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Remember the Sony Watchman?

S

Stanislav

Who has owned (or still owns) a Sony Watchman?

Years ago, I had one of the little B&W jobs with the 2" screen. That thing worked like a charm, and was seemingly indestructible. It spent many years being carried in pockets; stuffed in suitcases and bags; bumped, shaken and dropped countless times, but like the classic Timex, it "kept on ticking." Went with me on road trips, camping, hiking, etc. The only drawback was the not terribly accurate continuous dial tuner for both VHF and UHF -- they could hardly have put a detent tuner in something that small, but you would think an electronic tuner with a number pad and up/down arrows would have been feasible. (And maybe they did that in later models...I don't know.)

I don't recall whatever happened to that thing. I probably gave it away when the 2" screen started to become too much of a strain on my middle-aged eyes. :(

Wonder if and when there will be a DTV Watchman? (I hear they already have them in Japan.) For that matter, no one has really come out yet with a small, affordable Watchman-like DTV. (The only couple models I've seen are expensive and get generally lukewarm reviews.) Then again, is there still a mass market for such a device with video being available on so many other portable devices (Blackberry, iPhone, etc.) now? Would be nice if they made something for those of us who just want to monitor OTA TV, and don't feel the need to be otherwise connected to the world 24/7 with some super-duper all-in-one gadget.
 
I still have mine from Christmas 1988. Still works too! In fact, I used it last summer when Hurricane Dolly knocked out our power. Kind of sad it will soon be useless :'(
 
I believe Casio had something similar to the Sony Watchman back in the 80s.

Never owned a Watchman myself but my uncle did. Totally forgotten today but back in the 80s there were actually some restaurants that wouldn't allow people to use these things inside their place of business. My uncle back around 1986 was having dinner by himself at a Red Lobster restaurant in Fairfax, VA. Instead of reading the paper he pulled out his Watchman and watched TV. Despite using an earphone so others wouldn't hear the audio it still didn't stop some of the other customers from complaining ( they felt a person watching TV in a restuarant was, well rude. Same thing with those listening to Walkmans as well ). Anyway the waitress walks up to my uncle and tells him to turn it off or else he would be asked to leave. He did.

About two weeks later a group of us went to that same Red Lobster and there it was..a sign out front. "...The use of personal televisons, radios, games and tape players within our restaurant is strictly prohibited" Thanks uncle ;D

It is interesting looking back now in this day and age where so many people go out eating at restaurants, shopping, riding the bus, etc... while they are listening to Ipods, watching movies on personal DVD machines, using their laptops, and of course chatting away on their cell phones..today nobody cares ( except when one is driving and doing thise things of course ).

But..back then..the sight of a man watching a small B&W battery operated TV at a restaurant or a child listening to a walkman while his/her parents shopped at a JC Penney..that was considered rude.

Times sure have changed !!!!!
 
mleach said:
I believe Casio had something similar to the Sony Watchman back in the 80s.

Never owned a Watchman myself but my uncle did. Totally forgotten today but back in the 80s there were actually some restaurants that wouldn't allow people to use these things inside their place of business. My uncle back around 1986 was having dinner by himself at a Red Lobster restaurant in Fairfax, VA. Instead of reading the paper he pulled out his Watchman and watched TV. Despite using an earphone so others wouldn't hear the audio it still didn't stop some of the other customers from complaining ( they felt a person watching TV in a restuarant was, well rude. Same thing with those listening to Walkmans as well ). Anyway the waitress walks up to my uncle and tells him to turn it off or else he would be asked to leave. He did.

About two weeks later a group of us went to that same Red Lobster and there it was..a sign out front. "...The use of personal televisons, radios, games and tape players within our restaurant is strictly prohibited" Thanks uncle ;D

It is interesting looking back now in this day and age where so many people go out eating at restaurants, shopping, riding the bus, etc... while they are listening to Ipods, watching movies on personal DVD machines, using their laptops, and of course chatting away on their cell phones..today nobody cares ( except when one is driving and doing thise things of course ).

