No talking in class

Trafalgar Talking Watch (1981)

The year was 1981 and as a young school boy, I was looking through a disguarded newspaper when I saw an advert, for what was then detailed as, "The World's first Talking Watch". A watch that actually talked at that time appeared to be so futuristic, and, despite having only seen an image in the newspaper with a speech bubble saying "It's 5:15 PM" I really wanted one. At that time my pocket money was just 50 pence a week and the price of the watch was £65 so I had no chance of ever owning one and, until many years later, never saw one in the flesh.

During class, maths especially, I would sit there thinking how cool would it be to own a talking watch and then as the teacher shouted out, "No talking, the next person to talk will be in detention", I could press one of the buttons and make the watch talk, what would she do, give the watch a detention? In my mind the watch spoke the Queen's English loudly and clearly and so the teacher, I assumed, would never know who it was.

Having wanted the watch so badly whilst at school, I was always determined to get one although It wasn't until around 20 years later that I actually managed to find a nice example in mint condition and buy it. Having then heard how the watch speaks with its synthesised voice, my imagination as a school boy was shattered as I realised there was no way it would have fooled the teacher into thinking someone was talking. It is still a fanastic piece of technology though and a great addition to the watch collection.

Misbehaving with a Remote Control

Casio CMD-40 Wrist Remote Controller Watch (1993)

Casio's CMD-40 is just about as much fun as you can have with a watch and was a watch I used daily from around 1992 - 1995 whilst I was studying at university. Put simply the watch was a remote controller strapped to your wrist that could control most TVs and video recorders (No DVD players in those days). Using a chart in the user manual (that was photocopied and kept in my wallet), you just looked up the manufacturer in question (ie Sony), then selected the appropriate code on the watch for Sony - so it then controlled Sony devices. Added to this, the watch also had a facility to learn infra red signals from other remote controllers, so basically, it could learn to control literally anything that used an infra red remote controller.

Obviously, I was well-behaved ... so I would never walk past an electronic store like Tandy's late at night, switch on all the TVs and turn the volume up full, so loud you could hear the TVs from the street. Likewise, I would never walk into a crowded pub during the World Cup, whilst England are playing, and then, as everyone is glued to the football, switch the TV over to the other side. That would be crazy as everyone would be so angry, but luckily no one suspected ... would suspect a tall guy at the back with a watch. Some people with the watch might even sit in a lecture at university watching a boring documentary on a large TV with wheels on it and then switch it off. Then when the lecturer turns it on, switch it off again and again. The lecturer might then get so mad he would call the IT Dept who would walk in, turn the TV on and tell him he probably hadn't pressed the power button far enough down.

I should also add that if when of my friend's parents brought a new TV built into a nice shiny wooden cabinet, it would be awful to keep turning the volume down whenever they turned it up making them think their new TV had a fault, and only someone horrible would record the signal of a lecturer's aftermarket car alarm and then convince him you could switch off his car alarm, or set it off, using nothing but the power of your mind. (Back in the days when car alarms did not alternate signals and used the same signal each time).

For my sins, I may have been a bit naughty with this watch although hand on heart, this watch was truly so much fun for those who knew about it. It is for that reason, it adds both a great watch and even better memories to our collection.

No Photography...

Casio WQV-1 Wrist Camera Watch (2000)

The Casio WQV-1 was another of those watches that offered futuristic technology in a watch that no one had heard of at the time. For those who have seen the photographic images from a WQV-1, they are not great, especially for eyes of the 2020s, and they were not really that useful, but that didn't matter, this was a watch with a digital camera built into it and you could view the images on the watch screen ...although with no back light, at times that wasn't easy.

It was always tempting therefore whenever you were in a place that said, "No Photography" to take a few sneaky photos, no one ever expected, I was just a guy looking at his watch, albeit sometimes at a strange angle. That said there were occasions I didn't risk it, especially when travelling to Greece once on a holiday and walking past a military base. I thankfully had the presence of mind to keep my watch covered and was glad I did. A few months after my visit, there was a report of another Casio WQV-1 owner being arrested as a spy in Greece for taking photos in a forbidden area. Worst still, at that time no one had heard of cameras in a watch and so imagine trying to convince the Greek military you are not a spy when you have a watch that appears to have come straight out of a James Bond movie. What ever happened to that guy I don't know but I imagine it took some serious explaining before he got released, assuming he isn't still in a cell somewhere with a huge grey beard.

