P1 Alert

[abem]

All,

There's a new P1 on eBay - Item #220600454420.

A couple of observations:
1) It has an original 25 chip module
2) One of the chips appears to be floating around loose inside of the case (it's obscuring the second and third time digits in the photos)
3) The date on the clasp is 5-72
4) The seller is from a town called "The Colony" in Texas, less than 30 miles from Garland, Texas, where Electro/Data was located.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this one. I was initially hopeful that it might possibly be a runner until I noticed the free floating IC chip.

Any ideas about the story behind this one? Did many of the original owners decide not to upgrade the module when they were recalled? Is it possible that this is an "insider" P1 rather than one sold to the public?

-abe.

[bucko170]

I wonder how much value has been lost because it does not have both the original battery covers?

[bucko170]

First lucky bidder took the prize, it must be a bargain at that price, I wonder who the buyer was?

[J Thomas]

[bruce wegmann]

Nope; not me...I'm still stuck at six. Wouldn't have minded this one though...it did have a 25-chip module [obviously, this is one that didn't get back to the factory for the re-fit], and I don't have one of those. This was certainly a bargain...it went for less than the "melt" value. I just hope it wasn't purchased by someone who merely intends to scrap it and make a few hundred bucks... Oh, and it wasn't just the "first" bidder that made off with this...it was the ONLY bidder, with just one second to spare...almost as good a sniper as I am...

[charger105]

I was pretty tempted to pull the trigger on this one. But it's something I'd like to have a good look at, and pick up in person. Unfortunately Texas is a long way from Oz !

Abe, did you notice the staple marks on the instructions ? In exactly the same place as yours. It must've had the same interesting note attached. It was also sealed with glue/silicon (like yours). For some reason, these 2 seemd to have been through the same "treatment".

Rgds,
Andrew.

[abem]

Andrew,

Nice observation. No, I didn't notice that - thanks.

I have a suspicion that both of these examples were "inside" models - unsold watches or examples that were given away to E/D executives or salespeople. The seller of this P1 is from a town called "The Colony" in Texas, less than 30 miles from Garland, Texas, where Electro/Data was located. The guy that I bought my P1 from said that his dad worked for American Temp and Time, a subsidiary of E/D and that he was given TWO P1s - my NiAg model and an 18K gold model as bonuses for selling signs.

It seems entirely likely to me that not all of the P1s may have sold and that some number may have been quietly given away. I can easily imagine Hamilton giving away the remainder or the unsold P1s and then claiming that the entire stock had been sold out.

-abe.

[bruce wegmann]

I very much doubt that any of the 400 18K P1s went unsold; it took a few months, but I'm sure they all ultimately found new homes. On the other hand, NONE of the 65 nickel silver models were ever intended to be sold...they had no serial numbers, and there is no record of any material advertising this model to the public. The P1 John Bergey donated to the Smithsonian is one of the salesmans' samples. I'm guessing most of the samples wound up in the possession of various sales reps, fell into disuse, and ultimately were either discarded or given away. I'm guessing a few owners of these were intensely disappointed during the great precious metals scavenger hunt of 1980, when it was discovered the watches were only plated, and not solid gold.

[Old Tom]

Were the Nickel Silver watches actually salesmen's models?- it seems much more likely to me that these were struck as engineering test pieces. After all,l no one had made a digital watch in any quantity prior to the P1 ( and the Company would have had to check out all the various processes required to assemble the final watch. And they would have used NS as it is very similar to Gold in handling (solders the same way and has similar magnetic properties) and would have avoided the inventory problems of having a largish number of lumps of 18K Gold moving around the factory! Possibly the salesmen did get to wear them to test the reliability (and show off the next best thing) hence the story but I suspect they were intended as test pieces (and I should imagine about 100 case sets were struck in total).

[retroleds]

Old Tom's theory seems pretty logical - yeah, why make test runs using 18k(which in my opinion is substantially harder to work with than nickel silver, to say nothing of cost).

They may have all been sold, but I'll bet 1/4-1/2 got melted in the 35 years since. Purchase price is not a big factor against that theory I'm thinking. Some people bash a $20k Rolex to death, but at least they can get it serviced. Once a P1 was dead, it was just an expensive paperweight.