RetroTech: Hewlett Packard HP-01 1977's Smartest Watch

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  • čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
  • HP only made one calculator watch and almost 40 years later it continues to be an amazing, uniquely capable device. Useful Links Below:
    HP01 watches regularly come up on ebay here: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
    LED Museum (The ultimate HP01 resource) led-forever.com/html/hp-01_led...
    HP Museum www.hpmuseum.org/hp01.htm
    HP's own Journal PDF Dedicated to the HP-01 www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/hist...
    Hodinkee (these are the chaps who suggested it was the first smartwatch - if you disagree, please argue it out with them..I'm merely passing on the info) www.hodinkee.com/articles/sma...
    Old Argos Catalogues can be found here: retromash.com/argos/
    If you like to look at beautiful pictures of LED watches - you'll like this: theledwatch.com/watches
    ------------SUPPORT--------------
    This channel can be supported through Patreon / techmoan
    Patrons usually have early access to videos
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    czcams.com/users/Techmoan?...
    FAQs
    TRIANGLE/DELTA
    The manual refers to this symbol using a picture not a word - however it seems to be very important issue to a number of people that I should have referred to this symbol as a Delta rather than a triangle- I can't change the video now, it's already been made. It looks like a triangle, so that's what I called it.
    BONGOS
    There is one second of audio at the end of this video of bongos that should not be in this video - a number of people think that this is a conspiracy and a way to 'troll' them(?!?).......here's the true reason that one second of bongo audio is in this video........ It was an editing error.
    Every video starts off with a copy and paste of the previous one to retain the up to date patreon list.
    All audio is deleted apart from the intro and outro music.
    One second of audio from the previous video was not deleted in error. So that's it - as always, real life is rarely as exciting as an overactive imagination.
    GAUSS
    Apparently this is pronounced incorrectly in the video and this really upsets people.
    Comments: Killing video enjoyment since 2006.
    -----AFFLIATED LINKS/ADVERTISING NOTICE------
    All links are Affiliated where possible.
    When you click on links to various merchants posted here and make a purchase, this can result in me earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network & Amazon.
    I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON Sites (including, but not limited to Amazon US/UK/DE/ES/FR/NL/IT/CAN)
  • Věda a technologie

Komentáře • 1,6K

  • @copheart
    @copheart Před 7 lety +525

    I bought one of these at a flea market last summer. I saw the box first and I opened it and was shocked by what I saw. I had never heard or seen these before. I asked the women what she wanted for it and she said $30. I had no clue what it was worth and asked her if she'd take $20 since there was no battery hence no way to know if it even worked. She agreed and I got a beautiful late 70's watch. I seriously didn't think it was worth $1000 and when I found out I was so shocked. I haven't sold it though. It's too cool.

    • @johnrickard8512
      @johnrickard8512 Před 5 lety +15

      Amazing what you can find at flea markets :)

    • @Varrants_Bokr
      @Varrants_Bokr Před 4 lety +30

      Congratulations, you bought a fake!)))

    • @Rob...
      @Rob... Před 4 lety +7

      you can buy them brand new for $20, dont think yours is worth no 1000..lol

    • @Varrants_Bokr
      @Varrants_Bokr Před 4 lety +10

      ​@@Rob... The complete original package costs at least $ 3000!

    • @DanaTheInsane
      @DanaTheInsane Před 4 lety +7

      @@Rob... You cant buy an HP Calculator watch for $20 You are an idiot.

  •  Před 7 lety +363

    _"...but notice on the right hand side there is a dot, that means it's the 21st century..."_
    So they were ready for the Y2K bugs even as soon as 1977. Impressive.

    • @jurjenbos228
      @jurjenbos228 Před 4 lety +39

      There was a small Y2K bug in that it didn't allow you to enter feb 29, 2000 as a date. All the other calculations are still correct, though.

    • @Tahngarthor
      @Tahngarthor Před 4 lety +12

      it sounds like the bug is only with entering that date, it still calculates correctly

    • @ryan.crosby
      @ryan.crosby Před 8 měsíci

      ​@@TahngarthorI recently noticed this bug on my own HP-01 and decided to read through the watch's microcode in the patent to figure out why.
      The issue is that any date entered on the HP-01 is always initially interpreted as a 1900's date. When the 21st century button is pressed, it just adds 100 years to whatever 1900's value is in the active register.
      The year 2000 is a leap year, 1900 is not. So Feb 29th 00' gets rolled over to March 1st during date entry, before having 100 years added during conversion, so the result is 1st March 2000. The workaround is to just enter Feb 28th 2000, and then manually add one day, which shows up correctly.

  • @CockatooDude
    @CockatooDude Před 6 lety +166

    Holy shit, watches had touchscreens in the 1980's? AND drawing recognition?? Man I thought that stuff was new in like 2013 but in the 80's? I never would have thought. Thanks for enlightening me. That was really cool.

    • @johnj3577
      @johnj3577 Před 5 lety +37

      Turns out Apple really didn't invent anything after all!

    • @jchv88
      @jchv88 Před 5 lety +10

      Yes, there were some devices that had touchscreen and drawing recognition, which at the time it was sometime ahead of its times. But that technology was in its infancy back then, plus it was too expensive to buy devices like the casio touchscreen LCD watch. We have now more improved, responsive, and innovative LCD or LED touchscreens than back then.

    • @Ninnuam999
      @Ninnuam999 Před 4 lety +4

      There's a huge synth/sampler the fairchild that uses a touch screen/pen interface to edit samples and modify sounds, it's from the late 70s.

    • @_to_dream_or_not_to_dream
      @_to_dream_or_not_to_dream Před 4 lety +8

      The thing is, if it wasn't for oligarchs who keep human civilization in Stone Age with fossil fuels and banks, we could have started to live the life of The Jetsons already in 70's. But thanks to those parasites, our space traveling age may begin somewhere in 2550, with our planet doomed, lifeless, ultimate parasite that calls itself human needs a new planet to leech lifeless.