Back in 2001 I built a website that covered the Casio WQV range of watches and maintained it until 2003 when the WQV range was discontinued. The website vanished a few years ago although has now been found and restored at modestwatches.com as an archive for this watch. You can see it at Elvis Payne Casio Wrist Camera website.

Most Treasured Watch

Omega De Ville - Model 6330 (1991)

Every collection has a watch that is more valuable than every other watch but then not necessarily the most expensive watch or indeed the rarest; on the contrary, the Omega De Ville is a fairly popular model from the 1990s and far from being the most expensive watch in Omega's line-up. The reason this watch is the most valuable is for sentimental reasons, this watch once belonged to my dad, who sadly passed away on 29th May 2011.

My dad worked at the Severn Trent Water Company for just over 25 years, and over that time, at various milestones (ie: for 10 years and 15 years etc), the company awarded him with gold Cross pens. On his 25th anniversary with Severn Trent, my dad was awarded a gold Omega De Ville (model 6330). The back of the watch is engraved SEVERN TRENT WATER 25 YEARS SERVICE J.PAYNE 1991. When he received the watch, it came with a free bracelet adjustment, which needed the watch to be sent off, this he did although he very rarely ever wore the watch. One of the main reasons it wasn't worn was because for a men's watch, it has quite a small face at just 32mm across, so the face was not as clear to see as some of his larger watches, as a result, the watch has stayed in mint condition.

My dad gave me the watch in 2008, and the bracelet was adjusted once more, so the watch then fitted me. The watch is still worn, although only on special occasions, one of those being my wedding day and my son's christening. It remains the most treasured watch in the collection and sits alongside an 1834 Davidson Verge Fusee pocket watch that Harvey recently inherited that once belonged to his Great, Great, Grandad on his Mum's side.

A Lone Eagle that wasn't a Lone Eagle!

Bulova Senator (1935)

In our collection, we initially aimed to get an A-Z of watches followed by a watch from every decade from the 1800s onwards. For the 1930s, we came across an attractive 1935 Bulova Lone Eagle. The Lone Eagle model is famed for being award to Charles Lindbergh in 1926, along with $1,000, as a prize for being the first pilot to successfully make a nonstop flight across the Atlantic from New York to Paris.

Given my dad was born in 1936 and that he used to give lectures on Native Americans under the name Lone Eagle, buying a Bulova Lone Eagle from the 1930s really appealed to me. Once the watch was purchased, as with all our watches, we started to research its history, whilst this watch was similar to other Bulova Lone Eagle watches, it wasn't exactly the same, which was a bit confusing.

After searching through old adverts and various websites, we discovered that this wasn't a Lone Eagle model as advertised but actually, a Bulova Senator watch that is perhaps lesser known yet has a very similar style. This was quite a Eureka moment as then when we started to search for the Senator model we found out a lot more about this model.

It was also great when after posting a video of the watch on our Harvey P Watches YouTube channel, a lady contacted us to say thank you as she also had the same watch and realising it was not a Lone Eagle, was trying to find out what it was. Upon seeing Harvey's video she found the answer. Despite not being a Lone Eagle, it is still a great watch, and like all our other watches, it still gets worn

The watch no one believed existed

Zeon Rock Album - Beatles Watch - Version 1 (1982)

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, digital watches that played melodies were all the fashion, and the Zeon Rock Album was no exception with its super loud "Selectrophonic" sound. At the time, it came in 2 flavours: an Elvis Presley version and a Beatles version. In 1982 the watch was advertised in a shopping catalogue for £12.99. As the Elvis version wasn't advertised in the catalogue, I purchased the Beatles version. Once the watch arrived, every Friday evening a lady called Mrs. Jones visited the house and I paid her £0.65 a week for 20 weeks for the watch. The watch was superb and the melodies were great, some being 1.5 minutes long.

