Quartz crystal for Frontier module?

[Wade]

Hi all! First post here. I acquired an old Hamilton LED watch from Ebay in very rough shape (the front of the watch looks as if it had experieced a very hard impact) that has a Frontier module. I believe the quartz crystal is bad, If I thump the watch on the back I sometimes see a single zero on the display if anything at all.

Where can I find replacement quartz crystals for Frontier modules? I know most of you might think "don't bother", but I'm handy with a soldering iron and I'm willing to spend a bit of time with it as a pet project.

btw, I've somehow managed to acquire quite a mini collection of LED watches. Most are of the generic variety and well used except for one near mint Compuchron.

Thanks to all in advance for your help/tips!

[retroleds]

Wade:

You can get those crystals from a nunber of electrical suppliers, or, I will send you some for $.50 each, plus some minor shipping. I'm in the USA.

This article, will give you some thoughts on the little guy you are planning on working on and shows me swapping the crystal on a...Frontier module. http://www.thedigitalwatch.com/Archives ... ip_002.htm

[Wade]

This is awesome! Thanks for the excellent link to the soldering tips, and yes the Frontier module I have looks very similar to the one in that article. I have all the tools needed except for the quartz crystals themselves. Will you PM me with you Paypal info (or snail address) and I'll send you some money so that you can send me a few crystals?

Thanks, excellent forum!

[Wade]

Update... I purchased six new quartz crystals from Ed (thanks!) to try to get 3 dead LED modules to work again.

1. A Frontier module from a bashed up Hamilton LED
2. An unidentified module from a Bulova LED
3. A Fairchild module from a Timeband LED

I was able to get two out of the three to work! The only one wouldn't work was the Fairchild - it was so covered with corrosion so I had little hope for it anyway.

I used a 12 watt Weller pencil iron which had plenty of heat for the soldering itself, but not nearly enough to remove solder when used with the solder wick. So I used a 30 watt standard iron to remove solder with the wick.

I'm pretty pleased with the working modules, but the watches themselves are in pretty crappy shape. The Hamilton was advertised with a "chipped lens" on eBay, but the crystal is actually is smashed all the way through with only the glue holding it together - you can see it in my picture. The band looks like it was worked on with pliers by the previous owner(s). The Bulova is in somewaht better shape. Can someone tell me who made the module for that Bulova? It has a "MOSTEK" 8 pin DIP package IC on the module board itself.

Thanks to all in this forum for your help and especially Ed who sent me the quartz crystals.

[Wade]

Sorry, here are the pictures.

[
By wadeprince

[Wade]

Here is the Bulova. What module did these use?


By wadeprince

[Wade]

This is the dead Timeband watch. Also shown are the two dead crystals along with an example of a brand new crystal (the cylinder) which were used to repair the other modules.


By wadeprince

[retroleds]

Wade: You're welcome! If the module in the Bulova is yellow and black, then it is CHicago Telephone that made the module, same as many of their drivers watches.

[Wade]

Yellow and black, yep that's it! Chicago Telephone I assume was/is an American company?

[retroleds]

YEah, they were part of the so called "Baby Bell" group of companies, which was declared a monopoly on our telephone service here in the States. So they broke them up in the 1980s. Some of the "Baby Bells" had been more involved in research and such than others, a few of those along with the famous Bell Labs became...Lucent Technologies. It would be cool to get more information on these companies, how the business really went, the people involved and so forth. Even on the most prestigious of the LED brands, we have little more than 3rd hand knowledge.

[bucko170]

Hughes AIRCRAFT?

Chicago TELEPHONE?

Funny names for companies that produced watch modules aren't they?

Are there anymore?