1987 Timex x Playskool "Teach Me" Quartz digital-analog
Timex x Playskool joint venture collab from 1987. My watch is 1987, but there are earlier ones from 1985, see below. This watch seems very rare. Why do I think that? See far below, bottom.
Model is called "Teach Me," and was meant to simultaneously teach digital along with analog time-telling to children. A kids watch, but I will probably wear it from time to time like a dual time zone, set the LCD to GMT and the pink clock to local time. Four screws hold steel backplate in place. Made in Korea. I am Alan (contact: email. Website: AVW.
Luminous material is still strong after 31+ years.
The pink MODE button changes the LCD display from time to the date. The small, recessed pink SET button is used for setting time and date. The face has the PLAYSKOOL logo/words, and the TIMEX water resistance wave. I love the pink dial.
Caseback is held in place by four screws. It says on back: 1987 PLAYSKOOL, INC. STAINLESS STEEL BACK. ASSEMBLED IN KOREA. Notice the oval ridge in the center of the casback. That is where you're supposed to put a sticker with your kid's name and phone number, in case either the kid or the watch gets lost.
The oval sticker is right below, not my pic, from ebay auction of another watch:
With the four screws removed, the caseback comes off easily to reveal the circuitry and electronics. You can see to the right, where the MODE and SET buttons push these little brass contact points. The battery hatch is obvious upper right, with battery removed.
Worth mentioning now in this pic that the case is a single piece of injection-molded plastic, with sollid/fixed lugs. This is a good idea for a kids' watch. No springbars to pop off during play activities. The original strap for these appears to have been Velcro, and so long as the strap wasn't removed, it would be hard for a kid to lose this watch. Notice also that along the side of the case by the crown, there are those upward sloping plastic raised bits, functioning as a crown guard, just like a Rolex haha.
Close up view of the crown side of the movement. The PRESS shows the tiny button to depress, in order to remove the stem if you need to get to the rest of the movement. ASSEMBLED IN KOREA BY HANDOK. I have searched for Handok, and I have found a company that makes protein supplements, one that makes hydraulics, one that makes pharmaceuticals, and also some watches that were not very inspiring. The circuit board also says ONE (1) JEWEL UNADJUSTED, and is stamped A72 in black ink.
Copyright 1987 by Playskool.
Inside of case looks like a racetrack. There is an outer rubber gasket, to keep it water proof. Kids can be messy, right. Also says CASE JAPAN PLAYSKOOL.
The next four pictures are not mine. They are from various internet auctions. It seems it is from 1985, and is red case with yellow face/dial. Below these pictures is one more of my own pink watch, and a wrap-up of this discussion.
One final picture. It's really a neat watch, with both the classic analog watch dial, and the LCD digital readout. From 1980s, where I'm sure there were many cheap digital watches abounding for kids, and someone probably thought it's a good idea to let them have both modalities. I'm not sure if it's proven to be effective in getting them to learn to tell time on an analog clock, or if they just gravitate toward the digital readout, and ignore the hands!
So, why do I think this is rare? I've just never seen it much. There are many other TIMEX watches for "learning time," kids watches that you see all the time on the ebays, but this one never seems to show up much at all. Maybe it was made in small numbers, or maybe just thrown out by parents and didn't survive the Eighties. I'm thinking it was made in small numbers more likely. People keep every manner of old stuff, including many other children's watches that show up same one over and over, so I'm concluding it had small production runs.
I hope you will like it.
Alan
Contact:
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