But..back then..the sight of a man watching a small B&W battery operated TV at a restaurant or a child listening to a walkman while his/her parents shopped at a JC Penney..that was considered rude.

Times sure have changed !!!!!
Click to expand...

Indeed:I've had The Casio Walkman, radios, XM Airware, and used my cell phone in restaurants(not at the same time).Never had a problem that I can remember..
 
mleach said:
I believe Casio had something similar to the Sony Watchman back in the 80s.

Never owned a Watchman myself but my uncle did. Totally forgotten today but back in the 80s there were actually some restaurants that wouldn't allow people to use these things inside their place of business. My uncle back around 1986 was having dinner by himself at a Red Lobster restaurant in Fairfax, VA. Instead of reading the paper he pulled out his Watchman and watched TV. Despite using an earphone so others wouldn't hear the audio it still didn't stop some of the other customers from complaining ( they felt a person watching TV in a restuarant was, well rude. Same thing with those listening to Walkmans as well ). Anyway the waitress walks up to my uncle and tells him to turn it off or else he would be asked to leave. He did.

About two weeks later a group of us went to that same Red Lobster and there it was..a sign out front. "...The use of personal televisons, radios, games and tape players within our restaurant is strictly prohibited" Thanks uncle ;D

It is interesting looking back now in this day and age where so many people go out eating at restaurants, shopping, riding the bus, etc... while they are listening to Ipods, watching movies on personal DVD machines, using their laptops, and of course chatting away on their cell phones..today nobody cares ( except when one is driving and doing thise things of course ).

But..back then..the sight of a man watching a small B&W battery operated TV at a restaurant or a child listening to a walkman while his/her parents shopped at a JC Penney..that was considered rude.

Times sure have changed !!!!!
Click to expand...

My doctor still has a sign in his waiting room prohibiting the use of cell phones or other personal electronic devices. My theory - he wants to keep his patients' blood pressure down prior to their examinations. There's nothing like a phone conversation with your boss or spouse to raise your BP thru the roof. ;D
 
I still have one in mint condition - with the little gray sack that it came in. The poor thing is about to become a relic of the analog age!
 
Lkeller said:
My doctor still has a sign in his waiting room prohibiting the use of cell phones or other personal electronic devices. My theory - he wants to keep his patients' blood pressure down prior to their examinations. There's nothing like a phone conversation with your boss or spouse to raise your BP thru the roof. ;D
Click to expand...

Not to mention the BP of the rest of us forced to listen.... :mad:
 
BRNout said:
I still have one in mint condition - with the little gray sack that it came in. The poor thing is about to become a relic of the analog age!
Click to expand...

A few (very few...like one or two) DTV converters work on DC power as well as AC. All you have to do is rig up a battery pack, feed the RF output into the Watchman's telescoping antenna, then strap the whole conglomeration together! ;D

(If anyone actually attempts this, they win "TV Geek of the Year," hands down...)
 
Sony is among several companies rushing to develop a DTV version of the Watchman. Look for beta versions later in the year!
 
mleach said:
I believe Casio had something similar to the Sony Watchman back in the 80s.
Click to expand...

I had a Citizen 2" pocket TV that I received for Christmas in probally '87 or '88. You would open a lid to watch it, it had an LCD in the lid that would reflect in a mirror to see the picture. This was designed with the idea that you could watch it outside. Ran on 4 AAA cells. I think it lasted only about 3 or 4 years before the LCD went out.
 
catfishal said:
mleach said:
I believe Casio had something similar to the Sony Watchman back in the 80s.
Click to expand...

I had a Citizen 2" pocket TV that I received for Christmas in probally '87 or '88. You would open a lid to watch it, it had an LCD in the lid that would reflect in a mirror to see the picture. This was designed with the idea that you could watch it outside. Ran on 4 AAA cells. I think it lasted only about 3 or 4 years before the LCD went out.
Click to expand...

