Your First Watches..

A place to discuss other watch-brands
User avatar
richtel
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 1795
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:10 pm
CW-watches: 8
Location: Cotswolds

Re: Your First Watches..

Post by richtel »

tikkathree wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2023 2:22 pm Here they are, my 1st, 2nd and 3rd watches.

The Seiko auto was presented to me at about 10 years of age and was bought with green shield stamps: remember them?

The Casio I bought from a branch of Dixons/Currys and basically it was a "happy birthday to me" reward when I turned 21 in 1974. I don't think I've changed the battery more than five times in the passage of time. I've changed straps more often than batteries! I popped the back hoping that I'd have recorded the "date fitted" on the battery - I didn't but look at the size of it!

Then came my first Seiko 7T34 Flightmaster. I can't remember when exactly that was but definitely since 1983 when we moved to Suffolk.

All three watches work. I messed with the original seiko painting the dial markers with lume paint: what a mess I made!! I had the watch serviced a couple of years ago. The 7T34 eats batteries in about 3 years and it has been doing the two-second hop for several months now and I'm just curious to see how long it runs.

Watch number 4? That was probably a Christopher Ward but that and watches 5-12 are all long since flipped.
That Seiko was a stunner for a 10 year old! It must have felt huge on the wrist of a young Tikkathree! You clearly took care of it for it to still be working. Yep- I remember the green shield stamps (just!) from the local town supermarket. I didn't realise the green shield catalogue became Argos though.. 1973!
Rich

"The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you're the pilot."
thomcat00
Senior Forumgod
Senior Forumgod
Posts: 1693
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:14 am
CW-watches: 15
Location: FLX, NY, USA

Re: Your First Watches..

Post by thomcat00 »

Fun to trip down memory lane to my earliest watch experience.

I’ve shared it elsewhere but will share again here. Dad was steeped in technology from a young age, cameras and radios were his hobby interests. In the seventies, electronic calculators caught his attention. In the spring of 1977 I was 8. Dad gave me a Texas Instruments LED watch, much like the pic here.
92BC93A6-2CC5-41B3-B96D-4A9788F2C280.jpeg
My watch, like all LEDs at the time, glowed red. The button lit up the digital display for a few seconds to show the time. A second press showed the date; pressing and holding would show the seconds. A second button allowed access to various settings. I preferred to have my watch show 24hr time in its 4 digit display.

In May, Star Wars came out. TI and other businesses sold stickers shaped to fit the panel below the time display. I got a sheet of Star Wars stickers to decorate the watch. They were not reusable and they left their sticky residue when peeled off. I wore my watch to see Star Wars that July. For my 9th birthday in August I wanted to see the movie again. I had a fresh sticker for my second viewing. :D I wore the watch everywhere. I figured out how to change the batteries myself - it took 2. I kept the watch into high school but even by middle school I had other watches, mostly LCD digital ones.

At about 14 or so I bought a LCD analog watch from Armitron. It was a large rectangular LCD display of hands in a traditional clock face. LCD technology had advanced well beyond the display limits of LED. The newest watch then had the analog time yet it could also display digital time. It had an alarm, hourly chime, day, and date displays. It also had a 99 hour stopwatch with measure to 1/100 second. Pretty fancy for 1983-4. Would be fun to still have them but I don’t have any of those things from my earlier years any longer.

I never did own a Casio in those years, not until I got a G-Shock about 20 years ago.
These users thanked the author thomcat00 for the post:
richtel
with Kung Fu grip, and life-like hair
User avatar
jkbarnes
Senior Forumgod
Senior Forumgod
Posts: 7852
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 8:39 pm
CW-watches: 3
Location: Virginia, USA

Re: Your First Watches..

Post by jkbarnes »

I know this wasn’t my first watch. That was a Mickey Mouse watch. But this was my first proper watch, given to me in maybe the 6th or 7th grade?

This isn’t the actual watch, but an example I was finally able to score on eBay. The black mesh is not original. I wish I could track down an original rubber strap.

I don’t wear this too much, but I’m thrilled to have it in my collection.

721D01A9-B94A-4E11-8ABD-9A9C1D3FC633.jpeg
These users thanked the author jkbarnes for the post:
richtel
Drew
User avatar
missF
CW Forum Poet Laureate
CW Forum Poet Laureate
Posts: 11867
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:59 pm
CW-watches: 3
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Your First Watches..

Post by missF »

This is a great thread. :)
Mine was a tiny Ingersol hand wind white dial with 1-12 black numbers. I think I was about 7 or 8 when I got it? It was on some sort of leather strap, and I guess I must have worn it all the time because the strap broke and my dad put it on a stripy NATO.

I don’t have the watch any more. Nor do I have the first watch I wanted and chose for myself - a red digital with snoopy on the case!!

:D
These users thanked the author missF for the post:
richtel
User avatar
richtel
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 1795
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:10 pm
CW-watches: 8
Location: Cotswolds

Re: Your First Watches..

Post by richtel »

thomcat00 wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:08 am Fun to trip down memory lane to my earliest watch experience.

I’ve shared it elsewhere but will share again here. Dad was steeped in technology from a young age, cameras and radios were his hobby interests. In the seventies, electronic calculators caught his attention. In the spring of 1977 I was 8. Dad gave me a Texas Instruments LED watch, much like the pic here. My watch, like all LEDs at the time, glowed red. The button lit up the digital display for a few seconds to show the time. A second press showed the date; pressing and holding would show the seconds. A second button allowed access to various settings. I preferred to have my watch show 24hr time in its 4 digit display.

