Timex Atlantis 1984 vs 2010. Old school

There are many wisdom sentences. One of them about history repeating itself. I recently got lucky to find Timex Atlantis 100 made in 1985. I happened to have more current 2010 Timex Expedition Atlantis. It was tempting to compare these watches. Where to start? 

In 1984 digital watches were THE thing among anyone who can’t afford something snooty. Casio, Seiko, Citizen were producing amazing watches. Timex at the time had less choices to offer. It was not time for Ironman yet. As I write it I picture all that excitement of new electronic things coming out almost every day. We relived it in a way with computers, later with phones and who knows what will be next. Constant race to invent, excite and make money. There are some stories about how it came to be, yet looking at the watch I can see choices, cuts and decisions. 

Atlantis was made to be high profile entry into digital watch market. Market which already filled with other watches, Timex included. What should be done in order to grab bigger piece of marketplace? 

First of all, you have to offer great functionality and solid build. These highly functional digital watches were somehow rare and somehow pricey. I am not talking Rolex prices, rather working man prices. You know, someone who lives on a budget price point. Therefore, if you get to the market on some middle ground, undercutting your competitors on price while offering god value, you will succeed.  

Second, everyone who wanted one already got one or almost got one, so chances are you need to keep it in mind. If everyone has square or circle you should hit some middle ground.

Atlantis hit all middle grounds:

·         Watch was solid steel piece with nice pushers and nice bracelet it felt manly and substantial

·         You got time with hours, minutes, seconds, day, date and month

·         Stopwatch, timer, dual time alarm and illumination were impressive functionality in 1984

·         Last but not least it came with 100m water resistance. Most of the watches had none at the time.

Neat ergonomic design and logical operation gave you very nice watch to buy, to wear and to be contemporary in the future to come. You get substantial watch. Size is actually not far from square modern G-Shocks. My Casio GLX-5600 is VERY close in size to old Timex. Casio is of same thickness and only slightly wider. By the way in 1984 it was not the trendy thing. Slimmer and smaller were buzz words in digital watch design.

Timex Atlantis was based on previous design and layout, which happened to be so sufficient that rest of the digital Timex watches followed similar display layout and functionality from 1982 till this day. This is 35 years of legacy. New models have few functional additions, but core of the digital watch stay the same. Old Timex Atlantis had been built on a module and packaging of earlier Timex and inherited all good and awkward. Some bad design shortcuts also remained in place. If you ever tried to change battery you know what I am talking about. Atlantis was good watch but not really game changer. Success of Timex Ironman was THE big thing in significance for a brand. Another notable thing about Atlantis is reuse of design and technology while repackaging. So, Atlantis was not ground breaking it was BALNCED offer and very nice one. 

For me old Atlantis is embodiment of good digital watch. I would love to buy something similar today with modern internals and more tweaks. Namely, solid steel digital watch with descent functionality, reasonable price and good design.

Current offer is Expedition Atlantis. It has mostly same functionality as historic one with few differences: Indiglo and lap count in stopwatch were added. Expedition Atlantis comes with cheap plastic build, smaller pushers, it slightly slimmer due to lack of screw down back. LCD has green background for better visibility in low light and worst visibility in daylight. Also LCD fonts are bigger and thinner, however contrast and quality of the screen on new model is lower. 

Bottom line is not 1:1 deal; rather it is a homage thing. Don’t get me wrong it not a bad watch, but for it full list price in Canada you can get far better watch. At 10 extra $ you can get a G-Shock. G-Shock is, by far, a better choice. Does Expedition Atlantis 100 cover most of functions you may want in the digital watch? Yes!? Many years later there are obviously more to find in digital watches, yet Atlantis is more basic offer now, compared to old one was at the time, especially if you consider a price. Is there a quality advantage? No. None. Is there are design advantage? No. It is authentic looking watch, but it hardly modern or ergonomically contemporary. Modern Atlantis offers slim-ish build watch with reasonable function set and can be recommended only then watch goes on sale. 

How old compares to new? Old Atlantis has a vintage charm and interesting as a solid watch which happens to be historical piece. I am really glad I got it. New Expedition Atlantis feels more disposable and lacks manly attractiveness of elder one. Does new watch serves same customers as old one? Definitely no! The main issue with new Atlantis is obviously cheaper approach. Timex not alone in this – Casio pulls same classic watches with plastic case and thin stainless steel band.

So does history repeats? Yes and no. Yes! same functionality, same approach to target audience and cost cutting exhibited in new watch as it was in old one. No!!! Old watch is the one, which they don’t make anymore. If you can get it in good condition – grab it. Just don’t swim with old Atlantis.