If, you’re one of those, who’re die hard lover of the James Bond classics and vintage art, here’s something for your appetite. Listed below are miniature cameras, meticulously hidden in the vintage wrist watches to serve the espionage instincts in style.
Victorian Spy Camera Watch, 1886
Just a look at the 1886, Victorian Lancester Pocket Watch Camera is mesmeric. It’s thought to be the fist ever camera watch, which was sold for $29 561.4 at a Bonhams auction.
Tica Expo Watch Camera, 1900’s
The trend of concealing a camera in a watch has been coming since the pocket watches era. The Expo Camera company of New York is credited for making the most popular disguised camera during the early 1900’s. The camera measured 2 1/8 x 7/8 inches and weighed 2 3/4 ounces.
Ticka Watch Camera, 1914
Manufactured by Houghton’s Ltd. Of London, the Ticka watch camera was sold until 1914. It was licensed by the Expo Camera Company to Houghton for manufacturing a watch camera, which would replicate the Expo Watch camera. Ticka had a modular viewfinder, which would attach atop the watch type unit.
The Steineck ABC Wrist Watch Camera, 1940’s
The Steineck ABC Wrist Watch Camera was one of the most sold spy cameras in USA. However, it wasn’t really a watch but was a highly popular camera of it’s time, which could be carried around wrist.
Tessina Watch Camera 1960
The Tessina Camera Watch is a nifty subminiature Swiss camera that uses standard 35mm film, surprisingly, in a 16mm casing. Tessina is capable of producing a frame size of 14×21 mm.
The Kilfitt Camera Watch 1969
The prototype camera watch of 1969 was manufactured in the Munich laboratory by Heinz Kilfitt, a renowned optician. Designed in an elite style, the watch features a 1.3mm-10.5mm lens, decent shutter-speed and a custom film. The Kilfit Camera was put on sale at eBay and fetched $58000.
Sipe Steinheil Digital Spy Camera Watch, 1970
The Quartz age, spy wrist watch, features a Steinheil 2.5/12mm lens and Dynamic Scattering Liquid Crystal Display, which is the earliest form of LCD.
Magnacam Wristmatic Subminiature Spy Camera, 1980
The Wristmatic is yet another subminiature camera embedded in a wrist watch style plastic body. It was made by Magnacam Corp, NJ, USA around 1980.
Vintage-style pocket watch camera
While we can only fancy about most of the above mentioned vintage spy watch cameras, but we can actually own this one. Here’s a nice replica of the pocket watch style watch camera, which comes with 640*480 @ 15-20fps video resolution camcorder and built-in 2GB memory. It retails for $49 from DIY Trade.