In May, Star Wars came out. TI and other businesses sold stickers shaped to fit the panel below the time display. I got a sheet of Star Wars stickers to decorate the watch. They were not reusable and they left their sticky residue when peeled off. I wore my watch to see Star Wars that July. For my 9th birthday in August I wanted to see the movie again. I had a fresh sticker for my second viewing. :D I wore the watch everywhere. I figured out how to change the batteries myself - it took 2. I kept the watch into high school but even by middle school I had other watches, mostly LCD digital ones.

At about 14 or so I bought a LCD analog watch from Armitron. It was a large rectangular LCD display of hands in a traditional clock face. LCD technology had advanced well beyond the display limits of LED. The newest watch then had the analog time yet it could also display digital time. It had an alarm, hourly chime, day, and date displays. It also had a 99 hour stopwatch with measure to 1/100 second. Pretty fancy for 1983-4. Would be fun to still have them but I don’t have any of those things from my earlier years any longer.

I never did own a Casio in those years, not until I got a G-Shock about 20 years ago.
Just wonderful. Love the way it transports you back to the stickers and the memories of going to see Star Wars. I remember one of the 'posh' kids coming into junior school with LED watches and I was sorely jealous :lol: Didn't Hamilton recently try to cash in on fond memories of that genre with the PSR? IIRC the original LED watches used to chew through batteries (especially with kids showing them off!) and Hamilton tried to make a 'hybrid' OLED/LCD watch to permit an always-on seven-segment display or a brighter dot matrix.
These users thanked the author richtel for the post:
thomcat00
Rich

"The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you're the pilot."
User avatar
richtel
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 1795
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:10 pm
CW-watches: 8
Location: Cotswolds

Re: Your First Watches..

Post by richtel »

jkbarnes wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 2:36 am I know this wasn’t my first watch. That was a Mickey Mouse watch. But this was my first proper watch, given to me in maybe the 6th or 7th grade?

This isn’t the actual watch, but an example I was finally able to score on eBay. The black mesh is not original. I wish I could track down an original rubber strap.

I don’t wear this too much, but I’m thrilled to have it in my collection.
That Seiko is great isn't it?! Very futuristic looking and fitting perfectly into a late-seventies feel of Star Wars and Trekking. Love the way they've tried to put a page of the operating manual on the face to explain what the buttons do and dead impressed you managed to find another!
These users thanked the author richtel for the post:
jkbarnes
Rich

"The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you're the pilot."
User avatar
Noush
Senior Forumgod
Senior Forumgod
Posts: 1331
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:30 am
CW-watches: 2
Location: Blue Mountains Australia

Re: Your First Watches..

Post by Noush »

Mine was a 10th birthday present. My (faded) memory of it was something quite similar to what we see today in the SNK809, although a bit smaller.
I have no idea what became of it but last year I bought my grandson his first 'real mechanical watch' and it is indeed an SNK809.
These users thanked the author Noush for the post:
richtel
Chris
"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans" : John Lennon.
thomcat00
Senior Forumgod
Senior Forumgod
Posts: 1693
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:14 am
CW-watches: 15
Location: FLX, NY, USA

Re: Your First Watches..

Post by thomcat00 »

richtel wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 10:09 am
thomcat00 wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:08 am Fun to trip down memory lane to my earliest watch experience.

I’ve shared it elsewhere but will share again here. Dad was steeped in technology from a young age, cameras and radios were his hobby interests. In the seventies, electronic calculators caught his attention. In the spring of 1977 I was 8. Dad gave me a Texas Instruments LED watch, much like the pic here. My watch, like all LEDs at the time, glowed red. The button lit up the digital display for a few seconds to show the time. A second press showed the date; pressing and holding would show the seconds. A second button allowed access to various settings. I preferred to have my watch show 24hr time in its 4 digit display.

In May, Star Wars came out. TI and other businesses sold stickers shaped to fit the panel below the time display. I got a sheet of Star Wars stickers to decorate the watch. They were not reusable and they left their sticky residue when peeled off. I wore my watch to see Star Wars that July. For my 9th birthday in August I wanted to see the movie again. I had a fresh sticker for my second viewing. :D I wore the watch everywhere. I figured out how to change the batteries myself - it took 2. I kept the watch into high school but even by middle school I had other watches, mostly LCD digital ones.

At about 14 or so I bought a LCD analog watch from Armitron. It was a large rectangular LCD display of hands in a traditional clock face. LCD technology had advanced well beyond the display limits of LED. The newest watch then had the analog time yet it could also display digital time. It had an alarm, hourly chime, day, and date displays. It also had a 99 hour stopwatch with measure to 1/100 second. Pretty fancy for 1983-4. Would be fun to still have them but I don’t have any of those things from my earlier years any longer.

I never did own a Casio in those years, not until I got a G-Shock about 20 years ago.
Just wonderful. Love the way it transports you back to the stickers and the memories of going to see Star Wars. I remember one of the 'posh' kids coming into junior school with LED watches and I was sorely jealous :lol: Didn't Hamilton recently try to cash in on fond memories of that genre with the PSR? IIRC the original LED watches used to chew through batteries (especially with kids showing them off!) and Hamilton tried to make a 'hybrid' OLED/LCD watch to permit an always-on seven-segment display or a brighter dot matrix.
Yes, the LED nostalgia prompted more than a few to cash in when the PSR was released in the last couple of years. I was tempted until I saw the price. Made me back away quickly! :D For me it would only be a nostalgic novelty as it wouldn’t get much wear. Fun idea just the same.
with Kung Fu grip, and life-like hair
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post