TIMEBAND FAIRCHILD LED 1975
Fairchild USA was one of those leading semiconductor producers that decided to grab a piece of cake - a share in the booming digital watch market in the mid-1970's. They introduced a few series of inhouse developed LED and LCD watches under the brands of Timeband and Fairchild. They also supplied their modules to watch manufacturers or (what is more probable) they produced these watches for private labels. Fairchild modules are not that common as Hughes Aircraft or National Semiconductor so it might take you a while to find spare parts. As far as I'm aware they never dropped quality as their modules included large LED displays and ceramic substrates. This Fairchild module marked with a large "F" is similar in layout to Frontier although the components and substrate are totally different.
As shown above the large epoxy-covered display has additionally been upgraded with a flat lense that visually enlarges the digits. To reduce costs smaller diodes have been applied onto the display substrate which clearly shows that it was designed for larger diodes. The flat lense is a good and cheap substitute that does not decrease LED visibility unlike the bubble lenses known from Litronix and Commodore. Such simple yet smart prisms can also be found on Bulova Computrons and Longines Gemini2. Unlike many modules sealed with silicone this version has the chip covered with a plastic cover which can be removed for repairs. I have been lucky with one of these although some have had to much glue applied that has entered the inside of the cover and the wires of the chip.
Keywords: timeband led, fairchild
Market value: 10-75$ (model, condition, box)