Seiko 80s Computer Watches (2005) | Hacker News Reader

Seiko 80s Computer Watches (2005)

pocketcalculatorshow.com

126 pointskrige37 comments

Having one Casio databank on my wrist while being a child was one of the things that always amazed me and pushed me to electronics and computers.

How could those watches do calculations and store phone numbers on a so small thing? And being 7-years old, I didn't even have phone numbers to store on it...

I received several of these as gifts throughout my youth. I had almost completely forgotten about these and this website brought back good memories. They seemed like a little slice of science fiction, especially the ones that would light up with a press of a button giving off that cool blue light.

I wonder if kids nowadays have a sense of wonder from the devices they have or see. Growing up, we had a variety of single use devices which allowed us to be amazed when the next device came along. Nowadays, the devices all roll into one little palm sized device so what is left to be suprised about?

Yes, they have a sense of wonder. It's innate. My kids constantly want to learn how things work.

I keep using a TI Chronos that seems like a spiritual successor of this.

Two segmented diplays, one 4 digits, one 5, and various sensors (sadly not a compass) all hooked up to a microcontroller.

Amazing little toy to play with and write code for the Chronos is. Recommend for anyone looking for something in the same vein as these Seiko watches. Lost mine about a year ago though.

Never did anything sophisticated with it, but I loaded a open source OS onto it and made the thing beep every five minutes. To this day my hairs still stick up on end about every five damn minutes.

The alternative keyset on the UK01-0010 is katakana, not kanji. In modern times it's usually used for foreign words or for emphasis, but in the 80s it was often the only Japanese writing system available on computers, because its characters have the simplest shapes and are legible on the lowest resolution screens.

Katakana (カタカナ): simple angular shapes, phonetic syllabary.

Hiragana (ひらがな): simple but more curved shapes, phonetic syllabary.

Kanji (漢字): complex shapes, looks like traditional Chinese, logographic.

> or for emphasis

Could you elaborate? I took a Japanese 101 course in college, and we only learned about it being used for foreign/loanwords.

It can be used similarly to italics in English writing.

Makes me tempted to equate them to block letter and cursive respectively.

I love these watches. I never knew there was a wristwatch with a built-in BASIC! The mind of kid-me would have been blown.

Something about their styling screams "high tech" -- in the same sort of way the aesthetics of old Transformers episodes scream "high tech" -- even though both the technology and the styling are dated by today's standards.

The setting of the Disney short attached to Moana -- called "Inner Workings", I was able to date to the early-mid 1980s, based on the industrial design of the main character's alarm clock, wristwatch (a Seiko-like), and office computer. It's always great to see interest in that era's design and devices.

The page doesn't make it clear, but the watch doesn't run BASIC, the keyboard does. The watch just works as a screen. On it's own, the watch just has some basic databank (with 2K of RAM) and timekeeping features. It supposedly supports small programs running from RAM when disconnected from the keyboard, like the Timex Data Link's WristApps, but I can't find any real details on it.

A somewhat more detailed explanation of the watch is here: http://cdecas.free.fr/computers/pocket/uc2000.php

>Something about their styling screams "high tech"

In a similar vein Seiko recently reissued the watches from the Aliens movie

That design really is abominable in the best possible way. That huge chunky box thing sticking out one side of the watch-face -- ugh. But it's a legend and an icon because of Alien and how it seemed to fit into that movie's world.

Agree. They aren't my cup of tea, but they definitely fit in the Alien universe

I have some of these (my collection has only few watches to indicate where they are in the computing timeline) and they are nice. I find the feeling and looks better than most smartwatches today and of course the battery life is very good compared. I have other small 'pocket' computers from the 80s[0] which have amazing battery life. I sure miss that.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_PC-1211

And now i am reminded of the TRS-80 100.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Model_100

While not pocket sized, it was a portable computer that would run on 4xAA. And even had a built in modem (300 baud).

BTW i wish i could find a "receipt printer" that didn't cost an arm and a leg, and that didn't require thermal paper.

Here's a video on an early HP calculator watch. While not on computer watches, it has a nice introduction on the early history of calculator watches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGQrsSEaZkI

Neat my wristwatch has two Easter eggs: http://forum.pocketcalculatorshow.com/topic/casio-easter-egg...

No mention of the TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KisxYBm8QzU

Enjoy the amazement

amazing, but what kind of display is that? how does an LCD render the white noise so smoothly? very strange.

IMO I think the LCD is so "lame" it filters noise naturally.

The picture of the game reminded me how much fun it was to live in this world where this was the "high technology" of the time. It looks very similar to the TI-81 I used to cut my teeth on when I started programming. There were so many restrictions it was a nice challenge to try to do things to push the limits of the available instructions. I can't imagine growing up today where computing environments are much more complex off the bat.

Given what people do with a C64 even today, it seems that the human mind thrives under restrictions.

Just proves smartwatches are nothing new. Seiko made some beautiful hardware, and the ones with the keyboards will continue to be usable - shame about the others that require obsolete software!

A timely article considering the state with Pebble. Shows Seiko was ahead of the game, with information on your wrist as an extension of your computer. Pity I never had anything this cool in my youth.

80's Japanese electronics were way ahead, my dad had one casio FX-602p calculator, I think still we have that one at home. It had an interface on the top and you could attach the calculator to a box like device and that device had 3 audio outputs. Then you can plug those audio jacks into a cassette player to save and load programs.

btw, the word "seiko" means "starchild"

Brings back memories of being into those LCD/LED watches as a kid back in the 70s/80s.

Nintendo Game N Watch!

I remember my doctor had one of these and I would always inspect it while in his office.

Tangentially reminds me of the HP RPN calculators that my grandfather gave me. So much fun programming them in BASIC :)

lapdock circa 82 http://pocketcalculatorshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/s...

Ugh, rubber dome keys.

I think my first encounter with a computer was a ZX81 clone with such a keyboard...

Those keys aren't as bad as the Atari 400 http://www.vintage-computer.com/atari400.shtml

heh, "kid proof". More like usage proof.

Only place i recall seeing such keys were on some industrial machine or other...

You don't like that slick touchscreen with subtle tactile feedback ?

touche.

External iWatch keyboard - starting kickstarter now!

reminds me of this song :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGKhV6WsNrA

Reply on news.ycombinator.com