    • @supersexyspacemonkey1977
      @supersexyspacemonkey1977 Před 4 lety +7

      If you check out Steve Job's original iPhone announcement speech, he says he really isn't inventing innovative hardware, but rather innovative software, and he's jist building hardware to carry it.

  • @samhardy6319
    @samhardy6319 Před rokem +7

    This watch was so far ahead of its time. Certainly had far more functions than 80s LCD calculator watches.

  • @detaart
    @detaart Před 7 lety +391

    Those time based calculations are very powerful.
    Pretty impressive for it's age.

    • @12bob50
      @12bob50 Před 7 lety +33

      detaart hp sometimes makes some really cool things with tech that fly under the radar. Like their HP 50g calculator, it's very efficient and powerful but it sadly doesn't hold the same place in society like the TI calculators

    • @benitoabreu4785
      @benitoabreu4785 Před 7 lety +2

      Hell yeah!

    • @SirFrag32
      @SirFrag32 Před 7 lety +5

      Only because of the education monopoly on them.

    • @jessstuart7495
      @jessstuart7495 Před 5 lety +3

      I was disappointed it wasn't RPN. But still very cool.

    • @user-mv6de3sc8g
      @user-mv6de3sc8g Před 4 lety

      I don't think so.

  • @WhatsOnTheOtherEnd
    @WhatsOnTheOtherEnd Před 7 lety +8

    I actually think the button presses make a lot of sense. the triangle is a Greek Delta, referring to "change". Delta is used in science a lot to mean "a change in this variable". So, if you punch in a number, then hit delta and a variable, you are saying, "Change the value of this variable to this value".
    It's really a genius design. Those time calculations are fascinating! Very cool.

  • @SMGJohn
    @SMGJohn Před 7 lety +25

    We come so far in technology we gone fucking backwards

    • @s0nnyburnett
      @s0nnyburnett Před 7 lety +5

      We've gone nowhere so fast we suddenly find ourselves where we started.

    • @SMGJohn
      @SMGJohn Před 7 lety +4

      +Anatolian ✣
      Apple watch cannot do things the HP Smartwatch can which is ridicules, to begin with most smartwatches have pathetic battery life some do not even last a day, that is backward, a watch is suppose to have good battery life not the opposite.

  • @cmeves
    @cmeves Před 7 lety +168

    The triangle is the math symbol "delta" which means the "change" in an equation. It would be used to show how a "change" (triangle) in X would effect Y for example. I think that is what they meant it to say, as the delta symbol is used to change the process on the watch.

    • @thomasdeltoro8030
      @thomasdeltoro8030 Před 7 lety +1

      Christopher Eves

    • @wmmediacom
      @wmmediacom Před 2 lety

      The triangle is more of a SHIFT for gold symbols above....

    • @tawermeister99
      @tawermeister99 Před 2 lety

      I just commented the same thing you said about the triangle being delta thinking I was the first clever clogs to say it lol.

  • @JackBandicootsBunker
    @JackBandicootsBunker Před 7 lety +216

    HP should remake this watch as a Smartwatch and launch it next year as a 40th Anniversary Special. That design looks beautifully crafted; and that gold colour is excellent.

    • @sompka1
      @sompka1 Před 7 lety +16

      hp makes dogshit rinpoche's now.

    • @JackBandicootsBunker
      @JackBandicootsBunker Před 7 lety +2

      DerekJ Depends on the price range. The OMEN cube or the 2016 Spectre do have good quality.

    • @joshfilmsstuff9769
      @joshfilmsstuff9769 Před 7 lety +4

      Kevin Moondust YES! I could imagine 70s design with modern smart watch tech.

    • @coles201
      @coles201 Před 7 lety +5

      The only thing HP is making nowadays is redundancies.

    • @0ptimismPrime
      @0ptimismPrime Před 7 lety +2

      +Kevin Moondust The OMEN might look cool, but having both mechanical harddrives and fans have their motors needing to operate at 45° angles puts unnecessary strain on their ball bearings, and will lead to faster failure rates than if the were either fully vertical or fully horizontal.

  • @SacredSalad
    @SacredSalad Před 7 lety +183

    Your video immediately made me think of a quote from the 1978 BBC Radio 4 series by Douglas Adams (later the book), "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" - “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.”

    • @MetalDragon42
      @MetalDragon42 Před 7 lety +24

      "my left arm's come off, how am I going to operate my digital watch now?"

    • @TyCetto
      @TyCetto Před 7 lety +8

      42...

    • @gioviani8943
      @gioviani8943 Před 7 lety +4

      Stephen St. Romain :)

    • @BenCol
      @BenCol Před 7 lety +43

      Stephen St. Romain "Lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches."

  • @SilverDawnArrow
    @SilverDawnArrow Před 4 lety +26

    Honestly, having grown up in the mid 2000s, my strongest memories of digital watches was they always seemed to beep in the middle of classes and get on everyone's nerves

    • @lorumipsum1129
      @lorumipsum1129 Před 2 lety +1

      I’ve had a couple teachers confiscate them if they heard it

  • @doyle4140
    @doyle4140 Před 7 lety +1

    what an absolute ripper! Todays tech is amazing but I forget just how exciting this stuff was back in my childhood.Its still a beautiful watch today.Cheers for that

  • @AlRoderick
    @AlRoderick Před 7 lety +142

    Man, that watch can do live calculations that my phone needs wolfram alpha and an internet connection to do. I wonder if anyone's made a stand alone app that works like that.

