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- Monday, October 19th, 2009 - 2:35 pm
- History of Casio's Animated Running Man watch collection
*(If you haven't done so, please read the accompanying article about my JC-11 first!)
Here is my proud collection of the animated running man watches, in chronological order.
The running man animation, as far as I know, debuted with the J-50 [208] jogging watch.
It continued in slightly modified form with the J-51 [208] & J-52 [208].
And then found its way into the JC-10 and JC-11. With the JC-10 [879] and JC-11 [880], Casio started offering different colors for the case/buttons.
The little guy was also used in two obscure models, the TM-12 [1005] and LCJ-10 [1005]. These were hard to find!! The LCJ-10 was the only "lady's" model with the animated running man.
Several years later, Casio updated the watches with EL backlight as JC-20 [1265], JC-21 [1266], and JC-22 [1466]. The JC-22 is distinguished by the "AUTO EL" switch which activates the light when the watch is tilted.
Then it appeared for the last time in the JC-30 [1613]. I have yet to see variants of the JC-30, but I'm sure there's something out there. I wouldn't be surprised if Casio made a JC-31, for example.
That is the complete history of Casio's animated running man watches. The little stick figure will go on to do a lot of other things such as fight, break dance and surf in Casio's future watches (mostly in the Baby-G series), but this is where it all started. These running man watches represent the little guy in his pure running form. :)
The watches I have shown in this article are the only ones that have a dedicated box on the LCD panel to show the little guy. However, there are several other vintage Casio watches that show animated running man stick figures--most of them with dot-matrix style displays. One such example is the T-2000 dictionary watch. He also appears in a different form in the BM-200W watch. There are a few more, but unfortunately I have yet to collect all of those. When I do I'll be sure to post them here! :)
*NOTE: In the LCD watch collecting community, the "running man" watch most often refers to the Seiko A714. Since I'm a Casio collector by heart, I chose to use the term for my Casio animated man collection. In reality, these Casio watches should be called the "jogging" series or "animated jogging" series. BUT due to the proliferation of sport watches, those names would be too generic to be a useful description. Therefore the phrase "running man" was used here. =D
Filed under: watch
- Comments!
- » I remember in early 90's when Casio first launched the digital calculators soon after that there is the launch of the Casio digital watches and they are still my favorite although i have now some
- by: Domingo, submitted Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 - 2:25 am
- » i loved the article.. I remember being very young and asking for the casio j 51 for my birthday.. I didn't get it=( i also remmber being in the store with my parents and seeing it in the display and saying to my dad how badly I wanted that watch... Well when we got in the car to go home my father surprised me with it and i wore it for years.. I remember it made noises and we used to throw it inthe pool and try and find it blind folded... The good ole days!!!!
- by: robert ferraro, submitted Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 - 5:00 pm
- » I just restarted my jc20 after i found out about the ac reset. and it still works!!! It's been sitting in the cabinet for years. I'm so glad i didn't throw it away. I currently wear the g-shock solar g2300 going on for 3 years now. What i really miss is the AX-210 or AX-510 that i owned for more than 12 years! back in manila, i remember the add that said "digital king". It finally died when my co-workers threw me in the pool with my clothes on...and my digital king. after a while the lcd turned black... yep! Like Robert said, The good ole days!!! I'm so glad i found this article!! Kudos!!!
- by: Vincent, houston tx, submitted Sunday, June 6th, 2010 - 1:25 pm
- » OMG i have been wanting my own running man watch and have been trying to get one for two years!! thanks so much at least i know what i'm looking for now.
- by: lucy andrews, submitted Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 - 2:35 am
- » Somebody (I suspect my R.A. in the course of doing dorm room inspections) stole my J-50 from my college dorm room when I went on Spring Break. Out of nostalgia, I bought (and still use) a JC-20 years later. But the J-50 is still my favorite watch ever. Thanks for this article!
- by: PJ, submitted Monday, September 6th, 2010 - 12:23 pm
- » I have a jc22 which is my second one. I bought my first one in a store years ago, must have been 10 or more years ago! I then bought my second one about 6 to 7 years ago online. It was hard trying to find the second one as it was said to be out of production! I am still wearing it today!
- by: Casio user, submitted Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 - 11:33 am
- » Thank you for having put together such a complete list of all these watches. I had a J-50 when I was younger and I really miss it. I was so happy to see other people like the "running man" as much as I do...
- by: Mike, submitted Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 - 10:35 pm
- » My friend in school had a J-50, back in 1983. Our classes lasted 50min, and this watch has a peculiar alarm for the countdown. Each class was counted down and the watch ringed some 10 seconds before the school bell. Nobody waited for the school bell anymore. Teachers trying to oppose were interrupted by the official ring, so after some time even they observed the J-50 alarm. Fond memories!
- by: Rogerio, submitted Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 - 9:39 pm
- » I do not know the model number of mine. I have an all stainless steel model, both case and band, that I received as a gift. I think it was Christmas 1985. It has been running continuously ever since with a battery change about every five years. This is, I believe by far, the best watch ever made. I note that you do not have one in your pictures.
- by: Charles Thompson, submitted Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 - 9:36 am
- » I received a J-50 as a gift when they first came out.I wore it only a few times and just recently found it still in the original case with the 208 manual...I remember my roomate at the time laughed til he cried looking at the little man icon running for his life...ah,the good old days...
- by: T.Fan, submitted Friday, January 13th, 2012 - 12:35 am
- » Wow, pretty cool article. I have upgraded to a Garmin but still have my 1st J-50 in the drawer. What year did they start production on those things?
- by: Chris, submitted Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 - 10:08 am
- » Just found this site after I discovered my first ever watch (a J50) in a box I was clearing out and have brought it back into use today after thinking it was lost for over 20 years. Great article about the history, thanks! Mine was bought waaaaay back on 12/12/1983, my ninth birthday. Still have the manual and guarantee stamp!
- by: Simon Dawson , submitted Thursday, August 16th, 2012 - 8:10 am
- » How can I get the operating pamphlet for LJC-10(1005)
- by: Ijaz Ahmad, submitted Sunday, November 11th, 2012 - 11:38 pm
- » Had what looks like the J-51 back in the 80s. Loved it. That watch prepared me for my big move in life from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles. I used it to set my pace and power walk 3 miles in 45 minutes and that got me down to my fighting weight and enabled me to stand up to my new very hectic and stressful life in CA. So that little freaking watch meant a lot to me. Great product and great page remembering it.
- by: jammerbirdi, submitted Friday, November 15th, 2013 - 3:25 pm
- » Thanks for the information! I just got a A714-5000 Alarm Chronograph and wonder if you have instruction on how to set time and how to use light? If you do, can you email me? Thanks in advance!
- by: Kevin Wong, submitted Thursday, October 2nd, 2014 - 1:03 pm
- » I found my old friend a few years back, My J-51w. I brought him back to life and now he sits, retired and "Running."
I will never part with this piece of my history.
I purchased it as a kid with my first job.
It's slow, but hey....It Runs! - by: Vic Firth, submitted Friday, October 14th, 2016 - 8:14 pm
- » I think a correction needs to be made. The JC-20 came both with the 1265 or the 1266 module. The 1265 module had the miles distance units and the 1266 module was measuring the distance in km.
- by: teo, submitted Sunday, October 28th, 2018 - 11:55 pm
- » I remember these watches since the mid 80's. In
1991 I purchased the JC 10, and loved it. I recently got one from Ebay in mint condition. They don't make watches with this character anymore! - by: paul travis, submitted Monday, January 21st, 2019 - 12:35 am
May the little man keep on running!