TSP6: The Timex Triathlon Watch
Today we’re exploring the history of a device that was super-important to me way back in 1988. When I started training for my first triathlon. That is the Timex Triathlon watch.
I remember buying my first Timex Triathlon from Argos in Slough. It was maybe in 1985 or 1986. When I was still just a runner.
When it came out it really was a technological leap forward. You could store lap times and the buttons were easy to see and press. Features you only previously got on classic hand-held stopwatches.
Here’s a quote from the Timex Website:
In 1984, we took the clock off the finish line, and put it on your wrist to create the world’s first sports watch. TIMEX® IRONMAN® became your coach, your motivation and a symbol of your dedication. Together, we’ve crossed nearly every finish line in the world.
The original Timex Triathlon was released in 1984. After development work by Timex’s in-house designers and input from the ironman organisers, writer’s from Runner’s World magazine and serious athletes. These apparently included Mary Decker-Slaney and Alberto Salazar.
In 1984 Timex was already a sponsor of the Hawaii Ironman and they hoped that this new digital product would improve their lacklustre sales.
Timex’s product manager for digital launches, Mario Sabatini, even flew to Kona in October 1984 to get a feel for the market. He took 1500 Timex Triathlon watches with him to sell to athletes. The watches were priced at $34.95 And he sold them all.
In 1986 Timex acquired the rights to use the word Ironman and launched the Timex Ironman watch alongside the Timex Triathlon.
The Ironman had a different colour-scheme to the Triathlon. Black and yellow rather than black and red. The Ironman logo was added and the water-resistant rating was increased from 50m to 100m.
When British surf brand Animal released their velcro-fastening after-market straps in 1987, my mum started sewing fake ones to go on your Timex.
My brother would then sell them Spiv-style out of his school blazer. He also offered a bespoke size and colourway service.
If the 1984 partnership between Timex and Ironman gave Timex a boost, the roles were reversed in 1986.
By 1985 the top professional triathletes were preferring Nice rather than the Hawaii Ironman. Nice had offered prize money since its inception in 1982 and Hawaii still refused to.
Nice was often held a couple of weeks before Kona and few athletes wanted to put out two huge efforts so close together. 1985 even saw a kind of boycott of the Hawaii Ironman by many of the pro-athletes.
But in 1986 the Timex Ironman watch had become the best-selling watch in the USA and was earning royalties for Ironman. On top of that an anonymous donor put up $100,000 to be used as prize money if the organisers so wished.
This monetary offer was accepted. “... pushing the race out of its cosy family aura and into the big time.” wrote Timothy Carlson in the September 2003 issue of Inside Triathlon Magazine.
We now know that this anonymous donor was Steve Drogin from La Jolla, CA. Drogin was a real estate developer, philanthropist and serious scuba diver. He also had a house in Kona.
For more information on those 1985 and 1986 Kona races I urge you to read Ironwill by Mike Plant. There’s a link to it in the show-notes.
Of course. Nowadays. Not many triathletes use just a simple digital watch. GPS has taken over. I appreciate some aspects of the technology and I have a simple Garmin device and a Strava account.
But I’m not hung up about it. I don’t upload half the stuff I do or obsess over the data. So I think I’m going to start logging my near-daily exercise on paper again. And try to get hold of a Timex. Does Argos still exist?
Links:
Animal watch straps.
Ironwill by Mike Plant
Timex commercials used in audio version. Intro. Outro.
Sources:
Coolest Vintage
Wikipedia: Timex Ironman
25 Years of the Ironman Triathlon World Championships by Bob Babbitt
Inside Triathlon Magazine: September 2003
TriHistory.com: A Straight 40 To Go
Times Ticking: I Am Ironman
