2001: A Space Odyssey

[Executive]

"The first digital electronic watch, a Pulsar LED[9] prototype in 1970, was developed jointly by Hamilton Watch Company and Electro-Data. John Bergey, the head of Hamilton's Pulsar division, said that he was inspired to make a digital timepiece by the then-futuristic digital clock that Hamilton themselves made for the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey." From Wikipedia..

I have carefully watched this film a number of times but I haven’t managed to spot this digital clock that inspired the LED Pulsar prototype...

Is it a case of blink and you will miss it or are there versions of the film where it only appears etc...?

I would be very grateful if someone could point it out for me, its a great film so it will be a good excuse to watch it again... ;)

Cheers

Andrew

[J Thomas]

[Sully008]

It's not a digital clock, it's an analog watch with three digital display windows underneath, representing Home Time, Dream Time, and GMT.


Regards, Jeff

You know, I spent hours looking for this image last night because I knew I saw a picture of the clock somewhere on the intrawebz... I finally found it this morning.

From oldpulsars.com:



I also read somewhere on the 'net (you'd think I'd remember where) that the clock never made it into the movie itself.

[J Thomas]

[LEDluvr]

Thanks Sully008 for the pics! I remembered it as a clock, but didn't want to say anthing since I didn't have a pic to prove it. There's the nixie-clock I remember! But I don't remember the watch from the movie.
I have the DVD (of course!) - can someone tell me what scene is the watch in?

[Executive]

Sully008, wow.. thanks for the pic of the THE clock, appreciate the time you spent looking for it...!

Cant say I have noticed that in the film though, so perhaps it was made for the film but ended up on th cutting room floor...shame(?)

I do recognise the digits though, there are instruments on the wall that one of the characters gets quite close too at one point, that contain red led digits, that look the same as those on the clock.

I have not heard of Nixie tube led digits before, so is it correct to say that although Hamilton designed the clock exterior, the interior was Nixie...?

Cheers

Andrew

[rewolf]

... I have not heard of Nixie tube led digits before, so is it correct to say that although Hamilton designed the clock exterior, the interior was Nixie...? ...

"Nixies" are tubes, not LEDs. "Nixie" is not a manufacturer, just a name commonly used for this type of tube, but it is (was?) a trademark of Burroughs, a tube manufactuerer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_tube
(The article also shows a Nixie watch on Steve Wozniak's wrist)

[Old Tom]

I'm pretty certain that one example of that Hamilton Nixie clock is in the Smithsonian collection (probably not on display, just stored away somewhere with the Arc of the Covenant ). I do have another picture of it somewhere on one of my computers sans outer skin- did seriously consider making a replica because it is such a nice looking object and I do have a thing about Nixie desk clocks (lots of nice 74N TTL & proper transformer HV supply).

[retroleds]

Probably the absoulte best montage of pictures, of the remake Hamilton X-10 - at the link below..

http://www.watchismo.net/HamiltonX-01.jpg