Incoming calculator grail : arrived :)

[Kasper]

How rare are these?



more images following shortly

[simone]

Never seen before....directly from space 1999!!

[Diginut]

Interested to learn more about your find and whats on the right hand side of the case !!

This revives a very very old thread that I started back in Jan 2006 (sheesh, over 8 yrs ago !!!).

Basically, I suspect 99% of LED aware people believe that Pulsar were first to market with an wrist-watch-calculator (loosely speaking...), and yet when scanning a vast number of old digital watch adverts for a book, I found an advert in a June 1975 Playboy showing a sort of prototype 'calcron' wrist calculator device. It looks like its some sort of early prototype because of the way the tiny touch pads are miss-aligned under the keyboard panel.

However, I've also seen slightly more advanced versions of the same device with better buttons and a set of tiny solar PV micro panels along the side. This looks like your incoming watch. So I'm looking forward to more information about it !



Original thread here :-

http://www.newdwf.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=1131


Reproduced text below, and I've shown two more photos of the Calcron calculator Mk2 !!

(Irritatingly, watchismo pinched all the scanned pages and composition work I originally listed on dwf.cc and passed it off as his own discovery. Which is kinda why I don't bother dealing with "mitch" any more)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:07 pm

Robert Fondiller - inventor of the LED wristwatch calculator before pulsar ??!!

This chap seems to have a filed a couple a dozen patents to do with electronic watches and other devices from early 70s through to late 80s; He died in 1999. His obituary claims that he was the inventor of many things including the "wristwatch calculator" before Pulsar !

A summary of his life is shown below. His two dozen patents (by him or referenced to him) including numerous ones to do with the electronics of digital watches and digital displays in the 70s, and numerous links to John Bergey. But what is really interesting is that his company Fondiller Corp produced a 9 digit LED wrist calculator with a tiny grid of touch pads for buttons encased in a machined stainless steel case and made this in early 1975, and even had a price on it of $600. IE, perhaps 9 months BEFORE the pulsar calculator wristwatch broke cover in Dec 75 / Jan 76.

I have included two items of interest. One is the text summary of his obituary from 1999, and then a composite image taken from scans of a June 1975 Playboy magazine that showed a picture of the "Fondiller Calcron" watch in a static image with a simple description. I do not pretend to know that this worked, or they made many, etc. But I am keen to find out more because this superficially looks extremely interesting. I am a big fan of anything Pulsar, and don't wish to steel their thunder, and no doubt some of the army of Pulsar evangelists out there will scoff at this but you have to admit this is pretty interesting stuff, and as far as I know NO ONE has ever voiced this observation before me.

Can anyone shed any additional light on this fascinating tale ??

Let the flames commence.




Robert Fondiller, inventor, consultant and entrepreneur, New York, Died on February 9, 1999. Fondiller, who received a master's from the Stevens Institute of Technology, an MBA from NYU, and a doctorate in psychology from California's Fremont College, was a prolific engineer and consultant. After working for a time with Western Electric, Fondiller became president of Fondiller Corp., later known as Futura Corp. The holder of 20 patents, Robin Fondiller was credited with inventing a battery used to power life-support systems in spacesuits used on the first moonwalk, the erase key for typewriters, the wristwatch calculator, and fitted bedsheets. He designed clip-on sunglasses, the first kitchen configured for use by the wheelchair-bound, a healthmobile with medical diagnostic equipment for use in rural areas, and the princess telephone. He also created a spray process to help construct low-cost housing in less than a day. A member of Mensa, the Explorers Club and the New York Academy of Sciences, as well as a Knight of Malta, Fondiller was something of an eccentric he once entertained the King of Spain with grilled cheese sandwiches. On a trip to Cuba in 1960 to meet Magda Lupescu, the mistress of the deposed king of Romania, Fondiller was arrested for taking unauthorized photographs, only to be released when it was discovered that he had forgotten to load film in his camera. He learned to fly airplanes after being forced to land a plane in Mexico when the pilot suffered a sudden heart attack. Fondiller became a widely respected consultant on economic development, technology and business management, advising 21 governments (including the Peoples Republic of China, Russia and South Korea) and the United Nations. He addressed the general assembly of UNESCO in Paris on a literacy system for underdeveloped countries that he had developed. Fondiller also taught widely, including courses at City College, the New York Institute of Technology, NYU and Columbia; in later years, he became a popular speaker for the American Management Association.
Class of 1939






(more recent photos :- )

[Kasper]

Thanks Arch...very interesting read.

I'm pretty sure it's working...the picture that i posted was when you hold the watch under the light

Some additional information :


1977: The LCD 'Micro Computer' or 'Chronomat' of National Semiconductor USA receives a tremendous amount of attention at the Basle Fair 1977. It was a truly scientific watch calculator. The watch contained the smallest wrist calculator ever produced at that time. It was sold by a number of different firms: Belltime of the Netherlands, Bell Telephone of Belgium, Chronar Corp. Princeton USA, Marcel Watch Co. of New York, The International Display Centre of Antwerp, Belgium, Bapic S.A. Geneva and Louis Erard of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. It was possible to deliver the watch with or without solar-cells.

source : Pieter Doensen :http://doensen.home.xs4all.nl/q1.html


check this also from Pieter Doensen : " 1975 A prototype of a mini watch-calculator made by Optel Corporation Princetown, New Jersey is presented at the Basle Fair by Eurotime."
and see the picture in the post from Arch...It says playboy juni 1975!

"1975 The first watch with a built-in calculator is the 'Pulsar Time Computer-Calculator', caliber 901, with a light emitting diode (LED) display. Just before Christmas 1975, the first one hundred produced in gold (750/1000) were sold in one day for US $ 3.950,- each. It was shock resistant up to 2,500 times its own weight. Four batteries were required for one year's use. A special command pen was issued with the Pulsar Time Computer-Calculator, to operate the small calculation keys. In 1977, the first steel models with two batteries were sold. In the same year, Pulsar issued three models of a bar shaped calculator pocket-watch with a chain, gold, silver and goldplated silver."
Just before christmas 1975

[Diginut]

Interesting stuff ! Looking forward to more details pics of your new acquisition.

Below are a few more random photos of unusual calculators from mid to late 70's. The Gold coloured Nat semi clone is one I sold a few years ago, sadly non-functional, but it was branded 'Windert' and had its original instruction manual which applied to the real Nat Semi calc. The others are all photos I've saved from numerous web places so I don't know who to credit.

[PG101]

Hi Kasper

Nice find! The module is not that rare, it is the same as the National semiconductor/Novus scientific calculator watches, but this style of case, with the solar panel at the side is really quite rare!

[PG101]

Here is mine. This one is without solar panel:

NatSemiCalc.jpg

[Kasper]

Love those nice shots..it,s like looking in a candy store

Btw Patrick, is yours working? Looking very clean.

[PG101]

Yes, this one is working Kasper, and I have the manual if you have any questions...

[elceedee]

Nice catch Kasper, and in a good condition too!

I used to own this one:

[Kasper]

very nice exemplaire the stainless steel with the black and red.

[PG101]

Here is a photo of it working:

NatSemi1.jpg

And a group photo:

NatSemiGroup.jpg

[Kasper]

Arrived...still haven't found the time to check things out...the solar + digits work..but still nothing with batteries in.

But here are some shots

in the light


















enjoy

[simone]

Very nice Kasper...try to clean the battery contact and leave batteries in...i'm sure that will run