Presenting the SUNWATCH

[dot matrix]

"Guarantees to outperform any watch sold today... or costs you nothing!"



Sunwatch case from Barry Riehl, as part of a package deal from the 'bay. I cleaned it up and it looks brand new.
Restored and resealed Mark III Sunwatch module from Peter Formanek - 24 hour format, new top, solar panel, and batteries. (It shipped with a black case and band which was engraved "Al Goldstein")
Original Sunwatch band from Riehl Time Corporation (aka Roger Riehl) which I've had since 1982.

I finished putting it together today.



and some more pictures




This was strange: The display here was showing the date "2:02", but when viewed through my digital camera, it appeared to be only showing a digit at a time, taking maybe 1/3rd of a second to cycle through all the digits. Captured here, the "2" is fading out while the "0" is bright. A fraction of a second later, the "0" would be fading out while the next digit, "2", would light up. I figure this is a side effect of the LED readout's low refresh rate and/or the camera's scan rate.

The same thing happened above when displaying the time, that "4:31" actually appeared as "14:31" when viewed by human eyeballs.



All in all, this is a real beauty that I am very happy with. Many thanks to everyone involved!

[clockace]

that is a really nice looking sunwatch. interesting observation about the intensity of the digits. in my limited knowledge of things digital, would that mean that the digits cycle off/on from left to right faster than the eye can see? i have several that the individual digits have varying intensity when i turn the display on. would that be the cause, or is there an electrical malfunction? peter

[Led-Time]

I figure this is a side effect of the LED readout's low refresh rate and/or the camera's scan rate.

Your shutter speed is too high which basically freezes the display cycle try it around 60th/sec which should help.

[charger105]

Nice Sunwatch liquidcrystal. I like those flat corner cases.
I've got a flat corner Synchronar case that I'm going to assemble when I get a chance. The different variety of cases and Mk's gives me a good reason to have more than a single specimen

i have several that the individual digits have varying intensity when i turn the display on. would that be the cause, or is there an electrical malfunction? peter

Hi Peter. If these are MkI or MkII modules with the Monsanto display, I've noticed that digits with more segments lit, illuminate with less intensity than digits with less (eg. a '1' will be much brighter than an '8'). I suppose the digit transistors don't carry enough current to have all segments simultaneously lit at full brightness.

Rgds,
Andrew.

[clockace]

hi andrew, makes sense, altho' sometimes the ones with more segments lit seem brighter. i kind of thought that was because there are more segments adding to the brightness. maybe that's why they went with the bar segments. they are smaller and instead of lighting a bunch of dots it only had to light a segment. i have more stuff to play with now. however, with my limited equipment and knowledge i am sometimes stumbling around in the dark even with segments lit. peter

[charger105]

.....you're doing pretty well for someone with limited knowledge Peter !
You also get flickering brightness of the display if the ambient light levels are on the "edge" of the light sensor trigger (across the whole display though).

If you reach across the panel to show the seconds (shading the display somewhat), you often get the low intensity display, but when you activate time or date (without reaching across the panel), it's often the bright display that is seen.

Rgds,
Andrew.

[bruce wegmann]

Maybe a bit OT here, but the name Al Goldstein seemed strangely familiar, and sure enough, I have an 18K Classic Calculator [Serial Number 003, the lowest known, AFAIK], with the same name across the caseback. Interestingly, the name is not simply spelled out in some type font; instead, his SIGNATURE has been engraved, something I've never seen before. Was this done on your watch, too? Hard to believe the name is purely a co-incidence... Evidently, Mr. Goldstein was more of a high-roller than most!

[digibloke]

That's a great looking sunwatch. Good to see that you've finally got a working Synch!

Interesting with the Al Goldstein connection. I was wondering if it was the 70's "adult entertainment" publisher, did a quick google and came up with this...

"Screw magazine founder Goldstein never quite gets around to discussing his crushing financial failure in much detail, focusing instead on gleeful stories of debauchery with porn stars like Linda Lovelace and interviews with the famous and notorious, ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to Albert Speer, pulled from the pages of his magazine. He's more than candid, and certainly isn't out to make himself a hero; when gunmen enter his magazine's office, for example, Goldstein's thoughts first turn to his infant son, but then "turned to the more immediate matter of protecting the $2,500 Pulsar watch on my wrist."

So he definately had a Pulsar

[retroleds]

light sensor trigger.

A fancy expression for the solar cell

[dot matrix]

Very interesting. When I first read "Al Goldstein" on the watch, I did a google search and learned of the famed porn king, but a phone number look-up shows there are at least 300 Al Goldsteins in the U.S., so at first I figured the chances of it being him were slim.

But every image of him on the internet shows him wearing a different high-end watch; and one article about him reports that he had to file for bankruptcy a few years back. So I think it's likely he ended up selling a bunch of his watches.

Bruce, to answer your question - no, the name wasn't a reproduction of a signature, but appears to have been stamped or lightly engraved in a plain, sans-serif font. I assumed it was that "free custom engraving" that was offered in the old ads.



Thanks for the camera tip Klippie, I'll certainly use it if I ever get a camera with a manually adjustable shutter speed.

[dot matrix]

That's a great looking sunwatch. Good to see that you've finally got a working Synch!

Thanks, I'm pretty psyched about it. The first Synchronar I bought was a Mk III flat-corner, flat-top Sunwatch, identical this new one, back in 1982. I returned it to Roger in 1983 for an upgrade to a full-blown Synchronar 2100 version of the then-new Mk IV, which I didn't receive until sometime after 1990.

So it's rediscovering a lost best friend.

[dot matrix]

Bruce asked me to post these pictures for him, so here they are:

Maybe a bit OT here, but the name Al Goldstein seemed strangely familiar, and sure enough, I have an 18K Classic Calculator [Serial Number 003, the lowest known, AFAIK], with the same name across the caseback. Interestingly, the name is not simply spelled out in some type font; instead, his SIGNATURE has been engraved, something I've never seen before.