# Sinclair Black Watch "new"



## GaryH (Nov 8, 2006)

If anyone wants to buy me a Secret Santa.....

eBay item 281493629961

Can't remember seeing a better one.

Cheers

Gary


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## craftvn (Oct 22, 2014)

thanks for sharing


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## digibloke (Nov 26, 2007)

Just so you don't get disapointed on Christmas morning:

It's actually not got a "watch" function - It's just a calculator that goes on your wrist.

And an expensive one at that 

Still a cool bit of kit though


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

I so wanted one of those - - :yes: - - the geek gadget of it's day :lol: I had the pocket tv and the radio! And a ZX80, and a ZX81 and the extra memory and the thermal printer and I could write in Sinclair Basic - - line10, line 20 and so on (leaving the gaps so you could go back and debug a script with extra lines in betwen wuthout having to re-write the whole thing from scratch.) I couldn't do it now tho'









I had a working RTTY and Morse decoder running on the ZX81, loading up the programme from floppy disc <--  (had a discrreader as well at one point) only took about 15 minutes, compared with the half hour it took on tape!

SIGH! Happy Days


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## GaryH (Nov 8, 2006)

digibloke said:


> Just so you don't get disapointed on Christmas morning:
> 
> It's actually not got a "watch" function - It's just a calculator that goes on your wrist.
> 
> ...


Yes; thanks. I realise that this is a wrist calculator and not the iconic Sinclair "Black Watch". Still want it though. I wonder if the decimal point is in the wrong place in the BIN price.

Cheers

Gary


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## spaceslug (Dec 3, 2011)

Brilliant item, but shocked at the price. Given the failure rate of some vintage electronics, not sure it's worth it. Still, it's probably like when I collected model kits, there were some so valuable that you'd never build them.


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

Am I missing something? Nearly 2 grand and you have to assemble it yourself?

The world's gone mad I tell ya! :wallbash:

:lol:


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Again, it's likely worth more unbuilt than built.

Heathkit was *the *name in Radio Kits (others here who were or are also Radio hams will know of them) and I had a Heathkit unbuilt QRP CW transceiver in the original box and packaging plus I had the same built and working. When I went QRT and sold the shack contents, the unbuilt kit sold for three times the price of the built and working one.and the buyer also had a built one, he just wanted to have my one to complete HIW collection! This Black Watch may well be the same :yes:


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## Timez Own (Oct 19, 2013)

Was curious to see one built and found this

http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/wrist_calculator.html

and this....

....Sinclair exploding watch held together with a half inch bolt

http://www.ledwatches.net/articles/planet-sinclair/blackwatch.htm


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## rdwiow (Aug 15, 2008)

One small zap of static electricity and its lights out :-(


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## ong (Jul 31, 2008)

Remember these back in the 70s. Flimsy cases and dodgy push buttons and you could change the LED digits by tapping the case back.

Probably better left inbuilt IMO. Mind you some thought the same about Heathkit ham radio kit as well.

Mel, I still run digital RTTY when I'm not collecting watches. Two great hobbies in my view.


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## JTW (Jun 14, 2007)

I returned two and gave up, needless to say I regret not persevering now. :frusty:


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

ong said:


> Remember these back in the 70s. Flimsy cases and dodgy push buttons and you could change the LED digits by tapping the case back.
> 
> Probably better left inbuilt IMO. Mind you some thought the same about Heathkit ham radio kit as well.
> 
> *Mel, I still run digital RTTY* when I'm not collecting watches. Two great hobbies in my view.


Good on yer, Ma Man!

One thing about Heathkit was they could be built by eejits, as long as they knew which end of a soldering iron was hot :lol: OTOH would they work when finished? The documention was superb, and the assembly order and procedures very clear, plus a minimum of test gear needed

I never had a prob with any Heathkit I built, but I applied commercial practices to the building of them - - mainly 'cos I BUILT THEM AT WORK when the Gaffer was out :rofl2: - - of course having access to Spectrum Analysers, RF Sig Genny, Audio Sig Genny and all sorts, even Valve (Tube) Testers might have helped a tad


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## ong (Jul 31, 2008)

Tnx Mel. Agree about the assembly instructions. Made an HW101 with help from an ex prof. No problems except treating the neighbours to my adolescent SSB via their tellies.

At the same time my Dad was into his watches and now I'm into both I hold a G4G series call sign which means you can date all this to the mid to late 1970s.

Apologies for hi jacking the thread.


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## spaceslug (Dec 3, 2011)

Heathkit. Wow, there's a blast from the past. I remember building a fluorescent (pre LED) digital clock kit that incorporated a mercury switch so you could just tip the clock forward to switch off the alarm. Very cool at the time.


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