Electrochromic display?

[AlmightyTallest]

Oh, my, GOD!!

I can't believe I missed that auction!! I looked for so long and contacted so many people regarding that F623A only to have what looks like a completely NOS watch pass under my radar for 40 bucks!!!

Ack!! * Sounds of AlmightyTallest Banging head on keyboard in fustration*

I feel sick....



Congratulations to the buyer though, I just wish I would have seen that auction in time.

Well, if anyone else out there comes across this watch, please let me know, I am still very interested in purchsing one for my collection.

[xevious]

That "Colouring" watch looks like fun... too bad it has all of those gaudy looking fake diamonds on it.

[Lillegutt]

That "Colouring" watch looks like fun... too bad it has all of those gaudy looking fake diamonds on it.

Then you'll probably like this one better...?

Or this one. It also confirm the polarizing method as mentioned above


JHH

[CompuChron]

I've had one skelleton Ik colouring and even thougth for a while about importing them.They are sold for around 10$ a pice fob China for the mechanical ones.
But first the quality is really poor, I had 2 in hands , one didn't work (50%!)
Secondly, they are quite small , one could say unisex , but in truth they are too small to be really mens size.
You have to buy them for what they are cheap china watches which will last for a year or so , no more.

[AlmightyTallest]

Just an update,

I contacted the winner of the Seiko F623A, and told him about our forums here at dwf. He says he'll try to get it working and take some photos of the watch in action and hopefully will post them here.

[retroleds]

AlmightyTallest - good job!! You get the "Digital Enthusiast Outreach" award for this month. No trophy - just an "atta boy".

[AlmightyTallest]

thanks retroleds, much appreciated.

I pretty much use this site as my one stop shop of knowledge for all things digital, figured it could not hurt to tell others about it.

[AlmightyTallest]

Just an update on this watch, I recieved permission from it's owner to post some of the photos of it here.



Above is a photo of the Electrochromic display itself separated from the module.



A photo of the complete module



And finally a photo of the watch itself, this one was taken weeks after the first two. We both thought that the display would get better if it was powered up for a week or so. Unfortunately it seems that the display can simply die of old age :( Evidence for this was in the back of my F623A manual, it had two coupons that mentioned the disply would lose contrast after 7 years and you were supposed to fill out the coupons and send your watch in with them to get a new Electrochromic display installed. (I had already contacted Seiko about this, but they told me the coupons are no longer valid lol. They don't have any more examples of the F623A movement or Electrochromic displays either.)

It's sad that you can't see what these displays really looked like when new, but it is a neat piece of horological history. :)

I'm still looking for one to purchase, even if it doesn't work, just to have an example for my collection. :)

[retroleds]

It's sad that you can't see what these displays really looked like when new, but it is a neat piece of horological history. :)

I'm still looking for one to purchase, even if it doesn't work, just to have an example for my collection. :)

I found that statement very telling and encouraging - he wants one out of appreciation for its place in "Time"[couldn't resist the pun]. It is curious the breadth of people who want a digital watch- many people who buy one off mine or some other private site want nothing to do with collectors and this forum or any other, they just want a watch like they remember. At the other end of the spectrum we have the people who visit here a few times a day, if only to see if there is anything to talk about. Sort of like ebay - I get a lot of people who have rarely or never bought off ebay, yet most of us here view ebay as the premier destination for buying[and selling] a watch. .

[AlmightyTallest]

Thank you for the very kind words retroleds,

We were hoping the watch would have worked better, I sent the watch's owner a copy of the technical repair manual for the F623A module that Seiko had sent to me years ago. He had it hooked up correctly and the display was giving indications of proper operation (the row of blue dashes along the top and left side of the display in the first photo means the module was working correctly when 1.5v is put to the test pad on the module.)

At any rate, I can better appreciate now why these watches seem to be so rare. Even though they were made between 1982 and 1984, the display must have a certain shelf life compared to LCD and LED displays.