    • @tahaistheboss98
      @tahaistheboss98 Před 7 lety +30

      Alexander Roderick you'd think that easy calculation like this would be available in our huge processors.. but I think the problem is that the demand is low

    • @viciokas1993
      @viciokas1993 Před 7 lety +9

      Yeah, it simply takes time to code in and the demand is too low for some software guru to take the time to do it. That watch was purpose-built to do such things, hence why it can do it. Modern smartphones / smartwatches can do just as well if someone codes it for them, and could probably achieve much better total accuracy with the access to atomic clocks through the Internet!

    • @crashcourseinbruhsurgery
      @crashcourseinbruhsurgery Před 7 lety +3

      Kurt Angerdinger Maybe they need access to your contacts in order to flash the light when you get a call or from a specific person. In addition, many smartwatches can retain most of their functions even if they're not paired with a phone. Problem is, they're either very expensive, like the Gear S3 Frontier, or they're China crap.

    • @musaran2
      @musaran2 Před 6 lety +5

      Sadly this looks designed by engineers for engineers.
      In today's marketing to the masses, this is unthinkable.

    • @mardus_ee
      @mardus_ee Před 5 lety

      +Alexander Roderick | If you have Android, then the F-Droid store of free and open-source (FOSS) Android software has some interesting apps you could try out.
      One scientific calculator app is Arity, which shows live totals, but I don't know if it does time-based calculations.
      There's also the Units app, which is a units converter and calculator, and this one does time-based calculations.
      To others: If your Android phone is relatively basic, and does not have a built-in flashlight, then the F-Droid store offers many small-sized flashlight apps that do not require access to contacts.
      This does require (temporarily) enabling third-party installs, but the open-source flashlight apps' much smaller size removes the requirement for Play Store-based apps that want access to data that they should have no right to have access to.
      In some cases, a phone may have a built-in flashlight, but no OS-level functionality to turn it on. This applies to older versions of Android, which I've seen with Android 4.0 ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich), but may also apply to any Android 4.x version. That's why an app is still required. Some flashlight apps available on F-Droid do require camera access to control the hardware flashlight.
      In the F-Droid store app, search using the 'flash' and 'torch' terms, which will match anything that contains these patterns. I've chosen MrWhite, which is only 21 KiB in size.
      Depending on version, Samsung smartphones' TouchWiz UI allows adding an "Assistive Light" widget for phones that have a built-in hardware flashlight.
      Android-native flashlight functionality is accessible via Google Now in Android 5.0 Lollipop. I don't know, if the function is accessible by other means. Android 6.0 and 7.0 should have the flashlight functionality built-in - check the expanded notification area.

  • @The8BitGuy
    @The8BitGuy Před 7 lety +605

    Great video! I was also obsessed with digital watches in the 1980s and 90s. I was also surprised when the databank watches came out and then progress just stalled. I always wanted a watch with a full dot-matrix LCD display that could do a lot of functions and those really never materialized. The ones that did are MUCH too large to fit my wrist. I was hopeful when Apple announced a new watch, but those turned out to be too large as well, and much too expensive. In my line of work, they always end up scratched to pieces so I can't imagine wearing a watch that costs more than $100.

    • @daftbence
      @daftbence Před 7 lety +9

      The 8-Bit Guy Hey there! Just a quick question, any news on the keyboard made by Ben Heck? Will he send it to you for a vid?

    • @The8BitGuy
      @The8BitGuy Před 7 lety +18

      Sorry, I haven't heard anything from Ben Heck.

    • @daftbence
      @daftbence Před 7 lety +5

      The 8-Bit Guy
      Oh, ok :( I'm a sad pepe now

    • @ChristianKoehler77
      @ChristianKoehler77 Před 7 lety +3

      I was also obsessed with digital watches in the 80s/90s. Now I use one of these Garmin running watches. In the early 90s a cousin who was an engineer worked with an early GPS receiver. Huge und expensive. I could not imagine this in a wristwatch. But now we can have it. For my sport (marathons etc.) these features are actually usefull while those calculators/databanks/radios/whatever in the 80s were impressive but mostly useless.

    • @AndrisJankevics
      @AndrisJankevics Před 7 lety +7

      Kurt Angerdinger GPS in running watches is used to measure speed, distance and altitude not for navigation. Also most can store data for further analysis later.

  • @ink3988
    @ink3988 Před 6 lety +92

    "That dot means it's in the 21st century" I forget what century I'm in all the time, thank you HP.

  • @donovanreimer2324
    @donovanreimer2324 Před 5 lety +1

    I simply couldn’t stop watching this. Well done!

  • @X-OR_
    @X-OR_ Před 7 lety +41

    I know the Project Engineer for the Hewlett Packard HP-01. His Name was Andre Marion and Steve Wozniak was on his team at one time. Andre Marion started a company called Applied Biosystems were I worked with him. He once showed me this watch and some prototype material. A very good guy and absolutely brilliant.......

    • @kixxalot
      @kixxalot Před 5 lety +2

      Joy of Lego Wow! I realize he must be in his 80s now, and he has been managing a multi million dollar company, so designing this watch is probably a distant memory for him, but is there any chance you could get him to show his prototype on video? Perhaps some kind of collaboration with Techmoan, maybe he could do an interview via Skype? Since he has been managing people for many years besides being an engineer, he will probably make for a very interesting interview!

    • @michaelparker5072
      @michaelparker5072 Před 4 lety +2

      @MichaelKingsfordGray is this your real name?,there is only your word it is

    • @michaelparker5072
      @michaelparker5072 Před 4 lety +1

      No,not really,on the basis that it was a question that i asked,nothing else

    • @michaelparker5072
      @michaelparker5072 Před 4 lety +3

      @MichaelKingsfordGray guess you could not handle the question then,just another narcistic prat on youtube,bless you,you have been quite amusing though,for a throw-out from blighty

  • @Dylan-oh5ii
    @Dylan-oh5ii Před 7 lety +277

    "That's some cool retro tech, I would like to purchase that" *Checks ebay* "Casio it is."

