Armitron Griffy *LED Watch - mid 1970s semi-Retro
Hi, this is Alan. Thanks for reading, and for your interest in watches. Contact info is below.
Here's an all steel "retro-style" watch from Armitron, emulating many features of mid 1970s LED watches.
*Interestingly, it may not be an actual LED watch.
The watch has a really nice steel case and bracelet, and the "black face" look until you push the button, and just the general appearance evokes that "space age" and/or "sci-fi" look the Seventies originals. The tinted acrylic crystal is raised a bit, a nice feature. Rounded buttons are attractive.
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I'm going to jump straight to an "in your face" mag view of one digit. Is this really an LED display? More on this below, but take a close look at the details.
Back of the watch. Quite good water resistance, 165 feet.
Pressing to top (A) button shows the time, and cycles through the other functions.
I say this is semi-Retro, as it's not any reissue, and has features different from watches from back in the day. Firstly, the digits are just huge. Maybe 10 mm tall compared with the approximately 3 mm of original LEDs. Which is perfectly fine, to me. The time is much more readable than with small digits, so I appreciate this "modern take" on the vintage technology.
Back to the question of is this a true LED watch. See below, the answer from Armitron, on the page where they are selling the watch, like in the "comments" or Q&A section. Here, they answer Sean's question, and say that the it is "LED-like but not an actual LED watch."
I have contacted Armitron at least twice if not three times to ask if it's not LED, what provides the light? What is the technology. Maybe some kind of resistor? Could you please explain. But no repliies. I can understand it may be proprietary technology, but they would have applied for a patent for it if it was, and sharing some generalities on how it works might be nice for us fans of watches and technology.
The other thing I am wondering about, from their above comment, is about the battery. They seem to be assuring Sean that the watch has a "regular digital watch battery," not one that needs to be recharged. I'm confused. I thought watches, whether they are LED, LCD, on analog quartz just use "batteries," and that there are no special batteries for LED watches.
So, little bit unsatisfying not knowing what this "LED-like but not actual LED" is.
Below an ultra-res view. The borders of the lights also seems more diffuse and less sharp than what I would think of the sharp "sticks" of the LEDs I'm used to.
What on earth is it?
Another look at the lit face. Look how big the digits are! It's really a pretty cool watch, and for its low price, you get a lot of value.
Ad for L.E.D. WATCH by National Semiconductor, an American manufacture of semiconductors and other related technology. Not a watch company, but doing the work they did, they were poised to manufacture and offer these watches at low prices.
Texas Instruments, another semiconductor company, also made LED watches. I had the exact watch on the right. My dad bought it for me, in 1976 or 1977, from either K-mart or Sears.
Pretty cool watch.
Thanks for reading.
I hope you will like it.
Alan
Contact:
Website: Alan's Vintage Watches
Kind of funny, this 1975 ad. Or it seems like, today. That this watch that in a short time became obsolete would be passed down to the *grandkids* of someone who was at that time an actual child. But it just shows the excitement about this technology and the promise it held. And the price tag, $300 for the cheapest model, going up to $2000. In 1975.
Here, in the instruction manual for the watch, they mention a "backlight," further supporting that this isn't an LED watch, but some kind of system lit from behind that is able to show digits. But also in the same manual, image below, they say "LED"!
