Whenever the latest vintage quartz watch arrives it’s almost automatic to reach for the isopropyl, a cotton bud and fibreglass scratch brush in anticipation of the inevitable leaking battery and associated corrosion of the circuitboard that is nearly always present.
So it’s a rare treat when you find a watch that was stored with care, like this one!
I won this on a local auction site, boxed with instructions, and opened it to find the original receipt, and the battery wrapped in an old telegram of the owner.
So, for once, the battery bay was clean and a new battery later it fired up like it had never been used.
The careful storage extended to the rest of the watch too, which looked like it had never been worn, and the chromed plastic is in excellent condition.
For a watch that was designed to be played with, this is probably the best example I’ve seen. And while there were a lot of cheap knockoffs of this particular watch, the build quality is obvious, inside and out, of the genuine Takara.
The robot is probably the most common of the Takara Kronoform watches (perhaps due to all the knockoffs) but it was also available as a scorpion, plane, gun, boombox and other variations.
The module is basic, but does give you the option to have the time/date alternating which is unusual for these.
Once the robot is untransformed, it clips to a special holder on the custom watch strap and can be worn as a standard timepiece – but no one ever did that, did they?
Not terribly rare, although genuine ones in good condition are, they still fetch high prices, like any Transformers toy 30+ years after they first appeared.
Wow you lucked out. That’s so cool.
By the way…. can you tell me what type of battery these take?
It’s like the most secret info on the planet…
It’s very secret and now you know, you can’t tell anyone!
This watch takes a 392/AG3/LR41 battery 🙂
Hello, Are you still in possession of this watch? Any chance you are willing to let this go along with it’s original receipt? This was something special I wore as a kid growing up and as an adult now, I’d like to re-live that nostalgia hahaha..
Hi, sorry this isn’t for sale – it took me a long time to find it and they rarely appear for sale. The only one for sale on eBay at the moment (November 2021) is listed at USD8000 so unless you have lots of patience, or *very* deep pockets, this may be a long search!
I’m getting a used working Japanese Micro Change Takara Watch Robo in black from Japan. I’m excited because I’ve been looking for one for almost 10 years for a good price.
Yes have the exact same takara watch there are plenty of knock offs but the takara 1 isn’t easy to find nice 1
I’ve been lucky to purchase a working takara kronoform watch but it needs a new battery. Was it easy to replace the battery yourself or should I take it to a watch repairer?
You will probably be more careful than a watch repairer, who don’t place much value on these ‘toy’ watches. It’s not difficult to do the battery change but I think you end up removing the arms and legs to get to the caseback, so just remember where everything goes 🙂 Good luck!!