1972 Timex "Bullseye" Sprite with "WATERPROOF" and non-luminous dial. Rare?
Hi, this is Alan. Thanks for reading, and for your interest in these reviews. My contact information is at the bottom. Here is a well-known, and beloved vintage Timex model, the Timex "Bullseye" Sprite from 1972. However, unlike the much more commonly seen version, this one has on the dial WATERPROOF, instead of the usual WATER RESISTANT. Furthermore, the luminous material which is usually present on the 1-12 hour track is missing.
But first, so I won't replicate a lot of information about this watch in general, I refer you to this very extensive page on the Bullseye/Roulette/Mod/Target Sprite watch.
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Before even discussing the WATERPROOF vs WATER RESISTANT, have a good look at the dial, and you'll know why this watch in a favorite among fans of Timex, and fans of watches in general, in spite of this being a watch that was appears to have been primarily marketed for kids!
1. Excellent contrast. Black, white, red. Sharp interfaces between the colors creates pleasing effects to the eye and brain.
2. Concentric design, the "Bullseye" or target or however you wish to call it, draws the eye in and creates a central focus.
3. Radial arrangement of the numerals also creates a pleasing visual aesthetic.
4.Nice, bold lettering for the numerals.
5. More...
Watch is small. Case is about 30.5 mm diameter. These watches (and I am coming to believe, all watches in the broad category of Sprite) were marketed for children.
Caseback also has the WATERPROOF designation.
So, what about the WATERPROOF designation on the dial and caseback? I have seen it before, including at an auction where the seller called it a "prototype" and wanted like $450 for it, haha. I know also of a collector in the UK who has this version. It does appear far less common than the WR version (though I'm sure I've come across this version before, but wasn't cued into W vs WR, and just didn't notice.)
Well, there is nothing prototype about these watches, but the W/WR difference has to do with national/regional requirements about what was allowed on a dial. As explained at the Arteepee website, for "Timex in Europe:"
"It is well-known that at some point in time watchmakers were forced by law to change the waterproof marking of their watches into water resistant. For the American TIMEX watches this change happened in 1970, so from 1971 on you will see the water resistant marking on the dial. On the European versions however, this changed after 1973 so on these TIMEX watches you will see waterproof until the year 1973."
My watch was obtained from someone in Europe, and the date code is for 1972, so it falls before the European requirement for WR, and therefore it has WATERPROOF on the dial.
The model number, as shown in this pic, is 23171. Interestingly, all the ones I've seen that have WATER RESISTANT are model 23170. I guess this makes sense, they are different watches for different markets, and they probably needed to keep them straight for their shipping and marketing purposes.
What is maybe more interesting is that this model number, 23171 is the exact same model number as another Sprite model, from 1971, also from Europe. See this page, on what is starting to be called the Blackjack Sprite. The relevant photo will also be shown below. You can see that this blue/black Sprite, from year earlier than this Bullseye, also has the same model number 23171. I don't have any explanation for this.
Case is made in France. Here is the inside of the caseback.
While WATERPROOF can be explained, I don't have a good explanation why the WATERPROOF Bullseye Sprites do not have luminous material on the dial. Scroll up to see some of the close-up pics, or click here to pop up a pic. The inner black track that has the 1-12 hours, on the WATER RESISTANT versions always has green luminous material painted/printed directly over the white number spaces. The WATERPROOF ones do not. I know this as the other WATERPROOF ones I have seen also do not have it.
Oversight? Lack of ability to add this to the dial, at the particular time they were printed, at the French factory? Likely we will never know. Hands are luminous, as confirmed by checking with a flashlight, in the dark (which also comfirmed that absolutely nothing on the dial glows.)
