Watchman
| Watchman | |
|---|---|
| Owner / user | Sony |
| Introductory year | 1982 |
| Products | Pocket TV |
| Markets |
 Japan United States Europe 
|
Watchman is a trademark owned by Sony for ultra-small portable televisions (" Pocket Televisions "). The first Sony Watchman was introduced under the model name FD-210 in 1982. The device has a specially constructed flat screen tube in which the image information is viewed on the inside of the tube. The visible screen diagonal is 2 inches, which is about 5 centimeters. It measures 87 mm × 198 mm × 33 mm and weighs around 650 grams when ready for use. The picture tube itself is only 16.5 mm thick. Initially, the device was offered in Japan at a price of 54,800 yen (then the equivalent of around 560 DM or 285 euros), and shortly afterwards also in the USA and Europe. The version for the European market ( FD-210BE ) was functional in almost all Western European countries, only in France the reception failed due to the TV standard "L" used there.
In the following years, more than a dozen different models with the same picture tube technology were presented, the diagonal grew to 3 and 4 inches (7.5 and 10 cm). The most common are the FD-2 and FD-10 models , each with the original 2-inch tube. Based on the Sports Walkman , a waterproof cassette player from Sony, a splash-proof television set, the Sports Watchman FD-45 , was even released in 1986 .
In 1990, the Watchman was colored, the FDL-310 gave the flat picture tube for the first time a colored liquid crystal screen in thin-film transistor technology . This screen was later used for a number of other models, including the "television kit" FDL-330S , in which the desired individual components (screen, tuner, loudspeaker, battery box ) can be assembled into a cube-shaped object as required.
