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This Sutton Instalite perfectly captures its 1970’s space-age look through its extraordinary case design. It is a pre-LCD digital watch, with a mechanical movement powering an hour and minutes dial. So while the caseback shows two areas for the batteries, powering the watch is a manual movement. The batteries actually power a 3 volt bulb “Instalite” that shines a light on the movement so the watch can be read in the dark. Quite wild. This watch perfectly captures that awkward step from mechanical to quartz movements. Looking at the caseback, I can already see a problem: It appears that the left side of the watch should house the battery with the positive side up, while the right side of the watch should house the battery with the negative side up. All I can say is don’t mix up those two battery covers! The top pusher on the case must activate the light, the bottom looks like a regular crown. The case looks like polished chrome, which will scratch very easily. Rather large for a watch of its era at 39mm wide and 42mm tall. All in all, a nice collector’s piece that is not seen too often, but overpriced, I think, at $495 from WatchesToBuy. Perhaps if the watch were more $295, it might be more compelling.
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