Timex Sinclair

Timex Sinclair was a joint venture between the British company Sinclair Research and Timex Corporation in an effort to gain an entry into the rapidly growing early-1980s home computer market in North America. The choice of partnership was natural, as Timex was already the main contractor for manufacture of Sinclair's ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers at its Scottish plant in Dundee. It was Timex of Portugal, though, that took on the R&D and the local manufacturing of the models to be exported to the U.S. Although both Timex of Scotland and Timex of Portugal were full subsidiaries of Timex, internal rivalry, whether unintended or purported, meant there was little sharing between the two plants. Timex of Portugal also sold the Timex Sinclair models in Portugal and Poland under the Timex Computer brand.

Timex Sinclair released four computers, all of them based (to some extent) on Sinclair Research's existing machines. In chronological order:

The Timex Sinclair 1000 was introduced in July 1982, with Timex Sinclair touting it as the first home computer to cost under $100 in the U.S. market. In spite of the flaws in the early versions, half a million units were sold in the first six months alone. Overall, the machines were nowhere near as successful as their UK progenitors; in contrast with the ZX Spectrum, which was the best-selling computer in Britain at the time, the TS2068 was a relative failure, due to Timex leaving the computer business prior to the introduction of the TS2068 (and TS 1500).

TS1000

TS1500

TS2068

TC2048

Timex Corporation withdrew from the U.S. home computer market in February 1984 but Timex of Portugal continued to manufacture, sell and develop hardware in Portugal and Poland for another ten years.

Timex Sinclair produced the following peripherals for the Timex computer line:

Timex Computer (TMX Portugal) produced the following peripherals for the Timex computer line:

TMX Portugal also sold the TS2040 and later renamed it to Timex Printer 2040.

To export the Timex Computer to Poland, Timex of Portugal had to be paid in goods. It chose to import the Neptun 156 12" green monochrome monitor, manufactured in Poland by Unimor company. Based on the Vela TV receiver, it proved very popular in Portugal and was frequently sold in bundles with the TC computers.

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