Wearing a watch with a cartoon character on the dial is something many enthusiasts remember fondly from their childhood. I’ve met many collectors who still hang on to those first watches with Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck on the dial – a cherished memory before a time when eBay and WatchRecon alerts ruled our collecting lives, and divisive debates about date windows and the addition and subtraction of millimeters from a case made social media nearly intolerable. These character watches are critic proof in a way, because the knock against them – that they’re unserious or old-fashioned – is exactly why they’re appealing to some segments of the collecting community. They’re also, naturally, a great entry point children.
Timex has had a long association with Peanuts, and for the 70th anniversary of the comic strip, the classic American watchmaking company is going all out, with no less than 13 watches in the pipeline featuring Snoopy on the dial. Let’s break them down.