Issued in 2022, to celebrate 50 years of quartz Timex watches
Q Timex 1972 Reissue - Red Dial, Goldtone Case.
Hi, this is Alan. Thank you for reading this review, and for your interest in these pages. My contact information and link to more watch reviews is at the bottom of the page.
Here is a really nice Timex from February 2002. it is a reissue of a Timex quartz watch from Spring of1972, and is in keeping with the superb quality and attention to original detail that has characterized Timex reissues over the past few years.
The watch is also issued in celebration of 50 years of quartz watches by Timex, and my watch came with a really fun t-shirt! (*)
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(Box and packaging design was really fun.)
The watch combines a burgundy red dial with goldtone case, handsets and dial markers, to create an opulent-looking timepiece in keeping with the emerging and changing styles of the early 1970s. The 39 mm steel case with a highly-polished goldtone plating is tonneau-shaped, curved and tall, and lends presence to this reissue.
Pic, from the inside of the presentation box.
From the Timex sales site for this watch:
"CELEBRATING 50 YEAS OF QUARTZ. It all began in 1972 and on our 50th anniversary we're celebrating the Q that started it all. The early 1970s brought our first range of quartz watches with one iconic design after another during a time of crisis for the watch production industry. Quartz watchmaking proved to be more than just a way forward for us - it fulfilled our promise to deliver accurate, reliable, and affordable wristwatches while staying true to our heritage."
Oblique side view nicely shows the polished case shape, and the gold colored handset and hour makers, creating a sort of "rich and luxurious" look to this reissue.
It is not surprising that Timex in the 1970s would have have chosen this appearance. The original 1972 Timex cost about $125, far more than most Timex at the time, and it's not surprising that Timex went "all out" in design and materials for their first quartz watches.
Here is the M62 movement from the ORIGINAL 1972 Timex from which this reissue was made. Image is not mine, but from the site Electric Watches Co UK. The first Timex quartz watches used "quartz-controlled balance wheel" movements, a modification of earlier Electric models,
From that site: "The oscillations of the balance wheel are synchronized by the pulses from the quartz crystal. Thus, the balance wheel drives the wheel train. An unusual beast; not many manufacturers produced these quartz-controlled balance wheel movements, only Record-Golay, Porta, Citizen, Luch and Timex."
It was like an electromechanical watch, continually "fine tuned" by the quartz module.
The above three photos highlight the goldtone hour markers, each bisected by a black rectangle. Notice how they appear to hover or "float" above the dial. This enhancement was added for the reissue, and appears to be achieved by attaching the markers to an elevated rim of the dial, or a ring at the periphery, in a sort of cantilevered manner. This creates a kind of dramatic depth appearance.
Very little is changed or modified from the reissues. Some material enhancements, for example steel cases instead of basemetal cases, maybe better materials for buckles and straps. But very few changes.
These floating hour markers with this 1972 reissue has received universal praise among the many collectors and fans I've heard from, and appears to be a "genius move" on the part of the design team.
Here on this picture of the whole watch, you can really see the effect of the hour markers.
The period buckle was re-created, in goldtone plate, attached to a comfortable black leather strap.
Not my pic, but from a video at the Timex sales page for the reissue.
Haha, did I mention t-shirt? Here it is in red and gold, celebrating 50 years of quartz. The anthropomorphized watch appears to be doing some disco moves, and funnily has the upper and lower extremities of Mickey Mouse. (*NOTE: this watch was a really kind gift from Timex, and the t-shirt came with it, but the shirt does not appear to be included with the retail sale of the watch, as they appear to be have been limited promo items.)
The superb reissues from Timex keep coming, and this one does not disappoint.
It is made even more special, with the original being among the first group of quartz Timex watches released in the Spring of 1972, and as a commemorative reissue celebrating the 50 years not simply since the release of the watch, as a 50 year "timestamp" of sorts, of the survival of Timex through the "quartz crisis" to become what it is today.
And, it's also just really beautiful!
Thank you for reading.
I hope you will like it.
Contact inforrmation:
Website: Alan's Vintage Watches
Not my photo, but from the Timex sales page.
Here are some people in Argentina, in 1972. From Wikimedia Commons. (Indumentaria ASTRONAUTA, 1972. Fotografía de los modelos en Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires.)
