1973 Gruen Teletime

[abem]

Greetings,

I thought I'd share a few photos of my minty new 1973 Gruen Teletime - the first watch with a modern "field effect" LCD display:
http://www.timetrafficker.com/watches/l ... index.html

DSC_6673 (900x600).jpg

This example is minty perfect in every way and includes all of the "extras". In particular, I enjoyed reading the little note that says "This is an all electronic product that never needs winding. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WIND THIS TIMEPIECE". Ah, yes, the introduction of new technology can be a bit rocky. Any idea what the little white padded paper thing is? At first I thought polishing cloth but it's paper - a dessicant, perhaps?

Teletime Extras (900x600).jpg

Here's a digitized copy of the Teletime Owner's Manual, if anyone is curious:
http://www.timetrafficker.com/watches/l ... manual.pdf

-abe.

[dutchsiberia]

Wow, awesome looking watch! Very cool :)

[Kasper]

very nice Abe, and offcoursse...beautiful photo's as always.
I think the napkin is made to keep the package dry?

One of my top 5 daily wears is in the same style...just hour/minutes/seconds and date and a light for the night. I like it cause it's simple with real glass instead of platic and the digits
are big and nicely spread over the whole display.
I have it in gold, steanless steal and a woman version. Bell (a dutch telephone company).

[bucko170]

Cracking find Abe!

There will not be many, if any, still around in such good condition.

[abem]

Kasper,

The large curvy egg shaped look is sort of an acquired taste but it grows in you. At first, the large digits in the 4 digit display seem a little crude but now I've found that I like the readability (plus, it has an excuse for being crude, being the first). Likewise, I kind of like the simplicity of watches that only show the time (I really dislike some of the 80s LCDs with writing all over the face). Lastly, the crown setting is endearing - a cute and clever way to bridge the gap from analog to digital. I don't know of any LED watches that used this scheme, unfortunately.

As a little bonus, this watch was previously owned and inscribed by the producer of one of my favorite movies, "The Graduate".

The silver colored Teletimes seem to be extremely rare as I have never even seen a photo of one outside of the advertisement (which claims 6 different styles - I have only seen two).

-abe.

[retroleds]

The silver colored Teletimes seem to be extremely rare as I have never even seen a photo of one outside of the advertisement (which claims 6 different styles - I have only seen two).

-abe.

Abe, totally agree on the rareness of the silver colored ones.....I've got a couple of the gold ones here, have never had a silver one in hand. Beautiful piece. I've always thought the bulbous look of that one was quite acceptable.

Stem set for LED? - I suppose on a time only piece you could have it turn one way for hours, the other for minutes and push for time. But all the vintage modules need a switch to move into setting mode an back out so I think a Frankenstein is not likely.

[abem]

Ed,

How many different "styles" have you seen. The advertisement (first link below) states that there were six.

There seem to be three different bezel styles - The one with the vertically brushed curved front bezel (the most common), the one with a round ring around the bezel (pictured on the right in the ad below), and the one with the cone shaped bezel (shown in the second photo below).
http://www.timetrafficker.com/watches/l ... ime-ad.jpg
http://pocketcalculatorshow.com/magical ... letime.jpg

If each of these three styles were available in silver (stainless) and gold, then that would be six styles as alluded to in the ad. I've only seen the gold models with the common vertically brushed bezel style and the cone shaped bezel style - so only two of the six.

-abe.

[retroleds]

Abe,
I don't believe I've seen the one on the right, with the radial brushing(like spokes of a wheel. I have both the other styles here.
http://retroleds.com/product/nos-gruen-stem-set-lcd-2/
http://retroleds.com/product/nos-gruen-stem-set-lcd/ ....off a search of "Gruen" on my site. Although, hitting "stem-set" off the tag cloud yields much cooler results.

Oh, these watches are perfect ones to upgrade with a synthetic saphire screen. You can get a round one like that for about $15. Ah, to [almost] never worry again about a chipped screen.

Although, for my money I still prefer the Epsa-Optel display with the diamond colons.
http://retroleds.com/product/mercury-epsa-optel-lcd/