Visit Guide
For now, ignore the door and come to the TIMEX factory, in Portugal, to know what happened here.
After having fun in this section, you can then continue your visit through the door which will take you on a journey across time.
TIMEX
When Clive Sinclair needed a partner to invest in and assemble his computers, he established a partnership with TIMEX, managed by Fred Olson. On that agreement, TIMEX reserved the rights to commercialize the computers in some very strategic market where Sinclair was not yet present. The main goal was, obviously, the Northern American market.
The TIMEX factory in Dundee (Scotland) started assembling the ZX81 computers.
It is crucial to note that this came at a time when TIMEX was trying to diversify its offer internationally. Examples of this are some medical devices displayed in this exhibit (blood pressure monitor and a scale), or, even, the 3D camera Fred Olson had invested on and that was developed by TIMEX Scotland.
They were quick to challenge António Gomes, Chief Executive of the TIMEX factory in Portugal (Quinta dos Medronheiros, Lazarim, Caparica), to explore the opportunity that was rising regarding electronics, converting the mechanical watch assembling company into one focused on electronics. António Gomes recruited the help of Professor Álvaro Oliveira and they put in motion the operation that would put Portugal on Spectrum’s map.
In Portugal, many Spectrums (and other models) were assembled. The first ones were designed in the USA and assembled in the chosen factories all around the world (for instance: the TS15000 was designed in the USA but was assembled and upgraded in Portugal). However, when TIMEX Corporation (USA) started losing interest in the computation market after the released of the American TS2068, it was Portugal who continued on that legacy. This happened because in Portugal, unlike what happened in Scotland, also established itself in the Engineering/R+D field, a direct result of the vision TIMEX Portugal people had, alongside with the support of a mother-company.
In 2020, during a conversation with us, Professor Álvaro Oliveira told us that it was the first sample of a Living Lad, a collaboration between TIMEX with other industrial players, that helped the company evolve to be able to meet the demand market (which was not easy because there was a lot of product to produce). A collaboration with Centros de Saber (like ICESC) with whom they developed the Gate Arrays technology (the first of their kind with superficial assembling – they created one of the very first machines of that kind in the whole world), which was used a lot in TIMEX equipment.
Initiatives in motion:
- The TIMEX Factory was founded in 1970. We are working alongside family members of the first Chief Executive to include some of his notes in the exhibit.
- António Gomes passed away in 2020. We are working with his family to include some of his notes here.
- Over the past few months, we have had the privilege of working with people who experienced all this first-hand inside the TIMEX factory. As is our mission, we are trying to deepen and develop our knowledge on this history, and only with these people will we be able to do that. Even more, it is also thanks to a lot of them that we are able to strongly show this entire phenomenon. Right now, we even have some machine prototypes that had never been released but that we are able to show everyone. A family portrait will come along soon.
Because of all this, this is a section of this entire Exhibit that we will further work on and expand in due time.