    • @withche07
      @withche07 Před 7 lety +9

      I felt same when I looked ebay.

    • @Dev-tw1og
      @Dev-tw1og Před 5 lety +6

      @Dylan your right I rather has the antique calculator watch then the useless smart watch

  • @KowboyUSA
    @KowboyUSA Před 4 lety +43

    "Well, most people didn't use the calculator that much." It was the 1980s, so undoubtedly, quite a few coke dealers used it a lot.

  • @silverxstar01
    @silverxstar01 Před rokem +3

    That wrist strap stylus is nothing short of genius.

  • @artl52
    @artl52 Před 7 lety +26

    Techmoan- Just discovered your channel and really like this video. In 1977, I spent the ungodly sum (which I could barely afford) of $800 to buy an HP-65 programmable calculator. I learned to program on that thing which put be in good stead over the years. I was a real calculator nut and moved up top the HP-67 and then ultimately the HP-41C. I even did my 2nd master's thesis on an HP-41 where I simulated in programming, RPN vs. arithmetic entry. I still have a collection of calculators. And I remember well drooling over the HP-01 at the time. Thanks for sharing. Gave me a nice trip down memory lane.

    • @Techmoan
      @Techmoan  Před 7 lety +7

      Interestingly this watch was the first time HP didn't use reverse polish notation on one of their calculators.

    • @artl52
      @artl52 Před 7 lety

      i remember thinking that was odd at the time. And as you might know, once you go RPN, you never go back ;)

    • @phrtao
      @phrtao Před 7 lety +2

      "Reverse Polish Notation" - not heard that term for nearly 30 years (when I used to program using "Forth" programming language) - made me smile

    • @DeaconG1959
      @DeaconG1959 Před 7 lety +1

      I had the HP-41 in the early 80s and found myself getting every accessory I could get my hands on, including all the plug in modules and even the magnetic strip reader/writer (though not the tape drive, which I really wanted to get my hands on). Unfortunately I made the mistake of giving the entire kit to one of my cousins when she started college when I upgraded to the HP 48SX and I know damn well she sold it, she still won't admit to it 30 years later XD.
      Also, I had piping hot lust for the HP71...

    • @artl52
      @artl52 Před 7 lety +1

      me too. I had the mag tape reader/writer, the optical wand, the data casstte drive, a bunch of modules. I sold most of that stuff about 10 years ago on ebay. Still have the original HP-41C though. What a great machine. Also, I know use a HP41 program on my home and work laptops. Still using RPN!

  • @AlienFrequency
    @AlienFrequency Před 7 lety +21

    That James Bond watch is actually pretty sweet looking, even today.

  • @IVR02
    @IVR02 Před 4 měsíci +1

    This is one of those TM videos that I love to come back to from time to time, mostly because it's pretty much what got me into digital watches. Not long after seeing it, I began picking up old Casios and whatnot at estate sales, and now, I've got a pretty sizeable collection which I am quite proud of. Of course, I'd love to get my hands on one of these someday, but I don't think it's in the cards for me anytime soon. Nonetheless, thanks, Matt, for getting me into one of my favorite little niche fascinations.

  • @ntgeralt
    @ntgeralt Před 4 lety +6

    The design of the box and the manual is very beautiful, and the watch design is also very beautiful.

  • @skellious
    @skellious Před 7 lety +85

    aww. i heard a bit of the puppet music then it stopped.

    • @brokenscart7989
      @brokenscart7989 Před 7 lety +4

      Skellious trollface.jpg

    • @Techmoan
      @Techmoan  Před 7 lety +15

      *It was an editing error*
      Every video starts off with a copy and paste of the last one to retain the up to date patreon list.
      All audio is deleted apart from the intro and outro music.
      *1second* of audio from the previous video was not deleted in error.

  • @Nerdule
    @Nerdule Před 7 lety +9

    Wow, that's actually really clever. I don't know if it's really useful or just gimmicky, but some of those capabilities are stuff I've never seen any other timekeeping device OR non-Wolfram-Alpha calculator provide. That's genuinely the most impressive watch I've seen. Plus, it looks pretty retro-stylish.

  • @j.lizbardo
    @j.lizbardo Před 4 lety +2

    The HP standard calculation system + this watch, will never, ever be seen again. Fantastic! Great video.
    Not only that, the keyboard has the look and feel of old engineering and financial HP calculators.

    • @paulqueripel3493
      @paulqueripel3493 Před 4 lety +1

      When this came out the standard hp calculator used rpn. Still using mine from the early '80s.

  • @ELVTechnology
    @ELVTechnology Před 4 lety +3

    Those additional calculator functions are really innovative and a great addition. Very impressed.

  • @gr18vidz
    @gr18vidz Před 7 lety +120

    Hey, you make really high quality videos. I think this, LGR, and 8-bit Guy are my top tech channels on CZcams.

    • @a.f.1587
      @a.f.1587 Před 4 lety +2

      @Joe Kinchicken at least in your opinion...

  • @VeritasEtAequitas
    @VeritasEtAequitas Před 7 lety +33

    The "triangle" isn't exactly an enter key, and it makes perfect sense once you realize it's delta which stands for "change".

  • @rednef71
    @rednef71 Před 4 lety +2

    This channel is so interesting as someone who was born in ‘71 and was into computers and electronics since I was a kid. I love hearing the history of all this stuff. These videos are so well done! Subscribed!

  • @keithlincicum3691
    @keithlincicum3691 Před 5 lety +2

    What an interesting video! I once had one and was amazed to know that HP knew the longevity of the quality building into it the calendar to 2099. A long time ago I got a CD from HP on how to use it, and one thing that was fun was watching thunderstorms; touch the button with the flash of lightning and again with the thunder and you had distance to where the strike hit. It was dazzling in '77 and still is today!

