If you collect all things Seiko then one of these or the more converted UC-2000 are a must. Possibly one of the worlds first ” smart watches” ironic that the case size and design looks very similar to the Apple watches of today.
This one has a story to it like most of my watches. I was given the watch as payment for some other work possibly in 2019 as I can’t really remember exactly when. The problem was I did not have the keyboard and the contrast on the screen (which is adjustable via the keyboard) was set too high for me to use. It was also missing the sliding clasp on the bracelet meaning I would have to find one somehow.
I am a member of a Facebook group called Vintage Digital Watches and in there is a guy called Tiberiu Who runs a YouTube channel of the same name. I know him quite well and asked for advise and ended up sending him the watch for repair as he said the coil would be damaged. The coil fits round the battery which is a really silly idea given its easily damaged by battery changes. He assessed my watch and concluded the coil was bad but he could rebuild it for me for a fee ( he has done videos on this)
It took him several months and he was able to repair the watch and also sell me the correct keyboard!
He actually put some resin protection on the module to future proof that coil. You can see it in grey in the photo above.
There it is working correctly on the keyboard.
The main features of this watch are that it has a schedule where you can input any meetings etc into the schedule so you can be reminded of them, it can store a whopping 43 separate schedules!
It also has a memo page. You have 100 lines of text you can store within this memo all entered in by the keyboard attachment. Not bad for 1984!
Above is the watch with hi contrast that can only be lowered by use of the keyboard.
Now dimmed for a clearer view.
Now I had a fully working watch I wanted to find the sliding clasp. A rare thing to find but I figured as I have many digital Seiko and a pile of old straps surely something would be compatible……
No is the answer to that. I tried everything I had and reached out to the community but no one had a solution other than finding an original. So the watch was put back in my draw of “to do” Granted I could fit an aftermarket 22mm bracelet but there is not much available in black and non would compare to the original in my opinion.
Fast forward to June 2022. I was browsing on eBay and came across one for sale with the contrast all tuned up and no keyboard. It looked in fairly good condition so I took a chance.
I was the only bidder! I guess people either do not want the model or know that without the keyboard you can only use it as a watch .
A week later it turned up and to my surprise it was in better condition than my own. Pleased by this I quickly swapped the modules over mainly because of Tiberiu future proofing of the module.
So after 3 years or so I now have a fully functioning UC-3000 That is now working beautifully and looks really cool and retro. A nice keeper for the collection and a blast from the past from the 80s
This watch also features on my Vintage Digital Watch Collection video from April 2024
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