1950s Back to the future prop watches. ( now with Helbros Watches.)

I had not watched the Back to the Future trilogy in a while. (I think I last watched it in 2015.)

I know there is the watches in film thread here. A search did not show the watches used in the 1950s scenes. Most searches show the 1985 product placement Seiko and Casio watches. Never really saw the use of a calculator watch as the buttons are too small.

There was one site that showed one of Doc Brown's 50s watches. Notably the Helbros. The guess is the clock tower model watch is an Enicar. The brown strap right watch does not seem to be as well documented. (There may be multiple props used over the three films.)

I know they guy who did the electronics on the time machine. One of the company cars in the 1980s computer store I worked for in 1983 was a Delorian. Sadly I never got to drive it.

Bill is also into Pipe organs and still sells MIDI boards online. He told me what the hard to find relays were. There is some pipe organ stuff in the mix. While the relays used in the flux capacitor are vacuum operated they are for much higher voltages than normally used in pipe organs.

Somewhere I have some displays like on the time control panel. Most of the stuff was from the Local Surplus stores in the Southern California, which shared the same suppliers as the Silicon Valley ones. There was a time when I though it might be fun to duplicate some of the props. Then I found there were dozens of websites, so I lost interest. Bill did help me match the Wurlitzer carvings on my calliope.

Not sure why I never paid attention to the watches. The so called Enicar watch looks like a generic AS1194 case watch.

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I noticed that the 'Santa Clause' Wakmann watch I put together in January has an almost identical case. I actually prefer the black dial.


I still think A Schild watches are underrated.

So the goodwill Helbros invincible that sort of matches the so called "Doc Brown" stunt watch finally arrived. In the mean time I boutgh 21 more watches while waiting. But that will have to be a separate thread. Hint. One of the 21 Seikos also seems to have a film tie in. But not BTTF.



Spent some time researching Helbros. Quite interesting read here https://forgottenwatchbrands.wordpress.com/2016/01/02/helbros-watches/

Seems Helbros did a lot of Door to door sales. Which fits with the Door to door gag in the film. The other thing is that there are no import marks On either of the Invincible watches I got this week. Seems that bending the rules to get ahead in business is nothing new.

These watches were also prize giveaways and sold in the back of catalogs.

Most of the Helbros watches I have are ladies style disposable costume jewelry. (With surprisingly good movements.)

Sounds like the Helbros Brothers, would take anything and case it anyway they could. Or perhaps they were aquiring spare parts and assembling watches from them?

Could be a subject unto itself ...