Vintage Sesame Street & the Muppets Character Watches

It's always time for character watches...Watches with Character.

Vintage Sesame Street & the Muppets Character Watches

Vintage Animal, Bert & Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Count Von Count, Ernie, Fozzie Bear, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Oscar the Grouch character watches.

The Muppets are an ensemble of puppet characters started/created by Jim Henson in 1955 with television and film credits, Emmy awards etc. and who, some later appeared on Sesame Street.

Sesame Street was conceived in 1966 by producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett to do something good with television for children. It was the first preschool educational television program to base its contents and production values on laboratory and formative research. 

Bradley created the first Sesame Street/Muppet character watches.

Here are some of the earliest from the 1970's & 1980's in alpha order:

 Frank Oz stated that the Muppet character Animal can be summed up in five words: food, drums, sleep, sex and pain. A talented drummer, usually monosyllabic Animal shown here created by Picco. Smiling Animal looks like he is going at it on the drums with his drum sticks in each hand wearing his usual orange and yellow open hippy top and brown pants held up with a rope belt, bold and barefoot on a white background with black numbers, black hands and a cream colored second hand with an arrow at the end of it. Marked Picco 7 jewels Henson Associates Inc. 1980 8004-2710t Singapore. Animal is probably the hardest to find of all the Sesame Street/Muppet character watches.

These Picco 7jewel plastic watches (Fozie Bear below is another one) came in these great plastic flip top boxes.

The original idea behind Bert & Ernie was to show two different people can be good friends. Here you have Bert & Ernie by Bradley. Bert is taller with a little black hair on his head wearing his striped green and orange shirt while Bert, smaller with more black hair and rounder face in his red and blue sweater on a white background with black numbers and just regular hands to tell the time along with a second hand. This 1970s watch is marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc.

 Here we have the highly talented, but often prone to frequent misunderstandings, Big Bird by Bradley looking like he's walking along on a white background with regular 12 numbers in black along with the minutes marked off by fives in black and with his hands to tell the time. This 1970s watch is marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc.

 

These Bradley watches came in the standard Bradley "coffin" style or square plastic cases (as shown above).  

Bradley also made this rare Big Bird as a "nodder" model where his head nods back and forth to tick off the seconds. This is the same watch although a little smaller and Big Bird is facing the other direction, there are no minute mark indicators and of course his head nods. Marked Swiss made 1976, Muppets inc. Hard to find today.

Bradley also produced this LEFT facing Baby Big Bird sitting in his nest. Little Big Bird's yellow plumage is looking good as he sits smiling in his nest on a blue circle background with light red numbers on a larger white background and with his wings to tell the time. Marked 1982 Muppets Inc. A rare find today. 

 Known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrase "Me want cookie!", here we have the beautiful blue Cookie Monster by Bradley on a white background with yellow cookies for each number  and his big blue arms to tell the time for this 1970s watch. Marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc. 

Bradley also made the Cookie Monster as an ultra-rare "nodder" where his head nods back and forth as the seconds tick. Same design as above but with nodder head.

This 1970s watch is marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc.

What a great watch!

Count Von Count's main role is to teach counting skills to children. The Count loves counting so much that he often will count anything & everything. Here is a super rare Count by Bradley on a white background with purple & black numbers to match him and his outfit along with bats, a spider and spider webs with his hands to tell the time and a black second hand for this 1970s watch. Marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc. Another great watch.

 Ernie is well known for his fondness for baths with his rubber duckie and for playing the saxophone. Here we have the sometimes annoying Ernie by Bradley wearing his striped red and blue shirt and smiling on a white background with blue regular numbers along with black minute marks and black numbers marked off by fives in black and his hands to tell the time for this 1970s watch. Marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc.

 Fozzie Bear is a Muppet known for his standup comedy shown here with this rare Timex movement version of orange Fozzie Bear with his brown pork pie hat and polka dot necktie on a white background with black numbers and black hands including a red second hand to tell the time. Marked OHAI 1976 197.

Fozzie Bear by Picco has Fozzie Bear dancing with his brown pork pie hat and white cane wearing his polka dot necktie on a white background with brown numbers and blue hands including a cream colored second hand with an arrow at the end to tell the time. Marked Picco 7 jewels, Henson Associates Inc. 1979 8004-2310t Singapore. 

Here we have Kermit the Frog by Picco. This nicely made 17 jewel watch has Kermit sitting and waving on a blue circle background with a larger white background for the numbers, regular white watch hands and a white second hand to tell the time. Marked Henson Associates, Inc. 1980 Japan. Picco also made a plastic 7 jewel version a year earlier to go with Animal and Fozie Bear (both shown above), Kermit and Miss Piggy.

 Here is the Miss Piggy version by Picco. This nicely made 17 jewel watch has well-dressed Miss Piggy wearing a white low cut blouse with flowers on it, long light purple gloves and her heart shaped sun glasses on top of her head on a white and blue circle background with white numbers and white hands to tell the time.  Marked Henson Associates, Inc. 1980 Japan. Picco also made a plastic 7 jewel version a year earlier to go with Kermit, Animal and Fozie Bear.

 

  

 

 

These nice 17 jewel Picco watches both came in simple plastic dome cases.

 

 

 

 Here we have Kermit the Frog by Timex. A smiling ever green Kermit sits back relaxed enjoying his rainbow on a white background with black numbers, black hands, and a yellow second hand to tell the time. Marked Henson Associates Inc. 1982. These small Timex's are hard to find today especially working.

Here we have the talented Miss Piggy by Timex. A well-dressed fashion Miss Piggy sits back relaxed in her pink dress and pink high heels on a white background with bold black numbers, black hands, and a red second hand to tell the time. Marked Henson Associates Inc. 1982. Her small Timex's are more common than Kermit's. 

 

These came in these simple plastic boxes as shown here. 

His favorite thing is trash proven by his own song "I Love Trash". Here we have Oscar the Grouch by Bradley. Bright green Oscar is sitting in his white trash can on a white background with 12 red numbers along with black minute marks and the fives marked off in numbers in black and his green arms to tell the time for this 1970's watch. Marked Swiss made, Muppets, Inc. What's not to love with this hard to find 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/
 

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It's always time for character watches...Watches with Character.