HP-01 Repair

[MLSist]

Hi there, new user here. Thanks for having me!

I've been collecting HP-01s since the early 00s, tinkering with them and restoring them. Recently I was involved in a car wreck (I'm fine, thankfully) but during the impact I broke the display lens on one of my gold-plate watches. The watch still works fine, lights up, etc, but the lens is cracked all the way through and I'm striking out in terms of finding a replacement (there's a guy in Denmark, I believe, who makes updated/replacement modules but no other parts for the watch.)

Wondering if any of you folks might know of a source? The obvious answer here is to just find a broken watch "for parts" and swap the lens over but I'm trying to avoid spending an insane amount of money (or cannibalizing one of my other watches.)

Thanks so much in advance!
Pablo

[floppy]

Comment only.. I just learned the HP-01 is a watch with calculator and red LEDs. Nice.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-01

[blackjetrock]

(03-20-2024 12:52 PM)MLSist Wrote:  Hi there, new user here. Thanks for having me!

I've been collecting HP-01s since the early 00s, tinkering with them and restoring them. Recently I was involved in a car wreck (I'm fine, thankfully) but during the impact I broke the display lens on one of my gold-plate watches. The watch still works fine, lights up, etc, but the lens is cracked all the way through and I'm striking out in terms of finding a replacement (there's a guy in Denmark, I believe, who makes updated/replacement modules but no other parts for the watch.)

Wondering if any of you folks might know of a source? The obvious answer here is to just find a broken watch "for parts" and swap the lens over but I'm trying to avoid spending an insane amount of money (or cannibalizing one of my other watches.)

Thanks so much in advance!
Pablo

Are you talking about the lens over the LED display or the front filter? I'm guessing a bit here as I don't have an HP-01. Do you have a photo of the broken part?

[KeithB]

(03-20-2024 05:16 PM)floppy Wrote:  Comment only.. I just learned the HP-01 is a watch with calculator and red LEDs. Nice.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-01

You could have checked the site here:
https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp01.htm
8^)

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(03-20-2024 12:52 PM)MLSist Wrote:  Wondering if any of you folks might know of a source? The obvious answer here is to just find a broken watch "for parts" and swap the lens over but I'm trying to avoid spending an insane amount of money (or cannibalizing one of my other watches.)

Over the years there have been seveal threads about this topic, a broken or badly worn HP-01 watch glass or "crystal" as some call it, on this and some watch collector forums. I could find this website of a former collector, who was planning of getting a batch of replacement parts made for himself and other interested parties: http://www.bytecollector.com/hp_01.htm Whether he ever got ahead with that idea I don't know, but there is an email address at the bottom of the page. If I remember correctly, he was active on this forum too, so maybe he can still be contacted through the forum messaging system.

Otherwise I wouldn't really no how to replace the part other than filing it out of a piece of red acrylic glass over the weekend...

Regards
Max

[blackjetrock]

(03-20-2024 05:54 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  Hello!

(03-20-2024 12:52 PM)MLSist Wrote:  Wondering if any of you folks might know of a source? The obvious answer here is to just find a broken watch "for parts" and swap the lens over but I'm trying to avoid spending an insane amount of money (or cannibalizing one of my other watches.)

Over the years there have been seveal threads about this topic, a broken or badly worn HP-01 watch glass or "crystal" as some call it, on this and some watch collector forums. I could find this website of a former collector, who was planning of getting a batch of replacement parts made for himself and other interested parties: http://www.bytecollector.com/hp_01.htm Whether he ever got ahead with that idea I don't know, but there is an email address at the bottom of the page. If I remember correctly, he was active on this forum too, so maybe he can still be contacted through the forum messaging system.

Otherwise I wouldn't really no how to replace the part other than filing it out of a piece of red acrylic glass over the weekend...

Regards
Max

I'm wondering if it could be CNC'd out of a sheet of red acrylic if it's the front crystal or filter. Is that part flat or curved? If flat then it's probably not too tricky, if it's curved then harder to get a polished finish on the final part.

The Hewlett Packard logo would have to be recreated or left off.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

(03-20-2024 06:05 PM)blackjetrock Wrote:  I'm wondering if it could be CNC'd out of a sheet of red acrylic if it's the front crystal or filter. Is that part flat or curved?

It is flat, so probably not too difficult to make, apart from the logo. Maybe that could be created with a perfectly fine-tuned laser engraver (mine is not precise enough for this kind of work). Or simply left out, after all, we know who made the watch :-)

[blackjetrock]

(03-20-2024 06:14 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  

(03-20-2024 06:05 PM)blackjetrock Wrote:  I'm wondering if it could be CNC'd out of a sheet of red acrylic if it's the front crystal or filter. Is that part flat or curved?

It is flat, so probably not too difficult to make, apart from the logo. Maybe that could be created with a perfectly fine-tuned laser engraver (mine is not precise enough for this kind of work). Or simply left out, after all, we know who made the watch :-)

If it is flat then a part could be machined, it might not even be necessary to polish it. All that is needed is a drawing or dimensions to at least 0.1mm

[Maximilian Hohmann]

(03-20-2024 06:20 PM)blackjetrock Wrote:  All that is needed is a drawing or dimensions to at least 0.1mm

That drawing can be found in the link I posted above. It is not the best resolution picture, but the numbers are readable.