts of engineering intelligence. Not retro sentimentality, but honest observation: what made these machines distinctive, how they looked when they were new, and why their forms still resonate.

Adapted from and inspired by Simon Tyler's forthcoming book Gizmo: Retro-Tech We Loved and Lost, published by Laurence King in May 2026.

All prints are produced to order on 250gsm archival matte paper using pigment-based inks, chosen for colour accuracy and long-term stability.

Each print is rolled in acid-free tissue and shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, sealed for moisture protection, ready for framing on arrival.

Large · 50 × 70 cm · 20 × 28 in

XLarge · 70 × 100 cm · 28 × 40 in

UK: Free · 3-5 working days

Europe: €8.50 · 3-7 working days · No customs charges

USA & Canada: $8.95 / $12.00 CAD · 5-10 working days

Australia: $14.00 AUD · 5-10 working days

Rest of World: £14.95 · 7-14 working days

All prints are produced to order and dispatched within 1-3 working days. Orders placed before 5pm GMT ship the same day. You'll receive tracking information by email once dispatched.

Orders outside Europe may be subject to local customs charges on delivery - these are the responsibility of the recipient.

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Returns accepted within 30 days. Email returns@axisophy.com with your order number and we'll provide return instructions.

Return postage is the customer's responsibility except where the print arrives damaged or there's been an error - in which case we'll arrange a replacement or refund immediately, no return needed.

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