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Posted by liquid |
31 Mar 2012
Here’s another of the very early G-Shocks that’s really starting to grow on me — the WW-5100C-1. It’s identical to its rarer sibling, the WW-5100C-9, using the wide-temperature 491 module, but has subtle styling differences. The -1 has a grey and white colour scheme, while the -9 is the gold version. While the -9 is rarer, I like the -1 better (not much of a gold watch wearer). I managed to pick this one up locally which was a bit of a bonus; here in NZ we didn’t get the large numbers of stock as the more lucrative markets of North America and Asia, but it also means there aren’t as many collectors down here so when nice pieces like this come up for sale, there is a bit less competition for them. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good eBay tussle as much as the next person, but when the marketplace and the collector-pool is smaller you tend to get pieces that are very original. For example the DW-5200 I own has obviously been rebuilt with DW-5600C parts (band, bezel, screws) just checking part numbers, whereas the -1 has its original (albeit more worn) parts. Not so much an issue with the band and bezel, as these need to be changed, but now I know the 5200 should have flat-head screws, seeing it with the cross-head screws reminds me it’s not all original. So back to the WW-5100C-1 — the 491 module is kind of indestructible which...
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Posted by liquid |
3 Apr 2011
The Sexum XXX animated watch, produced by Cheong Koon Co. Ltd. dates from 1981 and is, without doubt, one of the most unique and unusual LCD watches ever. There are a number of features that set it apart from most other LCD watches from the early 1980s, not least of which are the dual LCDs that make up the display. Double-layered LCDs were seen in a few watches, among them the Nelsonic Space Attacker and Pulsar invader-style game watch where the entire display was replaced when entering a certain mode. To accomplish this, the LCDs were placed on top of each other with one line of contacts available for each (one top, the other bottom). More sophisticated LCDs required the top and bottom lines of contacts to control a single LCD, but the dual LCDs were an inspired design decision and one that wasn’t repeated in many watches (cost being a significant factor). The other unique feature of this particular watch was the nature of its animation. There are few animated LCD watches from this era which aren’t games, and those that there are are generally triggered by the alarm going off. Outside of this one, and the Nelsonic/Waltham Dixie Cannon watch, there isn’t much in the animation-only sphere, but this is the only one that you wouldn’t show to your grandmother! That”s right – an LCD watch with pron! Well, kind of. Apple computer fans (I mean old school fans – ][+ and ][e style) might remember an...
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Posted by liquid |
8 Oct 2010
It comes as no surprise that Casio unveiled their flagship superwatch the DB-1000 in 1985 – the same year Back to the Future was released; they obviously had their own flying Delorean to bring back some future technology and present it years before its time! Conspiracy theorists would note that the watch was only sold for three months – perhaps the company realised there was no way this kind of functionality should have been able to exist in the mid-80s and pulled it from production. Those more cynical might suggest the watch was only sold for three months because the technology didn’t catch on and it was an expensive price to pay for what was really a gimmick. That said, the DB-1000 surely has to rate among the best watches of the decade. It has a 50-name databank, eight-digit calculator, five alarms including being able to set them for individual days, chronograph and the usual day/date functions. Most impressive of all is how you get the data in, and perform the calculations. The watch has a touchscreen but it doesn’t just show the numbers/letters for you to touch. Instead you draw the characters on the screen (including mathematical functions) with a fingertip – kind of like an early version of the Palm. It would be great to find a watch that would do that today – in 1985 it should have been impossible, but Casio made it happen. Ultimately rare, and usually found with LCD bleed or a degree of...
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Posted by liquid |
7 Oct 2010
Anyone south of the Mason-Dixon line is going to love this watch…and all you Yankees too! So promised the 1981 Montgomery Ward Christmas Values catalog and the public must have loved them in droves – so much so that they are almost impossible to find 29 years later. While some Nelsonic watches from the early 1980s are still reasonably plentiful in (second-hand) number – like the Space Attacker – this particular watch is a real rarity. The text on the catalogue advertisement proclaimed: Dixie Cannon Alarm 6-digit LCD alarm celebrates the South. FEATURES: Anyone south of the Mason-Dixon line is going to love this watch…and all you Yankees too! Something to brag about. It replaces the beeps and buzzes of traditional designs with a song and a cartoon. As the alarm is triggered, a little animated soldier lowers his arm to light the cannon. Then everything happens…the cannon goes off, the cannonball travels across the top of the watch, the Confederate flag goes down in a blaze of glory to the stirring strains of “Dixie!” Gets you lots of attention and gives you the hour-minute-second, month/date. Silvertone bracelet, Hong Kong. Ship wt. 12oz………39.95 I’ve seen two of these watches on ebay in roughly 10 years – and one had a smashed LCD – obviously there would have been many others but more than likely have been buried in badly described lots of ‘junk watches’. This particular one looked to have LCD issues in the auction advertisement, but fortunately the...
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Posted by liquid |
30 Sep 2010
The original and still the best – Casio’s MG-880 was released in August 1980 and began a decade of integration of calculators and games for the Casio company and its competitors. Kids lucky enough to have this amazing toy could happily charge their classmates to play, although not having a volume control or mute button meant games were confined to break time and lunch, where the player could expect to be surrounded by admirers ready to applaud or scorn his ability. It was rare to see the MG-880 actually used as a calculator, so fun and addicting was the digital invader game. It was as close to space invaders as you could get without any graphics apart from the numbers available on an LCD screen, so was dubbed the ‘space invader calculator’. Such was the success of the MG-880, Casio duplicated it in several forms – the MG-660, MG-770 and MG-890 calculators (each different in their own right, but sharing the same game), and in watch form in the 134 module – CA-85, CA-851, CA-86, CA-90, CA-901. Still fun to play many many years later – just like the original space invaders!! UPDATE: I found this excellent photo of a bloke leaning on a Space Invader machine / Kiss pinball, circa 1981. Most interesting though is what’s happening in the bottom right corner – see that calculator? Even with video games and pinball machines nearby, the MG-880 was still getting some love!! See more of these photos from the early...
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Posted by liquid |
29 Sep 2010
The Nelsonic Grand Prix is one of my favourite calculator watches ever. It would never have been a high-priced item – plastic case, ‘budget’ brand, made in Hong Kong – and yet still manages to cram more into it’s miniscule memory space than equivalent Seikos and some Casios. This watch compares favourably to the Armitron Piano Game watch, which likewise takes an innovative approach to form and function by including a game within the limitations of its tiny LCD. Where some manufacturers would have take the opportunity to make a dual-LCD (which would certainly have made design easier) the creators of the Nelsonic Grand Prix opted for a more creative approach, possibly due to budget constraints on what would have surely been a reasonably cheap watch – you won’t find any metal versions of this one unless they’ve been franken-watched by someone with steady hands and small screwdrivers. There are loads of the generic time/date/alarm/calculator watches around which already make pretty good use of the limited amount of memory and chip capacity these watches would have held, but to add a game is just about the coolest thing ever. Particularly when you consider it’s a proper game, not a number-type game like those made by Casio in the MG-880/MG-885/MG-777 around the same time. This is a side-scroller where you have to get your car from right to left, avoiding cascading enemies which rain down on you from left to right. You skip lanes (moving up and down) in your quest to make it...
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This website showcases some of the best LCD watches, calculators and gadgets of the early 1980s from the author’s past and present collection.
All text, image, audio and video elements on this website are copyright and may not be used in any form without the express written permission of the author. 
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