  • @JRBlood
    @JRBlood Před 7 lety +30

    If I understood correctly, that watch is actually Y2K aware?! If so, mad props to the HP engineers for thinking that far ahead! Gone are those days where engineers at HP, Bell Labs, etc. actually BUILT stuff. Now it's "Eh, that's good enough to last a year".

    • @Techmoan
      @Techmoan  Před 7 lety +25

      Yes it is...21st Century dates are entered with an additional character which is then indicated by the . at the end of the display.

    • @themac6356
      @themac6356 Před 7 lety

      Techmoan what is the song that plays during your skits (with the puppets)?

    • @kixxalot
      @kixxalot Před 5 lety +2

      To be fair, gone to a large extent are also the days that people were willing to pay for quality. The cheapest version of this watch cost $650 in 1977, which had the same buying power as $2,753 in 2018.

    • @TassieLorenzo
      @TassieLorenzo Před 5 lety +1

      It's extremely impressive they anticipated it still working in the 21st Century and having a way to indicate 21st Century dates!

    • @gwishart
      @gwishart Před 3 lety +7

      It's more likely that they knew people would be carrying out date calculations that involved the next century for things like long term investments, pension plans, mortgages etc.

  • @petermccabe2355
    @petermccabe2355 Před 4 lety +4

    Led display looks gorgeous.

  • @Ratelzwatel
    @Ratelzwatel Před 7 lety +1

    One of the best CZcams-channels.

  • @ianhand5006
    @ianhand5006 Před 7 lety +1

    I really enjoyed that! Thank you very much for making this video. I had my first digital watch for Christmas in 1977, it was a simple LCD watch but it was my pride and joy back then. By the late 1980s I'd gone back to mechanical watches and stuck with them until I got myself an Apple Watch last year.

  • @aestereo7448
    @aestereo7448 Před 7 lety +3

    Great Video.
    The research you do before starting each review video is amazing.
    1:22 I had one of that Casio Touch Sensor Calculator Watch, gifted by a family friend (In fact on my request after seeing its ad in news paper!). It was an amazing watch for that period.
    Only drawback was it had the key buttons printed on the outside glass surface with a transparent conductive material. The circuit lines from each invisible button pass into the inside electronics after converging at the top of the screen like a PCB. Hence, a single scratch on the glass will cut-off the circuit and the watch function will cease to work for the affected buttons. (Not like today's capacitive tocuh screens, which can work even when the display is broken or shattered).
    It was a design fault that the glass was not recessed and was at the bezel level, and hence was very easy to get scratched. Casio improved the design in their later models by recessing the glass.

  • @sharonahamilton
    @sharonahamilton Před 2 lety +3

    Love your content! My father told me one of his friends got a digital watch in the early 1970s and it cost about $700. I didn’t believe him at the time because you could buy digital watches for about $10 in the 80s. So there you made me believe my dad for once lol

  • @magreger
    @magreger Před 6 lety

    Excellent video. I come back to this one now and again because this watch is so fascinating. It has features no one knew they wanted. Features no one asked for. All in a time when this type computation was cutting edge. I'd wear one of these.

  • @evilsock420
    @evilsock420 Před 6 lety +1

    So very glad I found this channel. This is content I can binge to. I got to the end of this video and realized not only had I not hardly blinked, but I also had a bit of drool coming out over this watch.

  • @Melissa0774
    @Melissa0774 Před 7 lety +47

    I'm watching this video on a Hewlett Packard computer right now. full circle

    • @shahnarazkhan
      @shahnarazkhan Před 4 lety +1

      Love you sweety

    • @stacy3
      @stacy3 Před 3 lety

      Melissa0774 crt?

    • @Melissa0774
      @Melissa0774 Před 3 lety

      @@stacy3 no. I have an HP desk top and a lap top, both flat screens. My previous comment was about the desk top.

    • @stacy3
      @stacy3 Před 3 lety

      A Warm Gun because being sweaty is not the same thing as sweetie and the other guy wrote sweetie as sweety I’m the only one that knows how it spells

    • @stacy3
      @stacy3 Před 3 lety

      Melissa0774 oh yes i understand

  • @OrinSorinson
    @OrinSorinson Před 5 lety +5

    This was such an amazing piece of technology, and even by current standards it still is. The fact that you have to learn to use it goes against most of today's UI and UX design, but that's OK since this isn't some throwaway piece of tech. If you get this, you have the certainty that you'll get quite a few years (decades) of use out of it... and also look good doing it.

  • @MisterTalkingMachine
    @MisterTalkingMachine Před 7 lety

    Complete with an on display indicator to remind you what century are you currently living in. Fabulous.

  • @LA6UOA
    @LA6UOA Před 7 lety

    I know how much you put inn to the videos you are making! Great job!!

  • @MasterDeanarius
    @MasterDeanarius Před 7 lety +6

    The "triangle" is delta, Δt means change in time.
    I love the look of that LED display shame it drains the battery so fast.

  • @BlankBrain
    @BlankBrain Před 7 lety +6

    Triangle is actually Delta, which is the symbol for change in mathematics. HP actually recalled the watch and offered a refund because they decided to get out of the watch business and close down the repair center. LCD displays were very unreliable and short-lived at the time; they faded or bled-out. I hope you show a Seiko Receptor sometime.

  • @TheMostEpicUserEver
    @TheMostEpicUserEver Před 7 lety +2

    This is my new favorite channel.

  • @doowopper1951
    @doowopper1951 Před 5 lety

    On 1977, I was working at a place called Chafitz Equipment Company, the “adult playground”. We sold all the cutting edge electronics, including the HP watch. This video bring back the memories.

