An early vintage digital Expedition Timex is featured in this post, dated around 1998 (80 M745) in pretty decent all round condition. The digital display is clear and basically as good as the day it was bought. Classed as a Chronograph model the features are more or less what you get in the current Expedition models.
Digital display wise – Standard view is along the lower part, hours, minutes and seconds plus an AM/PM indicator and the upper part shows Day, Month and Date. Using the lower left pusher or “mode”, this changes the display in turn to Chronograph (with slit/lap timing), Alarm, Timer (100hrs) and 2nd Time Zone, in that order. This model also features a 12/24hr display option and an Hourly Chime. It has a night light (Indiglo) using the top left pusher which is on as long as the pusher is pressed. All setting is done using the lower right pusher and the top right pusher selects Alarm on or off etc. So quite familiar really to anyone used to using these digital display watches. Note in the images shown here the display shows grey background and black numerals when light is not being reflected off it, however its almost fluorescent when the light strikes at some angles and then appears very high contrast green background with black numerals.
In most conditions it’s pretty good though as most of these, the top data can be slightly over-shadowed by the black surround of the watch face. Still featured on some current watches, though I note many now have a visible face area wider than the numerals, so avoiding any possibility of shadows.
It’s a very neat watch at 39mm diameter and only 9mm depth, so a good bit smaller than current Expedition models. It has spring bars so you can fit any standard strap to it, though it actually measures a slightly non standard, but gettable, 19mm width. I have a Timex “E” quick wrap strap fitted and it is perfect and comfortable.
In a dark almost black resin case, light grey bezel with printed pusher data, the back has a stainless steel plate secured by 4 x corner screws and has it has 100m Water Resistance.
Some of the older Timex models like this one, for me, are often nicer to wear than the present offerings. Only 15 years before the current stuff (an age in electronics of course) the displays funnily enough tended to be neater, as are the watches which were smaller and slimmer and yet managed to portray the excitement of the new Digital age without bulk or large knurled or knobbly bits here and there. They were and still are science fiction in a way, because they’re ground breaking and the core function and the attraction of the watch is not obscured by too much over the top and perhaps unnecessary Dr Who extravagance. Note this model has a battery life of around 6.5 years.
I might yet add more to my digital collection, though perhaps it could be more appropriate to call it my Timex collection, as I seem to be acquiring more of these by the week! Whatever – I’m sure it won’t be the last!
UPDATE – 4th August 2014
Started to get a little erratic this morning and I decided to check out and hopefully replace the battery – assuming this was the problem. Removed the 4 back screws and realized this was a different style of module that I am used to. The center part is a round cover which is actually clipped on to the very large CR2016 battery! The cover is held down by 3 screws to the module board. Simply removed these and un-clipped the battery from the cover once it was in my hand. Replaced the battery by clipping the cover over it, then dropped the cover and battery assembly on to the board, lining up the 3 screw holes and screwed it back in place. Writing on the cover says to “press this” to reset after battery change, referring I think to small metal contact on the module. However on turning the watch over I saw that the digits were indicating fine, so skipped that instruction. Replaced the back of the watch and set the time data. All functions are working perfectly now including the back light, which actually was the first problem I saw prior to replacing the battery. Instead of lighting, it indicated code and altered the time setting to 12:00. This I suspected was the lack of power – hence the battery change today. It took me about 10 minutes start to finish.
Sorry I didn’t think to take photographs, but suffice to say it was very easy to manage.
UPDATE – 16th July 2021
Well here we are some 7 years later after the last battery change. The watch is still working perfectly, display showing just great and a testament to the longevity of this classic Timex Expedition watch. The only thing I had to do was correct the day from the 18th to the 16th (today) and re-adjust the time slightly – it was 5 minutes fast – which is not bad after 7 years from an early quartz.
Watch space 