Better Call Saul

[dot matrix]

(Moderators = I don't know if this should be in "Famous Digital Wearers", "Vintage LEDs," or somewhere else - please move as may be appropriate - Thanks!)

I guess I'm a bit late to the show on this, but I just learned that the protagonist of the period crime drama Better Call Saul (played by Bob Odenkirk) wears a vintage LED wristwatch. I wanted to know what model watch it was so I did a quick search online to identify it; but discovered that no one seems to have a definitive answer, some speculating that it could be an early Pulsar.

Given the slimmer profile and the circular crystal shape, I didn't see at all how it could be.

Here are a couple of screenshots.







I was recently browsing eBay and thought I could have come across something similar. Mercury Time New York made some LED watches that appear to have the same slimmer profile, the circular crystal, the same button arrangement, and what appears to be the same bracelet design; and it was this matching bracelet design that at first made me think I had found the right watch:





But:

This watch has a very pronounced bezel around the crystal, whereas the watch that Bob is wearing does not;
Bob's watch does not have the word "Mercury" on the crystal.
Bob's watch has wider lugs, more of a cushion case shape.

So using this ebay find as a lead, I did more research on "Mercury Time" and found an even closer match:







(Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51764518@ ... otostream/)

According to the credits for this photo, the watch was made in Hong Kong in 1976 for Mercury Time New York. I am guessing this is Saul's watch. It has the same slightly raised; unmarked; circular crystal, the same bracelet design, the same case shape.

(While browsing eBay, I also stumbled upon this silver-tone model which I could not resist; so it is now on its way.)

[Ole Joe]

Frontier Semiconductor supplied thousands of modules to Mercury Time from early '73 thru '75. The first picture posted, with the dot matrix display, is indicative of the original Frontier 2002 module. The second picture posted is indicative of a Frontier 2005 module. Both the 2002 and 2005 substrates were also used by Omega and Hamilton in their watches using their own design for the plastic carriers to mount the substrates and batteries. Hamilton eventually started buying complete modules with standard plastic carriers from Frontier around '75 or so; been to many years to remember for my aging brain.

Joe