Timex Sinclair was a joint venture established in December 1982 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.

History

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. Due to large demand another manufacturer was needed, so Timex Portugal (TMX Portugal Lda, a Portuguese Timex subsidiary ), with skilled and relatively cheap labor force, took on the production of models to be exported to the U.S.. Timex Portugal sold the Timex Sinclair (ex: T/S 2068) models in Portugal and Poland under the Timex Computer (ex: TC 2068) brand. In order to market Timex Sinclair products in the United States, Timex Corporation created a subsidiary named "Timex Computer Corporation", and sold machines under the brand Timex Sinclair. Timex Sinclair ended as Timex Corporation withdrew from the U.S. home computer market in January 1984 but Timex Portugal continued to manufacture, sell and develop hardware in Portugal and Poland for another ten years, with some machines also being sold in Canada and Argentina (see Czerweny computers). A 1986 report mentions that 800.000 systems, between TC 2048, TC 2068 and FDD3000, were sold to Poland. Overall, Timex Sinclair 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 T/S 2068 was a relative failure, partly due to Timex Corporation leaving the computer business shortly after its introduction.

Products

The T/S 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, 550,000 units were sold by the end of the year. In 1983, about 100,000 units were sold in Canada, and 400,000 in the US, with the price dropping to $49.95. A new computer was announced in May. Named T/S 2000, it was based on the ZX Spectrum, and would come in with 16 or 48K RAM versions, costing $150 or $200. The 16K version was cancelled, and the 48K version was released as T/S 2068. Two new computers were introduced that same year, the T/S 1500 and T/S 2068. Both were more expensive ($79 and $199 respectively) and with low sales.

Released computers

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

Hardware projects

Peripherals

Timex Computer Corporation, under the Timex Sinclair brand, and Timex Portugal, under the Timex Computer brand, produced a number of different peripherals for the Timex computer line:

Timex Sinclair

Timex Computer

Software

Timex Sinclair

Timex Computer Corporation, under the Timex Sinclair brand, released 9 business, 20 home management, 30 education and 25 game titles on cassette for the T/S 1000 and T/S 1500. Four titles on cartridges were also released. For the T/S 2068, 4 business, 13 home management, 29 education and 24 game titles were released on cassette. Seven titles were released on cartridges.

Timex Computer

Timex Portugal sold/developed the following software, under the Timex Computer brand: