MarketBlack Watch (wristwatch)
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Black Watch (wristwatch)

The Black Watch is an electronic wristwatch launched in September 1975 by Sinclair Radionics. It cost £24.95 ready-built, but was also available for £17.95, as a kit. These prices are equivalent to around £170 and £120 respectively in 2025, when adjusted for inflation.

Design
The Black Watch was equipped with a red light emitting diode display, which illuminated only when the watchcase's surface was pressed; pressing one part of the case displayed hours and minutes, pressing another displayed minutes and seconds. The Black Watch was later available in grey and white, with these versions also having a date function. The product was beset by technical problems, including short battery life, variable accuracy and a very sensitive integrated circuit which could be rendered useless by static shock. In spite of this, Sinclair's advertising still claimed: :If that sounds technical, think of the outcome: a watch with no moving parts, a watch with nothing to go wrong, a watch which gives accuracy never achievable by the most precise mechanical engineering. ==Reception==
Reception
The watch suffered from serious inherent design flaws. These included the batteries only having a 10-day life and being difficult to replace. A large number of watches were returned for repair or replacement. This completely overwhelmed Sinclair's customer service department, which still had a backlog of watches awaiting repair two years later. The watch was a commercial disaster for the company, which made a loss of £355,000 for 1975-6 on a turnover of £5.6m == References ==
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