Fossil Big Tic BG-1093 - Retro Cassette Player

The first watches from the Fossil brand that I noticed were in the same range as today's watch, called Big Tic.

The Fossil brand started in 1984 and produced it's first branded watches a year later. Their aim was to be passionate and creative, producing items with a sense of humour. The Big Tic watches were first released in 1998 and stood out from the rest because the face was covered with an LCD display behind the hands, usually showing large seconds digits. These watches have become a signature design of Fossil watches and contain patented technology to Fossil.

This particular model doesn't actually feature the LCD seconds display behind the hands on it's 2-hand dial. What it has is a complicated LCD panel which draws a line drawing (like an etch-a-sketch) building up the picture in segments. There are two different pictures that it alternates between - a stereo/retro cassette player, and a cassette. Inside, the case is packed with the module (-it's a large watch but it needs all of the inside volume for the electronics), and there are three batteries - Two 920 batteries for the LCD display, and a smaller AG4? for the time. The analogue time is adjusted with the crown, and there is also a button which stops the animation and lights all of the LCD segments at the same time.

The case is large and quite heavy, being all stainless steel, and the watch is 50m (165ft) water resistant.

The back of the watch states that it is covered under two US patents, numbers 5,636,185 and 5,995,456, and the strap is patent 6,418,706 B1.

It's model number is BG-1093 (or BG1093), and it seems the original retail price was $75.