The year is 1997, Hong Kong is no longer a British colony, Deep Blue, a computer, has defeated a legendary Chess master, and for a gaming enthusiast in Japan, a TV commercial has just aired featuring the up-and-coming stars Aki Maeda and her sister, Ai Maeda.
抽選で2000名様に
オリジナルウォッチプレゼント
Not only is the genre defining Life Sim for Super Famicom, Bokujō Monogatari, getting a conversion for GameBoy on December 19th 1997, there will be 2000 fans drawn to potentially be able to get a cool wrist-watch!
Now, in the year 2020, the wrist-watch has become one of the rarest pieces of Story of Seasons memorabilia around. Not only was it limited to 2000 pieces, but multiple variants would be confirmed to exist thus far: A blue one with a chicken charm, featured in the original TV ad and re-sold once upon a time on Etsy by MetropolisofRuin…
A watch with a red strap and horse charm, which we know of thanks to none other than Igusa Matsuyama, the series artist having it appear on their blog once upon a time…
And now, most recently, the discovery of a watch with a green strap and a dog charm! Ranch Story has actually managed to obtain one of these elusive watches, and in an opportunity provided only by the original packaging being practically destroyed and in non-collector condition, we can get a nice, close-up look at the watch itself!
Y’know, for being 23 years old and improperly stored, I’m actually really surprised at how clean and clear the graphic and water are! Overall, it seems to be in pretty good condition. The wrist strap itself also has a very… fruit gummi-like feel, for lack of a better description. I’m thankful it managed to stay so clean.
Naturally, the watch doesn’t actually run… but the battery compartment looks pretty okay. No obvious corrosion going on at least. It’s tempting to open the thing and actually install a new battery to see the watch tick again, but for now I’ll resist the temptation. I definitely should try at some point, just to see if it has any unique sounds.
All in all, it’s a unique little piece of Story of Seasons history that I never expected to see in-person. It’s not the absolute rarest piece of merchandise for the series; that honor probably goes to another Japanese raffle prize like the Mukumuku plush, but it’s nevertheless a delight to be able to share some close-ups of this rare little novelty.
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