Vintage Sesame Street & the Muppets Character Watches

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

Vintage 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:

The original idea behind Bert & Ernie was to show two different people can be good friends. Here you have Bert & Ernie by Bradley marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc. Bert is taller with little hair on his head wearing his striped green and orange shirt while Bert, smaller with more 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.

 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.  It has the regular 12 numbers in black along with the sixty minutes marked off by fives and with his hands to tell the time. Swiss made marked Muppets Inc. The more rare in the nest version is below.

 

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

 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. 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 yellow with cookies for each number. Marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc. and his big blue arms to tell the time.

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. 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. Marked Swiss made, Muppets Inc

 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 marked Swiss made and Muppets Inc. wearing his striped red and blue shirt and smiling on a white background with blue regular numbers along with the sixty minutes marked off by fives in black and with his hands to tell the time.

 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 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 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 second hand to tell the time. Marked Henson Associates, Inc. 1980 Japan. Picco also made a plastic 7 jewel version a year earlier.

 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.

 

  

 

 

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. 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 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. 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 marked Swiss made Muppets Inc. Bright green Oscar is on a white background with 12 red numbers along with the sixty marked off by fives in black and his green arms to tell the time while he sits in his trash can. 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.