  • @dangevad
    @dangevad Před 7 lety +4

    Pretty sure that triangle key is actually a delta, as in the greek letter used to denote changes in values in maths, not sure if it works in every case you showed but things like
    delta
    or
    delta
    makes some level of logical sense that way

  • @04dram04
    @04dram04 Před 7 lety +173

    this watch is 1000 times cooler than the Casio lcd. LCD looks so cheap

    • @daveb5041
      @daveb5041 Před 7 lety +9

      LCD doesn't work in the cold and can form the "ink drops". I have never seen an LED fail.

    • @EVRLYNMedia
      @EVRLYNMedia Před 7 lety +2

      agreed

    • @southjerseysound7340
      @southjerseysound7340 Před 7 lety +8

      I bet you'd have a better chance at repairing the led before the lcd's

    • @215alessio
      @215alessio Před 7 lety +3

      i saw led fail on cb channel transmitter display or frequency display. but tht's due voltage surge, the watch is only connected to the batteries so that won't happen unless you 'r striken by lightning .

    • @2adamast
      @2adamast Před 5 lety +10

      Looks so cheap because you were never stuck with a hp calculator with led display

  • @richardhall9815
    @richardhall9815 Před 4 lety +2

    It's mind-boggling how quickly technology progressed back then. Going from the first basic digital watch to the first calculator watch within just a few years, for instance. And the 1980s indeed saw the beginning of the popularity of touchscreens (at least as novelty items). As far as I know, the touchscreen interface in my car (1988 Buick Reatta) is the first CRT-touchscreen system in an American automobile, first introduced on the 1986 Buick Riviera. The green-phosphor monochrome CRT-touchscreen is used to control the radio and cassette deck, with graphic equalizer, channel balancer, analog Dolby noise reduction, and station presets, climate control (heat/AC/defrost, temperature, fan speeds, and two climate presets), fuel economy monitor (instantaneous and average) and range calculator, trip computer (showing miles traveled, and remaining miles and ETA to destination + gas consumption), user-programmable reminders, on-board diagnostic readout, showing error codes and live data stream, all-digital gauges with date and time adjustment, digital compass, brightness & tone controls, status screen, and more -- all by touching the screen. This was all accomplished through six different pages, which would be selected by pressing one of the six hard buttons along the periphery of the screen. People I talk to today seem to be unable to conceive that a car could have done all that back in the '80s! It could do most of the things that such systems in cars today can do, and I would say it is also more intuitive and easier to use than the systems in today's cars with the long, complex menus and more finicky touch response.
    By the way, you forgot to include the pic from the 1983 movie Wargames, where the junior missileer in the beginning missile drill scene visibly wears a calculator watch.

  • @TYNEPUNK
    @TYNEPUNK Před 6 lety

    love your vids man, preserving tech for ever, thank you.

  • @Crusader1089
    @Crusader1089 Před 3 lety +3

    I mentioned to my Dad how it seemed somewhat silly to have calculators in digital watches, and it turned out he actually used his calculator in the 80s! He used to calculate payment plan estimates for people while working as a Curry's salesman. Probably one of the only people who actually used the function for useful work.

  • @Coolkeys2009
    @Coolkeys2009 Před 7 lety +51

    As a kid I found LED watches and calculators amazing, LCD item's were very practical but a bit boring in comparison.

    • @MybeautifulandamazingPrincess
      @MybeautifulandamazingPrincess Před 6 lety +5

      I find digital watches to be much better and useful than analog watches, in terms of usefulness digital watches win by far, analog watches are good for fashion/jewelry

    • @graemeking7336
      @graemeking7336 Před 2 lety

      Hey !!
      I want my watch back !

  • @stevenbaggley1257
    @stevenbaggley1257 Před 5 lety +1

    Interesting video, thanks for making this.
    I remember trawling through the Argos catalogue in the 80's, checking out all the features available on 'new' digital watches. I seem to remember some had built in radios & tv, even a few with basic arcade games. It would be fun to collect these.

  • @JCBeastie
    @JCBeastie Před 7 lety +1

    This thing is amazing, the dynamic calculation, wow!

  • @sakadabara
    @sakadabara Před 7 lety +44

    Back in the day there was supersonic transport available !

    • @DejanTesic
      @DejanTesic Před 7 lety +12

      We (as in majority) didn't really have that, only rich people did.

    • @sakadabara
      @sakadabara Před 7 lety +6

      Poor rich people of today! They can't enjoy commercial supersonic flights anymore !

    • @djcpl
      @djcpl Před 7 lety +1

      Not really. Palm Treo was smarter then iPhone 7 when it comes down to such basic service as calendar and todo...

    • @MrGeocidal
      @MrGeocidal Před 7 lety

      If they didn't focus all their research on smartphones they could make another supersonic airliner.

    • @MrGeocidal
      @MrGeocidal Před 7 lety

      ***** I see your point.

  • @mcp12300
    @mcp12300 Před 7 lety +29

    The last shot of the watch says 1337 . . . classy :P

  • @olivercuenca4109
    @olivercuenca4109 Před 3 lety +1

    Takes me back to when I got a calculator watch back around 2010 from a car boot sale that was also a TV remote. Everyone thought it was the coolest thing around, so clearly there's still a lot of appeal in these old gadget watches.

  • @LeShark75
    @LeShark75 Před 6 lety

    I have two Casio Calculator Watches and love them both, they absolutely remind me of being a kid.

  • @18000rpm
    @18000rpm Před 7 lety +9

    That's amazing! Back when the UI was designed by the microcode programmer himself lol.

  • @Bacon420
    @Bacon420 Před 4 lety +6

    Yeah I'm a few years late. As a blind kid, my favorite watch was the Radio Shack talking watch. It had a super loud and annoying rooster crowing alarm!

    • @Dannydawson537
      @Dannydawson537 Před 4 lety +1

      Bacon420 I always remember this old guy use to come into our school to do talks about his blindness I always remember he had this thing that buzzed when it was raining (rain detector) he also had a watch like you said tells you the time best wishes to you brother 😊👍🏻

    • @DoomFinger511
      @DoomFinger511 Před 4 lety +2

      Holy crap I had that watch too as a kid. My vision is fine, I just thought it was cool to have a talking watch when I was 8.

