Timex

History

Founded in 1854 in Waterbury, Connecticut, the Waterbury Clock Company specialised in mass-produced brass clocks made cheaply. In 1896 it produced the "Yankee" for Ingersoll, the one-dollar pocket watch nicknamed "the watch that made the dollar famous". During the First World War it adapted a small lady's pocket watch by adding lugs and a crown at 3, creating one of the first wristwatches. By the mid-1940s it had become the United States Time Corporation, and in 1950 it launched the Timex brand. In 1956 came the celebrated televised torture tests with the newsman John Cameron Swayze and the line "Timex — takes a licking and keeps on ticking". By around 1962 it was the number one brand in the United States, with one watch in three sold being a Timex. Later decades brought the Ironman stopwatch (1986), Indiglo electroluminescent backlighting (on sale from 1992) and the Datalink watch (1994), developed with Microsoft and worn by NASA astronauts.

Iconic models

• Marlin

  A mechanical dress watch from the sixties, brought back in a modern reissue; shorthand for affordable elegance.

• Ironman Triathlon

  A digital chronograph launched in 1986 alongside the Ironman Triathlon; the reference endurance sports watch.

• Camper

  A military field watch from the eighties and the visual basis for reissues such as the MK1.

• Weekender

  A casual watch with interchangeable straps, a contemporary best-seller on price and versatility.

• Datalink

  A 1994 data watch developed with Microsoft and taken into space by NASA; an ancestor of the wearable.