Comments on: HP-01 calculator watch

HP-01 calculator watch

Galvatron — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 00:03:17 -0800

"Time: elusive and immediate...limited yet infinite. Because time is important to you, Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP-01, a new dimension in time management and personal computation." Truly, such an important model number could only be bestowed upon the king of all early calculator watches. No less than three batteries were required (two for the LED display alone), and even HP's impressive engineering was unable to save the HP-01 from the curse of bulkiness; it did not sell well at the $650 price point. The HP-01 was discontinued in 1980, as inexpensive LCD calculator watches began flooding the market (don't lie, you know you had one).

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 00:06:23 -0800

And yes, I too fell prey to one of Casio's calculator watches from the early 80s. As much fun as that was, I think I got more mileage out of my Kronoform.

By: BlackLeotardFront

BlackLeotardFront — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 00:09:36 -0800

They were before my time, alas - but now that gold one would be considered true oldschool bling. A true wrist clock. Thanks for turning me on to these things, now I have another thing to add to my wishlist.

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 00:24:21 -0800

"Southend seems to be melting away ... the stars are swirling ... a dustbowl ... my legs are drifting off into the sunset ... my left arm's come off too." A frightening thought struck him: "Hell," he said, "how am I going to operate my digital watch now?"

By: fairmettle

fairmettle — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 03:12:19 -0800

My dream digital watch (back in the day) was the Synchronar 2100 Sunwatch... Invented by Roger Riehl back in the early 1970's, the Synchronar went on sale in 1974, and was featured in gadgethead droolworthy print advertisements throughout the rest of that decade. The Synchronar's features included: perpetual solar power, permanent hermetic seal for diving to 750 feet, perpetual calendar (requires user input every 3 out of 4 centuries), visual (!) alarm, and user adjustable speed correction. Now -- 30 years on and watch manufacturers have yet to match the functional robustness of the Synchronar 2100 Sunwatch!

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 04:17:07 -0800

don't lie, you know you had one I didn't, but I so wanted one. Nice post.

By: sklero

sklero — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 04:48:12 -0800

*droooooool...*

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 05:58:25 -0800

By: crazy finger

crazy finger — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 06:29:16 -0800

OMG! I just had a flashback to my youth. I once had a watch/computer system where the watch could plug into a simple computer and then you could write basic programs for it and make printouts. I can't remember all the details, anybody know what I'm talking about?

By: tommasz

tommasz — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 07:34:32 -0800

It would have been cheaper to just wear a sign saying "take my lunch money" but in 25 years no one would want to post it on MeFi.

By: 327.ca

327.ca — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 08:37:25 -0800

I bought a TI digital watch in New York in 1979 and wore it proudly to a performance the next night at a SoHo gallery. At exactly 9:00 PM, the naked lady was playing her cello in a tub fully of jelly when my watch started playing "The Yellow Rose of Texas"...

By: emdog

emdog — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 08:54:15 -0800

there are 2, hp-01s currently on ebay

By: eriko

eriko — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 08:54:38 -0800

Combining the old, the new, and having a nerd factor of about 11, the Nixie watch.

By: Duug

Duug — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 00:51:35 -0800

I've still got my old HP-01 somewhere. Had a friend working for HP at the time so got a deal on it, but it was still an arm and a leg. But those were the days when I was single, carefree and er...stupid? Nah, it was a great watch, excellent for impressing people down the pub because you could input somebody's birth date and it would tell you what day of the week they were born on. Well I thought it was clevar!

By: rune

rune — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 03:47:04 -0800

crazy finger: Absolutely! I'm pretty sure you're talking about the Seiko UC-2000, an early 80's wristwatch which came with either one of two keyboards. The watch itself was more than anything a display/storage unit, and the large keyboard had a z80 processor where you could run simple BASIC applications. There was also a ROM reader and a small thermal printer built into the large keyboard. There were several ROMs, and I briefly remember having a translation dictionary which I could run on the watch. Also the phone book was outstanding considering what other people had on their cheap Casio data bank watches. My dad brought home one of these after a travel to Japan and it was utterly weird and fascinating. Unfortunately I managed to dip the watch in water, rendering it useless, and it was since lost. If I see one of these on Ebay I'll probably go for it. It's still pretty cool and has a very uniquely 80's design to it.

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 06:14:50 -0800

Looking at how they stored the stylus in the buckle reminds me that we haven't advanced all that much. PDAs also need a stylus, and whether it's a little thing that stores in a buckle or slips into a hole in the unit, if one careless drops the stylus it's a pain in the arse to use your toy until you get another one. I think it's time to start genetic engineering to develop humans that have a stylus for one of their fingers to save them this agony.

By: PurplePorpoise

PurplePorpoise — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 09:29:25 -0800

I think it's time to start genetic engineering to develop humans that have a stylus for one of their fingers to save them this agony. Then again, there's always growing out your pinky nail...

By: deemer

deemer — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 18:25:18 -0800

Asteroids, anyone?