Remex Twin-Star

You might recognise this module — it’s the same as this one and this one, almost.

There are enough similarities, functionally, for them to be the same but each is subtly different.

They all have time (12/24 hour), day/date/month, a daily alarm, dual time, countdown timer and stopwatch, plus the LCD analog display.

It’s the analog LCD that has the differences. This one looks like a mirror image of the Odyssey, which I’m guessing gave people a choice as to whether their analog display would be on the right or left (assuming they were sold at the same time, and in the same places).

The Microma, on the other hand, has the same layout but they’ve squeezed more segments into the LCD display, making their module more advanced still.

So three similar watches, but each with their own unique look.

Remex was quite a well-known, if budget, brand in the 1980s and produced some cool watches, particularly game watches — they had at least three of these which were, as far as I know, original to them and not copied by anyone else. They were the roulette, matrix attack and laser attack watches, the latter of which has a rare variation called ‘Raid Bug Off‘ which was a promotional giveaway by the Raid bug spray people.

This one appeared on eBay and looked quite nice, pretty much NOS condition, and working. The description did have this odd caveat though: ** For the buyer: Please do not tinker with the movement after purchase, as these LCD units are not as tough as the modern watches, so just enjoy it for a long time. **

It arrived and, of course, wasn’t working. Not a great surprise since it had been posted in a standard envelope without a shred of bubble wrap so was pretty much exposed to the elements of international post.

I obviously didn’t buy it to look at a dead watch though so, against the sellers advice, opened it up to see what the problem could be.

One of the small metal parts which usually sat on a couple of plastic bayonet mounting points had been broken off and whoever repaired it had used paper and blu-tack which, unsurprisingly, hadn’t lasted the journey. In all reality it had probably failed while being put in its envelope to post it.

Not a particularly difficult ‘repair’ to fix with some glue and remounting to what was left of the bayonets, and the watch is working. The alarm pin also needed the same repair so now it is robust and, when I sell it, won’t need to add the same disclaimer!

These watches, regardless of module, are pretty cool — the LCD digits are thinner and more ‘pointy’ than those made by the likes of Casio and Seiko, and even the alarm is more of a triple note chime than a standard beep.