Timex Ironman - History and Development

History and Development

In 1984 Timex worked together with the officials of the Ironman Triathlon sporting event to develop a new digital watch to help sagging sales within the company. The result was the Timex Triathlon. In 1986, Timex got the rights to the Ironman name and developed the Ironman Triathlon watch based on the 1984 watch. The basic functions and design were the same as its Triathlon cousin except the Ironman was water resistant to 100 meters instead of 50, given an updated look with a black, orange and grey color scheme on the watch face and the 19mm ribbed wrist strap was adorned with the Ironman name and 3 stylized "M" logos. Sales for the new watch soared in the first year of its production, dwarfing that of the earlier Triathlon watch, though the two watches would coexist in production for many years to come. Sales were strong enough to warrant a dressy silver/stainless steel version a couple of years later. The watch's rugged design made it very popular with sporting enthusiasts and people who needed a "workhorse" watch. The Ironman Watch includes time, stopwatch (chrono), timer, occasion alarm, and three alarms. The first generation Ironman watches were commonly seen to be worn by military and law enforcement personnel as the watch could take quite a bit of punishment. The watch was also extremely popular with American youth. A mid-sized, ladies/youth version of the watch was released the same year as the original. The original 1984 Triathlon and 1986 Ironman (full size/mid size) watches would remain in production until 1991 when the first of many cosmetic and design refreshes came along. This era of Timex Ironman is now known amongst watch collectors as the "Pre Indiglo" Ironman.