Astro Watch

[paulmondays]

Finally got down to the Post Office today to pay the customs charges on a NOS non-worked Astro LED. I got it home put some fresh batteries in (which involves disassembling the module) and the module said "AA AH." Tried again and this time it said "OO OH." No seriously. Maybe it was in pain? Or just starting to breathe?

Anyway after a bit of nuturing in a warm, dry place it's now working fine and has some interesting features: you can manually select the brightness of the display and you can also select 12 or 24 hour format. Also if you press and hold the command button once you get the running seconds alongside the minutes past the hour. I've never seen these features before in my limited experience.

The cosmetics are very tasteful: fake black leather case and band with gold tone buttons, a gold tone case signature and buckle. It screams 1970s. In unmarked condition too. I thought some of you might find this interesting.

[redled]

Can you post a picture of the watch? The module features sound exactly like the touch-screen LED I have.

[paulmondays]

Mmmm, hope this works. If this is a picure of my girlfriend in a bikini I'm in trouble...

[paulmondays]

The only problem I can see with it at the moment is the top segment of the right hand digit is sometimes reluctant to light up, just like me at 5am on the way to work. Maybe it will wake up later?

[Led-Time]

Does the display have a double colon or a single dot when it shows the time, also does it have the day of the week and when you hold the button longer it then displays the month numerically.

If it does its has all the same functions as a Sharp led I’ve got.

[paulmondays]

Hi

It has a single dot with the time display, it shows the day and date initially followed by the month and date if the button is held. This bit is similar to a Hughes Aircraft module I've seen on a Compuchron and Wittnauer. I do like the option of 12 / 24 hour format.

Paul

[leddwatch]

Hey Paul, can we now see the pic of your GF in the bikini....?

[redled]

Thanks Paul. Nice watch. I had my eye on that when it was on ebay. I don't remember if I bid on it, but I wanted to. Here's a picture of my touch-screen. It has the exact functions you mentioned for the Astro, 12/24, brightness levels, minutes visible with seconds, etc.

[paulmondays]

I just asked her and she said no unfortunately (bikini picture). She may be small (5 foot nothing) but she's a little volotile in the explosive sense becoming increasingly unstable when you add wine. I can't risk it.

[richard_uk]

Looks very similar to the Novus Exelar

[paulmondays]

Very similar to the novus, I wonder who copied who or maybe they shared a parent company? It's hard to believe a design like this would be copied, but maybe in the 70s.

It doesn't appear to have the quality of the touch screen, mines all plastic. I do like the module features though, it's a shame about that one segment, anyone got any ideas? What if I poke the display with my finger?

Paul

[richard_uk]

you can sometimes fix them by heating the module and applying gentle pressure on the front until it cools, which is probably about as technical as your plan, so don't blame me if it goes tits up! :D

[paulmondays]

Thanks. I'll give it a go, what should I use? A blowtorch, or oxyacetylene? :D Maybe a bowl of warm water would do the trick? Or custard?

What a sad sense of humour I've got sometimes. Thanks for the tip though.

[richard_uk]

Use a hairdryer, but then again the custard option sounds more fun :D

[Led-Time]

Funny you should mention heating...

A while back I bought a Quasar LED which wouldn't work properly I tried most of one day trying to breath life back into it but all I'd get was an odd flicker from one of the numbers. I changed the quartz thinking it must be that but no. So that night when I was on my laptop the watch was next to the computers fan outlet which gets very hot after a good hour or so I caught a glimse of a red light on the watch the bloody thing started working, every function worked perfect, amazing..!!!

I decided to give it a hot/cold cycle by putting it in the fridge and then heat it up next to the computer, its worked 100% since and keeps great time thanks to the modern quartz.

I've had two more successes using this method, very strange but true.. :)

[redled]

Hey, thanks for the hot tip.


(well someone had to say it)

[paulmondays]

I tried the "hot tip." It did have an effect: I've now got two missing segments not one. This is probably down to my over enthusiasm rather than the technique suggested. I appreciate the irony though. At least it's not a sulsar or synchronar or something: I'm quite pleased it's a plastic fake leather thing at the moment. However I haven't given up yet....

[paulmondays]

Errr I think I meant Pulsar, unless of course ther is such a thing as a Sulsar?

[redled]

If you used a blow dryer maybe the high pressure air flow dislodged another of the delicate wires connecting the LED segment to the PCB. This is a really delicate kind of repair, the kind of thing requiring jewelers precision. If you're very careful, you could probably use a jewelers eyepiece at 10X or 15X magnification, plenty of light, and conductive silver ink, available in pen form from Radio Shack. You'll have to spot the dislodged connections with the eyepiece, move them gently into place with the tip of a pin or something, and then apply a very, very small amount of ink with the pin tip onto the connection. Then let it alone to cure for a few hours without jarring or moving it. That should fix them.

[CompuChron]

Hi,
I bought a lot of 5 untested Astro watches.
They are on their way to my house.
If anyone is interested I can sell 1 or 2 , PM me!

[Majestyk]

Expect 1 to 2, out of 5, to have missing digits/segments. :) Hopefully they'll all work 100%.


Jeff

[ELY_M]

I want some black Astro watches :)
anyone have some for sale?