Focusing on the design of pocket transistor radios manufactured during the 1950's & 1960's!

by James J Butters

SONY TRW-621 'WATCH RADIO'

This glamorous Sony TRW-621 was manufactured in Japan circa 1960. It features a beautiful built in Seiko watch with alarm! Author Enrico Tedeschi suggests in his book ‘The Magic of Sony’  that the TRW-621 was the first radio with a built in watch. It was probably the first transistor radio with this feature.

A very early crystal set from 1913, the Horophone (funny name!) a British, wall-mounted crystal receiver designed to receive time signals from the Eiffel Tower in Paris used a pocket watch as part of its setup. Ref: Radio! Radio!  By Jonathan Hill

 
 
 
 

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The alarm mechanism on this radio is interesting. The little red triangle on the face of the watch indicates the alarm setting. To adjust it simply turn the crystal bezel on the outer rim of the watch. There is a switch on top that indicates either manual or automatic settings. Set it for automatic. When the watch reads 3.00 pm, for example, the radio automatically turns on acting as the alarm! Don’t forget to wind the watch though; it needs to be wound once a day.  

Sony released another watch radio in 1961/62, the TRW-625 was smaller than the TRW-621 and the watch was built into the center of the speaker grill. In 1962 Matsushita released the National T-98 'Portalarm' which is very similar in appearance to this Sony. It also makes use of a Seiko watch mechanism and is another very collectible radio/watch combo.

 

 

 


 

 

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Apart from the obvious highlight of having a built in watch, this TRW-621 also features a recessed stand for lounging, a gold metallic face and a textured metal speaker grill. The front half of the cabinet is colored ivory and the back is coral colored. This radio can also be found colored black with a coral back and ivory with a gray back.  

It measures 4.4” x 2.5” (112mm x 65mm).

 

 

 

 

 

Ad for this radio taken from a Nov 1961 edition of Ebony Magazine.
 
 

INSIDE...

Inside you will find 6 transistors. The serial number is 38008.