It's always time for
character watches...Watches with Character.
Vintage Hanna-Barbera (A - L) Character Watches
Vintage Bamm Bamm Rubble, Banana Splits Drooper, Banana Splits
Fleegle, Fred Flintstones, Fred & Pebbles Flintstones, Funky Phantom, Hair Bear, Hong Kong Phooey, Huckleberry
Hound, Josie & the Pussy Cats character watches.
Hanna-Barbera Productions,
Inc. was founded in 1957 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. They dominated
the animation industry for over 30 years creating a wide variety of popular animated
characters and cartoon series. Sold to Taft Broadcasting in the mid-sixties and
then to Turner Broadcasting in the nineties and eventually absorbed by Warner
Brothers Animation. Many of their character watches were produced in the 1970s
with large, thick MOD wrist bands and are rare finds today.
The Flintstones was a cartoon
set in the Stone Age and aired September 1960. It was the first animated series
to hold a prime time spot.
Here
is a 1972 Bamm Bamm Rubble by Bradley. Bamm Bamm is in his red tiger skin outfit with matching red
hat carrying his brown club with a side ways view on a white background
with black numbers, black minute marks and silver hands to tell the
time. Marked Swiss made, H. B. P. 1972.
The Banana Splits Adventure
Hour was an American hour-long variety program. A fictional rock band composed
of four animal characters. Fleegle on guitar/vocals, Bingo on drums/vocals,
Drooper on bass/vocals, Snorky on keyboard. Aired in 1968 with Sid and Marty
Krofft designs, it mixed animation & live action. I believe these watches were
sold at the Kings Island amusement park in Ohio in the 1970's.
Here
is a super rare 1972 Banana Splits Drooper made by Nan-ric with a Swiss
movement. Drooper has his red band hat and is holding his bass on a white background with
yellow numbers and red hands to tell the time. Marked Hanna Barbera
Production Inc. Israel 1972 Swiss made.
Here is a super rare 1972
Banana Splits Fleegle
made by Nan-ric with a Swiss movement. Fleegle has on his red band hat,
red checkered bow tie and is standing with his bass on a white
background with blue numbers and his arms to tell the time. Marked Hanna Barbera Production Inc.
Israel 1972.
NOTE: Drooper and Fleegle are the only
ones I've ever seen of the four in the Banana Splits band and Fleegle will
sometimes have regular hands to tell the time or his own as the example below shows.
Here
is 1972 Fred Flintstones by Bradley again with their standard Swiss
movement. Fred is in his usual red tiger skin with a yellow tie smiling
and dancing on a white background with black numbers, black minute marks
and Fred's arms to tell the time. Marked "Yabba Dabba doo" and
H. B. P. 1972 Swiss made.
These came in this simple plastic covered top boxes. Hard to find today.
In 1977, Timex produced this Fred Flintstone watch with smiling Fred wearing his orange tiger skin along with his blue tie on a blue background with black numbers for the 3,6,9, & 12, black five minute marks for the rest and black hands along with a rotating stone as the second hand. Marked 1977 Hanna Barbera Productions, Inc.
In 1978, Picco
produced this plastic watch with Fred Flintstone and Dino, a 7-jewel movement
with Fred dressed in his usual tiger skin laying against a tree stump looking
up at a flying bee and Dino in the background all on a white background with
blue numbers, blue hands and a thin silver second hand. Marked 1978 Hanna
Barbera Production Inc. - Singapore
Here is a 1970's Fred & Pebbles Flintstones by Bradley with Smiling Fred
wearing his orange tiger skin and blue tie looking at playing Pebbles
with her hair up in a green bow all on a white background with blue
numbers, black minute marks, black hands and a red second hand. The
standard Swiss
movement and original band. Marked Flintstones at the top, Swiss made at
the bottom for this hard to find watch.
The Funky Phantom was a
Saturday morning cartoon which aired in 1971. Three teenagers find shelter from
a storm where a grandfather clock displayed the wrong time, when set to the
proper time, it released the Revolutionary war era ghost, an American patriot
named Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore (the Funky Phantom) and
his cat Boo.
Here
we have a super rare 1972 Funky Phantom by Israel showing the Phantom
flying
out of the grandfather clock with Boo on his shoulder on a blue
background, white spooky numbers and black hands to tell the time. Swiss
made with original 1970s mod
band. Marked Funky Phantom Hanna Barbera Productions, Inc. 1972.
Hair Bear Bunch was a cartoon
that aired September 1971. Three bears comprised the Hair Bear Bunch who live
in a zoo. Not a popular show so rare today.
Here
we have a rare 1972 Hair Bear by Nan-ric. Ever cool Hair Bear is wearing
a red and yellow jacket and belt on a white background with red numbers
and his hands to tell time &
original band. Swiss made. Marked 1972 Hanna Barbera Productions - 1972
Nan-ric.
Hong Kong Phooey was a
Saturday cartoon which aired September 1974. Clumsy mild mannered Penrod
"Penry" Pooch worked at a police station as a janitor who would
disguise himself as Hong Kong Phooey by jumping into a filing cabinet to
change clothes and always ended up getting stuck in it AND then having his pet
cat Spot help get him unstuck.
Here is a super rare Timex
Hong Kong Phooey watch (also shown under my vintage crime fighter’s blog entry). Karate
chopping Penrod "Penry" Pooch is hard to resist with his hands to tell
the time dressed in a red with white trim gi, masked Penrod is on
a rich blue background with black numbers and a black second hand to
tell the time.
One Jewel, Swiss made and marked Hanna Barbera Prod Inc. at the bottom, a
rare find
today.
Huckleberry "Huck"
Hound was a cartoon character that spoke with a thick southern drawl, relaxed,
and well-intentioned. Debuting in 1957, he would usually perform different jobs
that didn’t work out well at the start, but all ended well with him coming out
on top.
In
the 60's, Bradley produced this Huckleberry Hound dressed as a circus showman with a whip and a hat on a white background with red numbers, black minute marks and blue hands to tell the time.
Swiss made with the standard Bradley movement at the time. Marked H.B. P.
1971 Josie and the Pussy Cats by Bradley. Having aired on Saturday morning television a year prior, Josie and the band got their own watch showing red-headed lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and leader of the band Josie in her yellow tiger stripped pussy cat outfit (including ears) holding her pink guitar with a big smile on a white background with music notes for the 3,6,9,12 numbers, black numbers for the rest with black minute marks and the fives marked off along with black hands to tell the time. Marked Swiss made, HBP Inc. (for Hanna-Barbera Productions) and AC Inc. (for Archie Comics) 1971. A super rare find today for this amazing watch.
For more Information on Watches see:
The National Watch and Clock Museum: https://nawcc.org/index.php/museum
The West Coast Clock & watch museum https://www.agsem.com/West-Coast-Clock-and-Watch-Museum.php which is located at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum http://www.agsem.com/
Any thoughts can be emailed to characterwatchtime@gmail.com
It's always time for character
watches...Watches with Character.
