Time For Something New: Timex Introduces Retro Manual Watch

Since the founding of Tradsville (the online community of Preppy-Ivy-Trad-Americana) in 2004 on the Ask Andy forum, getting a Timex Easy Reader, plus an assortment of striped bands, has been a veritable right of passage, as well as a kind of pledge of allegiance. The watch sends a variety of signals, including frugality, the rejection of investment-level timepieces, and a sense of fun and youthful style when it comes to the practical matter of looking at one’s wrist to ascertain the time.

This month Timex released something new to tempt the tradition-minded: a design from the era corresponding with the Ivy heyday, that actually requires winding rather than a battery. The temptation part? It’s 200 bucks, and you don’t even get a real ‘gator strap. Personally I’ve a vintage manual Timex tank-style I picked up on eBay in the $30 range, and a hundred-dollar ‘gator strap from Central Watch. The way I see it, I’ve got my priorities straight.

The watch is called the Vintage Marlin. Here are some details from the press release:

 

And for those still content with the Easy Reader, there’s a 40th Anniversary Edition out, which you can find here. — CC

15 Comments on "Time For Something New: Timex Introduces Retro Manual Watch"

  1. Minimalist Trad | November 16, 2017 at 12:12 pm |

    The original Easy reader (T20501) is still being manufactured and is available at $30 from many online sources, including the Timex site and amazon.

    The anniversary edition ($70) is not a replica. It measures 38 mm, unlike the original, which measures 35 mm.

  2. Charlottesville | November 16, 2017 at 12:38 pm |

    The Vintage Marlin looks great. I’m wearing a manual wind, late 50s gold-filled Hamilton, and I like the brand, in part because that is what my father wore when I was a kid. However, when his Hamilton was stolen, he bought a Timex and wore Timex ever after. Very trad!

  3. Timex has some more nice looking pieces “from the archive.” I like this one: http://www.timex.com/fairfield-village/TW2R52000LG.html?cgid=offspring-collection#start=1

  4. The reissued Marlin has a svelte 34mm case, an ideal size for a Heyday look, and very unlike the majority of watches sold today. The 38mm size of the Anniversary Easy Reader is too big for a period Ivy flavor,

  5. This new Timex is a knock-off of the Hamilton Intra-matic that was very popular in the 60s.

    Also the strap is fake lizard, not fake ‘gator. But, either way it looks cheap.

  6. Yes, I meant that it’s not even fake gator, but lizard!

  7. For the last few years I’ve been wearing a solar-powered watch, which is not a traditional power source. But it does have a classic face with Roman numerals. Very traditional.

  8. A trad Confused | November 16, 2017 at 8:31 pm |

    These are sold out and now selling for almost double on ebay!

  9. The Duke of Windsor | November 16, 2017 at 9:05 pm |

    I’ve Timex manuals from the early 70s that look better then this cheap looking repro.

  10. This watch doesn’t even look THAT nice. I’d take an Easy Reader any day.

  11. I recall my first Timex, bought in 1966, for $10. With inflation, $200 is about right. My Timex had a silver dial,luminous hands and markers, and a black leather band. I saved up to buy a silver Speidel Twist o Flex band, $6.95.

    I wore it well into the 1970’s.

    I won’t line up to buy a new one.

  12. @Wriggles:

    The inflation calculators on the Web tell me that $10 in 1966 is $75 in 2017. Perhaps I don’t know how to interpret these figures correctly.

  13. My next purchase looks a lot like this timepiece but with a much more diopheretic price tag.

    http://www.jaeger-lecoultre.com/us/en/watches/master/master-ultra-thin/1338421.html

  14. Further to Minimalist Trad’s comment:

    “Easy Reader” was originally the name of a single model; it has become the name of an entire line of Timex offerings in different sizes and different numeral size.

    Those who are looking for the original should indeed choose T20501 (silver-tone with black band) or T20491(gold-tone with black band).
    Neither of them has a date window; that was a later addition.

    If I remember correctly, T20491 used to come with a brown band.

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