The watch lasted a couple of years before it was stored away and replaced with a Casio J51 Jogging watch. It was whilst at work in the late 1980s that my work colleagues were talking about the Beatles and I mentioned my watch to a couple of die-hard Beatles fans. They were much older than me and insisted they knew all there was to know about the Beatles and were quite adamant that such a watch never existed. Worst of all, when I went to get my watch to show them, it had vanished and appeared as though it had been stolen, with a couple of other watches I noticed were also missing.

With no Internet in those days and the watch no longer on sale, trying to find a replacement or even evidence that the watch was real proved impossible. The fans continued to insist such a watch did not exist and indeed essentially said I was telling lies about the watch. I started looking again for a replacement in the late 1990s and it wasn't until 2018, when I first created this website detailing this story, that someone contacted me saying they had a Beatles Zeon Rock Album and that it was for sale. This was the first one I had heard of in 20 years and after agreeing on a price, I purchased the watch from them, although it was several decades too late to show those who denied its existence. Even today, if you search for this watch on Google, the only mention of it appears to be the actual watch in our collection.

The Number 2 watch

Unbranded Moonphase (1990)

This is always a watch that I look back on, and it puzzles me as throughout the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, I always wore digital watches, and from the 1980s onwards, they were usually Casio and had some kind of unique function. It wasn't until the 2000s that I slowly moved into analogue watches as digital watches became dumbed down as mobile phones took over. Therefore it is strange that sandwiched between my digital watches in the early 1990s, there was this unbranded Moonphase watch. Where I bought it from and why, I can't remember, but I do know I wore it as a hat maker from around 1990 - 1992,

When I first bought it, the strap was a brown crocodile skin effect, and the watch case was bright shiny gold. Over the years, though, the strap broke, and all the gold wore off the watch, leaving it looking somewhat abused, although still working perfectly. What is perhaps disconcerting is that the only place I recall wearing this watch was ... to put it bluntly ... sitting on the toilet answering nature's call. At the time in the hat factory I made Top Hats and worked against the clock, so toilet breaks had to be swift. My memory, therefore, informs me that as I sat there, I was constantly looking at the watch to see how long I was on the toilet for and how long I had before I had to get back to my workbench. I can only assume that, at that time, I had an exciting diet, given how many times I was on the toilet staring at the watch. I guess, technically speaking, this used to be my No 2 watch!

The Impossible watch

Casio DB620A Databank (2006)

The Casio Databank I have now is a DB620A model from 2006, although, it was bought as a replacement for my original one, a Casio DBC-60 purchased in 1985. The DBC-60 sadly met its end in 1986 when I accidently caught it on a door frame at work and it smashed the screen resulting it a totally black display.

In the 1980s the Casio DBC-60 looked quite an amazing watch that actually astounded many. It was the first watch I ever saw that had a miniature keyboard below the screen and it looked like a tiny computer strapped to your wrist, it really looked high-tec. It was essentially an early smart watch that had a stopwatch, world time and a database that stored 50 addresses with phone numbers. Granted, typing in 50 names and addresses was quite a painstaking experience scrolling through letters on such a tiny keyboard, but once stored, it was fantastic. Not being popular enought to know 50 people to store their details, I often used the databank for storing other bits of information.

During 1985, one such piece of information was my National Insurance number and by a sheer coincidence after adding it I was called to the office at work for some reason or other and they asked me what my National Insurance number was. I said I didn't know it off hand but had the information on my watch. After a short bit of tapping on the keyboard, I read out my number to them. The lady I was speaking to was most perplexed and asked, "How did you get that off your watch?". I said, "It's a little computer and stores information, names, addresses and phone numbers etc". She looked at me and then looked at my watch saying, "That's impossible!" She actually thought the watch was just a fake prop and that I knew the number all along. So I operated the watch and showed her, even though she saw it with her own eyes she still looked in disbelief and again said. "But that's impossible".

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