Thursday, December 17, 2009

Did Anyone Buy the Starlog Watch?


In 1981, years before the commercialization of the internet and long before most small magazine publishers learned how to merchandise their titles, New York-based Starlog magazine was wa-a-a-a-y ahead of the game. The science fiction media magazine had produced poster magazines, poster books, LP records, floppy records inserted into the magazine,  scrapbooks, trade paperback books, blueprints, a children's fantasy hardcover book, calendars -- let's see, am I forgetting anything? Oh, yeah -- videos, t-shirts, foreign editions, baseball caps, a yearbook, and several spin-off magazines.

At some point, the company's leaders were apparently sitting around, wondering what else they could sell. And they hit upon the idea of selling a Starlog watch. So they did.

The image here is of an ad that ran in the various Starlog publications (this one from the March 1981 issue of Future Life). The watch sold for $50, which was a lot of money for its younger readers (such as myself; I lusted after this ad for quite some time, but when your allowance is $10 a week, $50 is a fortune). So I never got one.

And now, despite being able to find just about any of the Starlog merchandise listed above on eBay or Amazon's auctions, I've never even seen a Starlog watch for sale.

Did anyone buy it? Wanna sell it?

2 comments:

Bill said...

I bought one from the magazine back then and still own it. It's in near perfect condition with original box and warranty card. Would I sell it, ummmm, not sure as it does still has a strong personal attachment.
..Bill

jzipperer said...

Bill -- Thanks for the response. I don't blame you for not wanting to give it up. I wouldn't give up one if I had it, either.
John