DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

Texas Instruments First Watch

Date of introduction:	June 11, 1978 Available:	Display technology:	LED
New price:	$19.95	Display size:	4
Size:	1.25" x 1.0" x 0.45" 32 x 25 x 11 mm³
Weight:	0.35 ounces, 10 grams	Serial No:
Batteries:	2*SR41	Date of manufacture:	year 1978
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	USA
Precision:		Integrated circuits:
Memories:
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner
		Download manuals:	(US: 7.5 MByte) (US: 1.8 MByte)

This wonderful First Watch was introduced as a learning aid for five to seven-year-olds and teaches how to read any clock. The box included:

• A colorful, reliable digital watch
• A Fun games and how-to book
• An exclusive "Hands-on-Time" learning dial

In 1978 Texas Instruments stated: Digital time is here to stay, but today's youngsters still need to know how to read conventional "big hand-little hand" time.
Today, 30 years later, we know more - most kids wear old-style watches or use the analog clock of their sell phones.

The First Watch was introduced together with the Speak & Spell toy and the Spelling B.

Don't miss the last watch sold by Texas Instruments.

Find here parts of the original press release dated June 11, 1978:

TI Talking Learning Aid Sets Pace for Innovative CES Introductions

DALLAS, June 11, 1978

Innovative learning aids for children, including one that talks, compact powerful calculators for home and office, and multi-function digital timepieces with long life batteries for men and women were among a dozen products introduced by Texas Instruments Incorporated at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show, June 11-14.

The talking learning aid is called Speak & Spell™. An outgrowth of TI's basic research in synthetic speech, the product is designed to help children seven and up learn how to spell and pronounce more than 200 commonly misspelled words. Solid State Speech™ is an entirely new concept which stores words in a solid-state memory much like a calculator stores numbers.

Also introduced in TI's new Learning Center™ product group were Spelling B™, a silent mate to Speak & Spell that helps children six and up learn spelling, and First Watch™, which teaches five to seven-year-olds to read any timepiece, whether digital or analog (with hands).

First Watch

First Watch, developed to teach five to seven-year-olds to read any watch or clock, includes a colorful LED watch, Hands of Time™ learning dial and a four-color "how-to" book that tells about timekeeping from caveman to space age and offers games selected for educational value and fun.

TI's First Watch, with a suggested retail price of $19.95, is scheduled for availability this month.

The complete press release could be found here:

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.