April 16, 2008
I love my vintage Timex
By Stan Dyer
Anyone who does not think I am more than just a bit old-fashioned need only gaze at my left wrist for verification. If I am wearing a watch, chances are good the watch I am wearing is my favorite, model 6524, 21 jewel, stem-wind Timex watch manufactured in 1965. Oh, I own other watches, and a number of them are expensive, modern timepieces, but the one watch I reach for most often and count on to "Take a lickin' and keep on tickin'" is my $10, vintage Timex.
Anyone who sat in front of a Black and White television in the 60's watching "Gilligan's Island", "I Dream of Jeanie", or "Bonanza" will remember the old TV ads. They strapped Timex watches to outboard motor propellers, water skis and even the bat of slugger Mickey Mantle just to prove that their product would indeed still tick after taking that hard lick.
The Timex company grew out of the Waterbury Clock Company of Connecticut, which began making American timepieces back in the 1850's. It was the beginning of the age of industrialization in America and textile mills in Massachusetts. Waterbury would come to be known as the "Switzerland" of America for the fine clockwork they produced. By 1880, they produced the very first, inexpensive, mechanical pocket watch. In the early 1900's, they refined manufacturing so much that they were able to offer the "Yankee" model for the meager price of $1.00. When World War I came in 1917, they converted the Yankee into a wristwatch for use by soldiers. The soldiers liked their watches, brought them back home, and created a demand for a civilian version.
Cartoons were popular in the 1930's and Waterbury was there producing, among others, the first "Mickey Mouse" watch. Waterbury again went to war with soldiers in World War II and, when the 50's came around, the Timex division was born. The first "Takes a lickin'" ads started showing up. America fell in love with the Timex in the 60's, and made it the number one manufacturer of inexpensive wristwatches.
We all know women like to accessorize. With Timex, high-fashion gals of the 60's could buy several watches to match a variety of outfits for less than the cost of one Swiss watch. Swiss watches were the state of the art at the time, but a bit costly. Both Timex and Swiss watch manufacturers suffered in the 70's when inexpensive, digital watches from Japan swept the market. Of all the American watchmakers in the 60's, Timex was the only one to survive that era to see the 80's. Timex is still around today, and you can still buy a modern version, but nothing like what I have. For me, I did not go looking for a Timex. It just jumped out of my past and onto my wrist.
I tend to wax nostalgic and I love to wander around antique shops or second-hand stores just to stroll down memory lane. One day, while walking through an antique store in Olde Town Arvada, I gazed down into a display to see a vision of the Sixth Grade staring back up at me. It was my model 6524.
The first watch I remember owning was very similar to this, but not as "classy". Mine had the same style with the same black wristband, but it was neither waterproof nor dustproof and only had 17 jewels. I remember a teacher looking at me with a puzzled expression on her face because I wore my watch on my right wrist. She asked if I were left handed, which, of course, I am not. At that age, I just preferred to wear it on my right hand. I also remember doing some "Takes a tickin'" research inadvertently on my own. As young boys will do, I was playing in a water puddle with friends, putting my hands deep into the muddy abyss only to realize I was wearing my non-waterproof watch. I was afraid I ruined my watch, but it was still ticking and I put it in my pocket to resume play.
When I looked down in that display case and saw my youth staring back up at me with a price tag of just $10, I knew I found a new friend. You know, I believe even the watchband is original. It sure looks like the one I had on my watch in the 6 th grade. Nowadays, the simple styling matches anything I wear from a tuxedo for the opera to shorts and flip-flops for the beach. The darn thing keeps perfect time, never needs batteries and makes me smile just being on my wrist. What could be better than that? For anything, especially something worn on a person's arm, to last 43 years and still work better than new, is certainly an accomplishment and credit to American quality. Heck, I have friends whose "hips" did not last that long.
If you wear a wristwatch these days, you know there are a lot of choices and many of them can set you back more than just a few hundred dollars, more like a few thousand. For me, I'll save the money to buy gas and keep on using my $10 Timex that works perfectly. At night, I'll set it on my turntable right next to my 1952 Spartan, black and white TV, watch reruns of Gilligan's Island and just smile. Who knows? Maybe one of those old commercials will pop up, but, even if it does not, you can bet my old watch will pop up on my wrist and it will be keeping the same perfect time it kept in 1965.
(Author's note: Timex has its own website, and, if you can believe it, a Timex museum in Connecticut. Timex is one of the few manufacturers making it easy to tell the model, movement and manufacture date of old watches. Using a magnifying glass, gaze at the face of your watch near the number six on the dial. There is a tiny, eight digit number there. The first four digits are your model number. The next two digits tell which movement is in your watch and the last two digits are the year of manufacture. For example, my watch bears the number, 6524-7265. That tells me it is model "6425" with the number 72 movement and it was manufactured in 1965)