Monday 5 November 2012

Etch A Sketch watch by Basic Fun Inc

Today is another novelty watch that looks like it's for kids, but you need quite a large wrist to wear it.

The watch is an digital watch with a miniature Etch A Sketch built in.

The Etch A Sketch is a mechanical drawing toy originally released in 1960. It was designed in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes. The original toy was/is manufactured by the Ohio Art Company originally in Ohio, but they started manufacturing in China from 2001.

The Etch A Sketch is hidden under the watch module and has a screen covered on the inside with Aluminum powder. Two wheels then move an internal stylus up/down (right wheel), and left/right (left wheel) which scrapes the Aluminum from the screen leaving black lines as it reveals the dark inside. The screen is refreshed by upturning and shaking the device, and there are polystyrene balls inside to help return and smooth powder. The toy is in the top 100 list of children's toys, and in the National Toy Hall of Fame.

The wristwatch version was made in 1995 by Basic Fun Inc.

Basic Fun Inc started in 1991 in Pennsylvania, USA. They began with miniature keychain versions of regular toys (starting with the super soaker). They still produce many licenced miniatures and key rings from companies such as Hasbro, Nintendo, and Nickelodeon, along with a range of Fisher Price classic toy recreations. The company also became a division of Good Stuff Company in 2008.

The watch part is a basic LCD module with LED large 4 digit display. It only has time, date, and seconds displays, changed by the top button. The bottom button is for time setting.





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