Hi.
For your enjoyment, here's a little case study in digital watch evolution. I took a liking to these inexpensive but well made Fairchild digital watches and ended up getting a set of three (almost mint with boxes). Together they seem to form, in microcosm, a snapshot of watch evolution from the mid to late LED era, maybe from 1975 to 1977. I don't know much about the precise dates or other information about these or the company - if anyone would like to add more, feel free.
Here are the basics:
1) Gold Colored LED Fairchild
- small LED digits
- no colon between hours and minutes
- displays date with one button press, seconds with two, no day of the week
- very slim, possibly the thinnest digital watch that I've seen. From the crystal to the caseback is about 8mm, the edge of the watch is only about 4mm high.
- base metal bezel, stainless back
2) Stainless LED Fairchild
- large LED digits
- colon between hours and minutes
- same operation as gold LED model
- about 3mm thicker
- all stainless construction
3) Stainless LCD Fairchild
- 6 digit LCD display
- button press toggles date mode showing the date, month, and day of the week
- same exact case dimensions as the silver LED model
- uses one battery instead of two
- used Tritium lighting for always on backlight (very dim now because of 12 year half life)!
- all stainless construction
Like most cases of evolution, the direction seems to go forwards in some ways and backwards in others. The gold model is the most wearable with the thin lightweight case and smooth bracelet. The silver LED model is less svelte but the most easily readable. The LCD model is the most economical but least readable although it would have been interesting to see with the Tritium back light.
I'm curious about a few things:
1) Who made modules - Fairchild?
2) When were they made?
3) What are the reasons for the differences in case dimensions and LED digits between the gold and silver LED models?
4) Anyone remember seeing the Tritium backlit LCD watches? Impressions? What are the reasons for the demise of Tritium backlighting - the short half life, expense, or fear of radioactivity? Did the 3 Mile Island accident in 1979 contribute or was Tritium already finished by then?
-abe.
For your enjoyment, here's a little case study in digital watch evolution. I took a liking to these inexpensive but well made Fairchild digital watches and ended up getting a set of three (almost mint with boxes). Together they seem to form, in microcosm, a snapshot of watch evolution from the mid to late LED era, maybe from 1975 to 1977. I don't know much about the precise dates or other information about these or the company - if anyone would like to add more, feel free.
Here are the basics:
1) Gold Colored LED Fairchild
- small LED digits
- no colon between hours and minutes
- displays date with one button press, seconds with two, no day of the week
- very slim, possibly the thinnest digital watch that I've seen. From the crystal to the caseback is about 8mm, the edge of the watch is only about 4mm high.
- base metal bezel, stainless back
2) Stainless LED Fairchild
- large LED digits
- colon between hours and minutes
- same operation as gold LED model
- about 3mm thicker
- all stainless construction
3) Stainless LCD Fairchild
- 6 digit LCD display
- button press toggles date mode showing the date, month, and day of the week
- same exact case dimensions as the silver LED model
- uses one battery instead of two
- used Tritium lighting for always on backlight (very dim now because of 12 year half life)!
- all stainless construction
Like most cases of evolution, the direction seems to go forwards in some ways and backwards in others. The gold model is the most wearable with the thin lightweight case and smooth bracelet. The silver LED model is less svelte but the most easily readable. The LCD model is the most economical but least readable although it would have been interesting to see with the Tritium back light.
I'm curious about a few things:
1) Who made modules - Fairchild?
2) When were they made?
3) What are the reasons for the differences in case dimensions and LED digits between the gold and silver LED models?
4) Anyone remember seeing the Tritium backlit LCD watches? Impressions? What are the reasons for the demise of Tritium backlighting - the short half life, expense, or fear of radioactivity? Did the 3 Mile Island accident in 1979 contribute or was Tritium already finished by then?
-abe.