VINTAGE Micronta 63-751 Alarm Clock With Green VFD Display

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Originally recorded March 27, 2019.
When I was growing up, this clock was always in the den in my grandfather's house. I always thought it was awesome because it was green, any other digital clock I had seen always had a red display.
Anyway the years ticked away, and eventually, my grandfather passed away. As all of the siblings were sorting out the house, I asked if I could have the clock, and they agreed. This clock has been in service for close to, or possibly even over 40 years!
I'd be willing to be my (late) uncle got this, probably off the back of the delivery truck for no charge, because he worked at Radio Shack back in the day.
Anyway it's a wonderful piece in my collection with a lot of sentimental value, and has some interesting quirks at that. First of all, the seconds start counting as soon as it's plugged in, so if you wanted to synchronize time, you'd have to watch another clock and plug it in exactly when that clock changes. Then it only has the fast or slow setting, so if you overshoot the time, you have to go around 23 hours and change to get back there (but at least the seconds stay counting). And lastly, the snooze feature isn't a button, it's the CLOCK you press.

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16 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 25

@tommyeye7899 Год назад

Cool video. A simple and amazingly reliable digital alarm clock. I snagged this same clock off of my parents back in the mid eighties. This clock has outlasted them all. I've tried upgrading throughout the decades only to end up plugging this one back in to place it on my nightstand where it will permanently reside...forever. It has never failed me nor drifted out of time like the many newer clocks I've purchased. I firmly believe it will continue to function far beyond my years.

@jaykay18 Год назад

I have noticed that, a lot of modern clocks can't even keep time properly. They've gone away from quartz crystals to derive the frequency from, and gone to microcontrollers because they're cheaper. Then they write very poor code, test it for 5 minutes, and put it into production. This clock was produced the old-school way, I believe a lot of these Radio Shack products were hand-soldered.. And back then, they used real, leaded solder, for good connections that would last a really long time. This one I have is still in service, it's well over 40 years old, and has been plugged in for that amount of time as well. This is when they made 'em.

@montecheney6688 Месяц назад

I had that EXACT clock in my bedroom in 1979 at age 9. I recall because I watched the time hit midnight on Dec 31 and couldn'tbelieveit was 1980.. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

@jaykay18 Месяц назад

You're welcome!

@EskieWolf 5 лет назад

Nice clock. I'm sort of liking the greenish blue display better than the red display. I too have a clock where the entire unit is the snooze button.

@jaykay18 5 лет назад

Yeah I wanted this clock because of the display's color, that was the main deal. In the early 1980s, all I had ever seen was red, in fact my own alarm clock was red. If you'd be so kind as to provide a link to the clock you have, I'd gladly watch again.

@kevinsvideodump 5 лет назад

9A0 date code on the bottom = it was made in September 1980

@jaykay18 5 лет назад

Thank you for that!

@dynatrak 5 лет назад

Nice clock! I really like VFD's from that era. I have a Micronta alarm clock with LCD display that starts counting seconds once the battery is installed, so I also have to sync it as you describe.

@jaykay18 5 лет назад

Thanks, I was really happy to be able to get this piece!

@dynatrak 5 лет назад

Cool, it looks fairly mint as well. I hope it continues to do it's thing for another 40 years.

@jaykay18 5 лет назад

It probably will. The VFD may very well be unreadable by then though!

@nl.515 5 лет назад

120 Holts, 60 Vertz, makes sense. Those bright and dim spots are easy to make out, not bad for a 39 year old clock.

@jaykay18 5 лет назад

No no no, it's Wertz and Vatts. Every W gets a V, every V gets a W. About 25 years ago, when my grandfather was suffering from cancer, he was given an answering machine. One time we were over and we "hacked" his outgoing message to say "Ve cannot come to the phone, ve're shopping at Valdbaum's."

@jaykay18 4 года назад

2 Millennials can't read digital clocks besides their analog counterparts.

@hakemon 5 лет назад

I had a Sparta (I think that's the name?) alarm clock with the same exact fast/slow thing, and the worst part was it had no de-bounce on the buttons, so you honestly couldn't get what you wanted at all. Like this clock though most likely, it used the 60Hz from the outlet as a means for keeping time, which is actually more accurate than modern clocks which use Quartz crystals, as the grid is designed with a far more accurate clock source than the cheap ones used in modern clocks. So these are better time keepers.

@jaykay18 5 лет назад

Spartus. I have one that has a fast/slow setting like this one also, it's a slide switch that doesn't slide so easily, so you always miss. Come to think of it, I could probably fix that up pretty easy. I'm pretty sure you're correct in that this Micronta clock uses the 60Hz from the mains; I couldn't imagine any other reason why it would count seconds from the moment it's plugged in. Though come to think of it, I definitely have some that have Quartz crystals that will also increment the time, but they definitely reset the seconds when the time is set.

@hakemon 5 лет назад

@@jaykay18 My current alarm clock, one I modified from white to orange LED (with the envelope trick), it is like your Micronta and uses the Quartz. It starts counting seconds, so if you want to sync it up with something, you have to plug it in about 2 seconds before the other clocks minutes change.

@jaykay18 5 лет назад

Interesting. I do remember the envelope trick, that was pretty neat. Most of the clocks I have will reset their seconds when the time is adjusted. Weird.

@jasonford-kann4153 3 года назад

1980

@jaykay18 3 года назад

Sounds about right, thank you.

@jasonford-kann4153 3 года назад

@@jaykay18 I problem. I used to own a vintage digital clock shop.

@jaykay18 3 года назад

@@jasonford-kann4153 You're a genuine asset around here.

@petermaz701 5 лет назад

I actually prefer a green display for my eyes for some reason I have a Sony clock radio with a green display that I can actually see at night and my vision is poor without my glasses. When you were talking about the features of this little clock just a while ago you had a couple of new ones look at the amount of features they’ve now added to the new ones as opposed to this older clock somethings, not all, do improve.

@jaykay18 5 лет назад

I'm familiar with the Sony clocks with the green displays, those were LED. Certainly not bad at all. This one is a VFD, and while it has well over 250,000 hours on it, it's still pretty good. The color from an LED display can never match a VFD, there's just something different about them. I'm not too fond of the way this particular clock sets with the fast/slow and the seconds starting immediately when plugged in, but otherwise I love it. I'd take a simple looking clock like this any day over all these fancy-dancy ones with wake up lights and 46 different tunes plus a radio for the alarm. I use that Timex clock with the keypad as my actual alarm clock. I've always grown up with red displays so it doesn't bother me. That clock is plain and simple, it has one job to do, and does it well. The keypad makes setting that clock so fast.