Fairchild LED Digital

A gem of a watch

Description:

This is a nice 5 function LED digital watch from Fairchild Semiconductor.Unlinke many of the semiconductor companies, Fairchild produced watches with distinctive styling and very good quality construction for the money. This model featured an attractive faceted design with pronounced brushing showing off the all stainless steel construction. It catches the light quite nicely and has a pleasing geometric symmetry to it. Build quality is top notch.

Fairchild 1977 Advertisement

Fairchild is not a particularly well known company today, but they were once hugely influential and essentially launched the semiconductor industry. Almost every major semiconductor company of the 20th company was founded by ex-Fairchild employees, who became known as "Fairchildren". Fairchild ran an advertisment with a collage of Silicon Valley company logos stating "We started it all." Fairchild's list of firsts include:

• - First commercially practical integrated circuit
  - First IC amplifiers
  - First commercial CCD sensor
  - First video game to use ROM cartridges (before the Atari 2600!)

Fairchild struggled through the 1970s and was finally purchased in 1979 by Schlumberger Limited, an oil field services company.

Condition:

Case: Excellent.
This watch is in excellent, almost mint condition with the original machining on the case and the mirror surface on the front bezel intact.

Face / Hands: Fair.
All digits are bright, however, the second digit from the right is missing the bottom most segment. It was working until recently - not sure if it's a fixable contact problem or if it's (more likely) an unrepairable failure.

Crystal: Excellent.
Perfect. The silvery Fairchild logo is complete and there are no scratches.

Band / Bracelet: Excellent.
The original bracelet is near perfect and fits an 8" wrist.

Function / Accuracy: Excellent.
All functions work perfectly. Digital quartz accuracy.