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April 16, 2003 11:34 AM   Subscribe

 
Ahh, the Sinclair Black Watch.
While a pile of crap it was.
posted by Mwongozi at 11:54 AM on April 16, 2003


Hilarious story about the Sinclair! Love the Commodore . . .
posted by drew_alley at 12:04 PM on April 16, 2003


This makes me want to get out the ol' soldering iron.
posted by TurkishGolds at 12:50 PM on April 16, 2003


Ah, yes. There was a science "teacher" in my highschool, way back then, that would sell digital watches for grade points.
posted by five fresh fish at 1:35 PM on April 16, 2003


My dad had an early LED watch, I recall it was quite pricey. Now kids can get a digital watch with three times the functionality out of 25ยข vending machines.
posted by jazon at 2:02 PM on April 16, 2003


I used to have this one. The one with color photos of the droids around the edges. It was sweeet.

In a formative moment for me, it was stolen by some other kid at the community pool, who somehow got a hold of my clothing bag from the locker room. I just walked right up and found him rummaging through it by the side of the pool. He had a towel partially over it and his arms. I was about 5 years old and didn't really understand what was going on. I told him it was my bag. He gave it back and walked away. Later I realized the watch was gone and I'd been burgled.

bastard guy!
posted by scarabic at 2:05 PM on April 16, 2003


When I was about 8 years old, I saw an ad in a mainstream skin mag for a *six* function watch.

The sixth function: press a special button and the watch would display "LETS F CK". (It filled in the vowel and you probably can too.)

Never saw one show up at school. Imagine the coolness quotient an owner might have had.
posted by kurumi at 2:13 PM on April 16, 2003


You know what? No matter what the object is, there's somebody out there who collects it and has an intricate web page devoted to the hobby... complete with lingo, legends, tales of triumph, tales of defeat and the illusion that it is the most glamorous of hobbies.

Regardless, it's pretty cool to see how people can latch onto a new technology, and put out any possible product to capitalize on it. Look at the variety for a technology which, for all intents and purposes, was only viable for a few years.
posted by askheaves at 2:23 PM on April 16, 2003


The Black Watch article missed the real point. That gadget propelled us into the sci-fi future where both hands, (the ones on your wrists), were required to read the time. Didn't stop me buying one of these though.
posted by punilux at 3:21 PM on April 16, 2003


This was my first watch. I got it in 3rd grade and spent most of the time I should have been using to practice multiplication tables or watch films entitled "The Dangers of Being Run Over by a Schoolbus" just sitting and pressing the button to make the time (and date!) appear.

Damn, I'm old.
posted by Poagao at 4:48 PM on April 16, 2003


That Ragen Synchronar is *still* cool looking. I would totally wear it.
posted by oflinkey at 7:13 PM on April 16, 2003


This was mine which is a less cooler version of the one that Poagao linked to.

My father bought me this watch and it was a prized possession for many years. I still have it, it still works, maybe I'll dig it up now and stick a battery in it.

Nice post. Thanks.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 9:02 PM on April 16, 2003


I remember those watches and the kid at our school who was the first to get one - he was the coolest kid around for a while. It had an amazing total of two functions - you could press and hold a button to display the time, or you could just look at a blank red-tinted screen.

The site seems to have been MeFied, however :-(
posted by dg at 10:09 PM on April 16, 2003


Guy Ball's site is great. I used it and a few others to research my own piece on the history of calculator watches.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:27 AM on April 17, 2003


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