Uranus Calculator Led Watch

[laptop]

Who bought?! http://www.ebay.com/itm/161003183072
Sometimes we wait years for the opportunity, and when it shows up we are not prepared
I saw it but I didn't have the funds to acquire it.
Sniff Sniff

Oh well, enjoy it

[bucko170]

I think it went quite cheap, not many of these around in working condition.

Pity it was a USA only auction.

[richard_uk]

I remember seeing them in one of the home shopping catalogues when I was a kid, the cost was £99.99, better investment than a Pulsar

[azimuth_pl]

well, nice watch but this is one of those investments I would not make.
you can repair most Pulsars but not the Uranus calculator with dozens of open wirebonds.
when it dies out you have a chance of 99.99% that you will not even know where to start repairs.

[Kasper]

nice picture...i wonder how they show a figure higher then 9999. I have never seen a vid of a working one.

[abem]

I agree - great photo. Just looking at all of those open wire bonds gives me the shivers.

I was talking to Peter Wenzig the other day and he said that he wears his Chronosplits on a regular basis. I was kind of surprised since I was under the impression the Chronosplit and other 70s era Heuer modules were quite fragile with open wire bonds.

Questions:
1) Are watches with open wire bonds more fragile and susceptible to damage from moisture, dust, or shock?
2) Would you consider them too fragile to wear on a regular basis?
3) Which watch models are included in this group?

-abe.

[azimuth_pl]

1) more than yes and mainly because of shock, for some reason many producers of this kind believed their bonds will last forever.
when it refers to moisture, etc then I'd put that in the non-battery-leakage-resistant category as that is what damages most of these bonds.
2) not really but I'd exclude tennis, squash, mountain biking, skydiving, etc...any non-shock resisting sport.
3) hard to name them all but mainly the commonly known Bulova's, Hughes, ESA, Uranus, etc. but also Pulsars from P2 to P4, Calculator and more which had open chip bonds secured with plastic covers. I'd say 95% of all.
some had standard bonds covered lightly with enamel or a very thin layer of silicone while others had big blobs of silicone applied on the chips.
depending in the sealant used and their aging properties we have either bullet-proof modules or those in which the sealant aged and stretched beyond reason and thus breaking the bonds. the best of both worlds was the double-bonding on Synchronar displays additionally sealed with thin layer of silicone.

[marionicoli11]

Hello,

Yes, almost impossible to find an Uranus working... I bought one in NYC (a small watch shop near Central Park) in 1998. I returned to Brazil playing with the calculator during flight.. When the aircraft landed, the watch was already broken - some missing dots... After some years it statrs to work perfectly!
Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
I bought this another gold Uranus from Ebay auction. The person (Suem) who sold, wanted to know everything about the Uranus and was choosing a successor to the family watch. Almost a month to convince her to sell!!!

It is working! ( I guess :)).
This model is not charged by "the Franckenstein connector. My first one was.

I'll take some pics and I'll shoot the calculator running (probably the last time!)

All the best,

Mario