  • @tomryner5830
    @tomryner5830 Před rokem

    As a guy born in 1971 I can honestly say that tech was So much more interesting in the late seventies and early eighties than it is today. Tech was Exploding in a way that we do not see or recognise today.
    Yes my dad brought home a PET in 1978 and in 1981 we had a pre launch 64. (Dad worked with computers).
    I Love this stuff. I remember having a calculator watch in 1979 and a watch that someone stole at school in 1980 that had alarm tones set to dates, like Jingle bells at Christmas! And that was way back when!!!

  • @simp-slayer
    @simp-slayer Před 7 lety

    I had a cheap-o calculator watch in the early 2000's too. On my birthday my dad had also bought me a watch with a camera!
    It had really crappy black and white display and you would transfer the files through infrared. Man that was like alien tech to me.
    Thanks a lot for bringing back memories :-)

  • @Kommaardoor64
    @Kommaardoor64 Před 7 lety +4

    Great video. these watches always remind me of Dwight from the office US.

  • @rrook88
    @rrook88 Před 7 lety +46

    pardon me while I get my magnifing glass and tweezers to do a calculation

  • @andycristea
    @andycristea Před 7 lety

    Awesome watch! I wish I could afford one... Also, great camera work! I love the quality of the close-ups. Thanks for the video!

  • @msys3367
    @msys3367 Před 7 lety

    Impressive functions indeed. And you just have to love that look of that LED display.

  • @AceSkates
    @AceSkates Před 7 lety +3

    love how the thumbnail says "leet"

  • @MarkButiken
    @MarkButiken Před 7 lety +4

    You tricked me! The music for the muppet aftershow played for about a second and then nothing NOTHING :O *tears in my eye*

  • @geekdomo
    @geekdomo Před 6 lety +1

    Holy cow! I love watching (pun intended) your trip back through my childhood. I HAD that Casio capacitive touch watch. I was one of the coolest kids in school that year for sure. Thanks for the memories.

  • @mescko
    @mescko Před 7 lety

    I had a calc watch that displayed the entire month on it's face and had access to it's entire calendar history back to the 1800's at least. You could scroll at high speed through history. I *loved* it!

  • @travis4798
    @travis4798 Před 7 lety +9

    Personally I like the look of that watch over lcd watches.

  • @volvo09
    @volvo09 Před 7 lety +4

    Beautiful work on another awesome video! and I'm sure someone has said this already, but I'd love to see what you have on your "wish list" of stuff to get a hold of (either due to price or availability).... you've got great taste in retro tech...

    • @Techmoan
      @Techmoan  Před 7 lety +7

      I wish I was that organised, I've got a lot of interesting things lined up, but I've already bought them.

    • @TuneStunnaMusic
      @TuneStunnaMusic Před 7 lety

      Maybe a preview vid of stuff that youre going to make videos of, as well as things youre looking for? This video was awesome btw.

  • @theskig
    @theskig Před 5 lety +1

    12:22 my jaw dropped on the desk...
    In late 80's as a child I figured out how to full use a Casio Databank watch only by myself without a manual (all my parents thought I was genius for that) but this was insane. I love it.

  • @TheBitwise
    @TheBitwise Před 7 lety +2

    Very eye-opening. I've been using the Casio CA-53W for over a decade, and it served me well all through high school and university (microbiology) whenever something was too time-consuming to do in my head, but didn't demand the functionality of the TI-83 handheld calculator in my backpack. It surprises me that Casio hasn't updated the design in decades, and actually many of these older watches have better functionality -- things like scientific operations and unit conversion. I went to dozens of watch retail stores recently and was dismayed that NONE of them carried a calculator watch. In a parallel universe where this technology had not gotten dropped like it was hot, my dream would be something capable of graphing, entering formulas with variables, and the ability to store and work with lists of numeric values in a way that isn't just a shitty, over-glorified text file like data-bank watches have.

  • @brokenscart7989
    @brokenscart7989 Před 7 lety +18

    That's a beautiful watch. Whatever happened to HP..

    • @brokenscart7989
      @brokenscart7989 Před 7 lety +1

      youfermont cussed by a fuck tonne of bloat ware

    • @zac8603
      @zac8603 Před 7 lety +1

      brokenSCART If you look at their current flagship laptop it's kinda good looking.

    • @nezbrun872
      @nezbrun872 Před 7 lety +2

      The real HP lives on in "cast offs" like Agilent and Keysight, where thankfully world leading products, innovation and service survive, albeit at a price of course. HP the company today is HP in name only, and is a race to the bottom I'm afraid and has been like that for about 15 years. I'm not an employee or dealer or anything, just someone who knows quality and innovation when I see it, and owns more HP/Agilent/Keysight test equipment than is strictly necessary.

    • @BlankBrain
      @BlankBrain Před 7 lety +8

      Carly Fiorina happened to HP.

    • @Dorelaxen
      @Dorelaxen Před 7 lety +3

      One of the worst CEO's in history. Was running for President not too long ago.

  • @ahmedrisha
    @ahmedrisha Před 7 lety +32

    that watch is more complicated than the Palestinian issue

    • @MrCarguy2
      @MrCarguy2 Před 6 lety +2

      Ahmed Risha *gets 1974 flashbacks*

  • @TimeArtPiece
    @TimeArtPiece Před 6 lety

    As always well done an very informative, I really appreciate your work. I don't have an HP in my collection yet but I own some Seikos C153 and C359 and these are the ones I wear the most. The vintage calculator watches are still fashionable and fit a geeks wrist perfectly.