I had a Citizen set as well at one time. It was given to me as a prize for looking at some resort property, although I was too young at the time to have been able to buy it. I had convinced my dad to go with me because the ad said that I would receive a portable TV, which was misleading because it sounded like it would be at least a 13 inch set. I was disgusted with it since I lived in an area where there were only 2 stations that would come in on it, and not very well at that, so I ended up selling it for $25. So I at least got a little money out of it.
 
I had something like a Watchman-think it was from Radio Shak however- The 2-2.5" TV gave me a lot of stuff to watch out in the boonies when camping-real good VHF-H and UHF tuner-terrible on ch 2-6. The thing is 20 yrs old and I'm keeping it for future camping occasions out West where it will still be possible to watch the translators which I understand will still be on analog.
I found the little bugger to have a better tuner than most larger sets or perhaps it was due to watching the set outdoors 90% of the time.
 
vibe said:
I had something like a Watchman-think it was from Radio Shak however- The 2-2.5" TV gave me a lot of stuff to watch out in the boonies when camping-real good VHF-H and UHF tuner-terrible on ch 2-6. The thing is 20 yrs old and I'm keeping it for future camping occasions out West where it will still be possible to watch the translators which I understand will still be on analog.
Click to expand...

For now. Translators and LPTVs will sooner or later have their own "drop dead" date to switch to DTV. A lot of them are just going to eventually go dark, unable to afford conversion.
 
Stanislav said:
vibe said:
I had something like a Watchman-think it was from Radio Shak however- The 2-2.5" TV gave me a lot of stuff to watch out in the boonies when camping-real good VHF-H and UHF tuner-terrible on ch 2-6. The thing is 20 yrs old and I'm keeping it for future camping occasions out West where it will still be possible to watch the translators which I understand will still be on analog.
Click to expand...

For now. Translators and LPTVs will sooner or later have their own "drop dead" date to switch to DTV. A lot of them are just going to eventually go dark, unable to afford conversion.
Click to expand...

That is a good point and sadly I can think of one LPTV station that may very well go dark within the next few months. That being WAZT in Woodstock, VA
Even their website gives a "hint" at what may be happening to them...

http://www.wazt.com

and to think the first time I saw WAZT was back in December 1985 on my battery operated B&W Sony as my parents were driving through "downtown" Woodstock. That drive lasted 6 minutes. ;D
 
I saw a MegaWatchman in a pawn shop today.
Made me think of this thread and how dead analog will be before I could get my $45 worth out of it.... ;)
 
I got a Sony Color Watchman as a Christmas gift in 1995. We had a tornado in 1998 in Dunwoody (suburb of Atlanta) and it came in handy to see what was going on. It helped me to know that a tornado had passed over me. It still works great and has good color. Maybe they will make portable converters? Nah, I guess not, too much concentration on the development of digital Watchman. I haven't seen a Watchman in any store for years. I wonder when Sony stopped making them.
 
BTW, how much you wanna bet that when small, portable DTV units start coming out, they will probably be seriously overpriced? Not that they should be expensive: consider that the inexpensive circa $50-60 (before coupon) converter boxes are essentially just DTV receivers without a display. It can't cost that much more to add a tiny LCD screen and small speaker to that circuitry. Small LCD screens are ubiquitous now in mobile phones, iPods, etc. -- probably a dime a dozen wholesale. Hell, Wal-Mart sells basic 13" CRT SDTV TVs for just over $100 -- should a small, say, 2"-5" battery portable be any more expensive? And consider all the stuff that you don't really need in a tiny portable. No more need for any analog reception. (Those still relying on analog translators can continue using their old portables for awhile.) No need for audio/video inputs, or on-screen display/EPG (which would be pretty much useless on a tiny screen anyhoo). I mean, by rights a decent, basic portable DTV shouldn't run much more than a hundred bucks, tops, but I'll bet they start out selling for at least twice that much. And it will be a long time before they come down to the kind of $39-59 range we're used to for those generic 5" analog portables that have been sold under umpteen different "off-brand" labels over the years. (I have at least a couple of those gathering dust in a closet somewhere.)
 
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