  • @rauhamanilainen6271
    @rauhamanilainen6271 Před 2 lety +2

    I got my first calculator watch in 2009 (when I was 9), and I thought they were really new and advanced. Today I learned the 80s didn't just have such watches already; they even had touchscreens and handwriting recognition as early as then.

  • @JesseCombsTwiZtedCheese
    @JesseCombsTwiZtedCheese Před 7 lety +31

    You could say, it's "ahead of it's time"

  • @aaronlajiness72
    @aaronlajiness72 Před 6 lety +8

    9:11 - An indicator to tell that it's the 21st century... so HP made a Y2K-Compliant watch in the mid-70's?

  • @kwas101
    @kwas101 Před 7 lety

    One of the most entertaining channels on CZcams! My uncle had one of those watches that 007 had (well I am sure it was not the exact one but a knock off). It was so amazing to press the button and the time would appear in the middle of the black screen. We all thought it was some high tech marvel. Now I have a Microsoft Band and it is pretty much the same thing - black screen, press a button. The more things change...

  • @GeminiRVides
    @GeminiRVides Před 5 lety +1

    Astounding. The engineering that went into this!

  • @JonathanWJ
    @JonathanWJ Před 7 lety +10

    I thought it was a bit funny that the LED display was considered 'outdated', as essentially all modern smartwatches use LEDs (OLEDs) as opposed to backlit LCD. :)

    • @TobiasLeininger
      @TobiasLeininger Před 5 lety

      the only useful smartwatch uses the right display ... a pebble. always on and working for weeks.

    • @neyoid
      @neyoid Před 5 lety

      Because those were only red, and now we have all colors of LEDs. LGR made a good video about the quest to create the blue LED.

  • @seanelgie
    @seanelgie Před 4 lety +5

    Still fashionable, I wear one of my Casios on the daily.

  • @ianwlouw
    @ianwlouw Před 7 lety

    My dad used to have a similar watch to the HP one back in the very early eighties, i remember being totally fascinated by it

  • @budhamcbride7971
    @budhamcbride7971 Před 7 lety

    Brilliant video. I had a watch in 1985. It was a Christmas present from my parents. It had calculator stop watch it even held phone numbers. But for me the best feature was what would now I guess be called The Ring tones. It played about 20 different tunes. I really miss that watch.

  • @k1ngjulien_
    @k1ngjulien_ Před 7 lety +26

    13:37, i like that meme

  • @adamsaint2890
    @adamsaint2890 Před 2 lety +6

    This is from the days when Hewlett Packard was an incredible engineering firm.

  • @sayresyDevino
    @sayresyDevino Před 5 lety

    ...spent a week in 75 picking spuds (12 yr old) and bought an LCD Casio digital watch and it was one of the best days of my teenage life. It cost around £25. Spent ages watching it do the different functions.

  • @wisteela
    @wisteela Před 7 lety

    It's great that you've done a review of this

  • @oneaburns
    @oneaburns Před 7 lety +3

    Old school tech is so cool. I love that display. Too bad it only stays on a second at a time.

  • @gavincurtis
    @gavincurtis Před 7 lety +109

    I'd buy that for a dollar.

  • @colombianguy8194
    @colombianguy8194 Před 7 lety

    Absolutely amazing watch! great video as always.

  • @Geoffr524
    @Geoffr524 Před 5 lety

    Loved tech watches of the 80's, and had a calculator watch, temperature, barometric graphing watches, and even surise/sunset watch. Awesome video, of times gone by.

  • @soulagent79
    @soulagent79 Před 7 lety +7

    In the 80's I had a calculator watch too and wore it to school for a brief period of time, until the novelty had worn off. ;-)

    • @pauljs75
      @pauljs75 Před 7 lety +1

      For the Casio Databank I had as a kid, it wasn't so much the novelty, but the flat panel keypad wearing off and flaking away at the corners.

    • @spoods4628
      @spoods4628 Před 7 lety +4

      That happens?! Shit, I should be more careful with mine.

    • @pauljs75
      @pauljs75 Před 7 lety

      The memo/schedule calendar version... The other one shown in this video doesn't have that problem afaik. Although the rubber can still wear out.

    • @limmoblack
      @limmoblack Před 7 lety +2

      Im one of the few people who wore-out the Casio rubber buttons (i worked in a stores and used it all day)

    • @stradlemonkey444
      @stradlemonkey444 Před 6 lety +2

      pauljs75 no one likes a worn out rubber!

  • @AppliedScience
    @AppliedScience Před 7 lety +105

    Love it! You make such great videos. Just curious: how much of your narration do you script vs improv?

    • @mephistovonfaust
      @mephistovonfaust Před 7 lety +3

      I'm pretty sure it's all scripted.

    • @Techmoan
      @Techmoan  Před 7 lety +160

      Nothing was written down - it's all off the top of my head albeit with multiple takes done to ensure the words fit the video that I've pre-assembled and sometimes I'll re-assemble the video to fit the words. The only parts of the videos that are ever scripted are the muppet outros as I need to keep on top of which character says what in what order and what line they are responding to.

    • @mephistovonfaust
      @mephistovonfaust Před 7 lety +46

      Techmoan Ok wow... I could've sworn it was scripted by the way you talk in your videos and how informative they are with all the pictures of magazines and stuff. Massive respect for you then!

    • @hackeritalics
      @hackeritalics Před 6 lety +12

      Holy shit... I don't speak that well to actual people.. And you do this without writing things down? Fucking Hell.

  • @Vexation4632
    @Vexation4632 Před 7 lety

    Nice vid. I had the Casio calculator watch I purchased for a job working at a Panisonic warehouse in the eighties. That thing , though expensive a hell was a lifesaver.

  • @aristideau5072
    @aristideau5072 Před 4 lety +1

    There was another really cool LCD calculator watch made around the same time that had a flip down panel covering the buttons. A friend of mines Dad had one and I remember it looking so cool. Will look for it and will edit if I can find it.