VIEW FROM MONTGOMERIE SQUARE - 70'S

The map is to help you out with the area mentioned in this item.

Montgomerie Square was located on the Kingsway in a patch of ground between Milton Of Craigie Road and Longtown Road.
There used to be a huddle of old prefabs there in the 60's that were still lived in, but by the time they reached the early 70's, they had all disappeared.
The photo above was taken in the mid 70's and you can just make out the remains of one of the corners of Montgomerie Square in amongst the wild growth (bottom left).
The main focus of attention is the Kingsway East Fire Station which was built in 1972.
Sandwiched in the middle of the shot is the car park used by Timex employees - but later in the 70's, Timex extended the car park further up and in doing so, covered up the grassy area above with tarmac.
So now Montgomerie Square has been lost forever in the mists of time(x)!

TIMEX - END OF AN ERA

When your time's up, it's time to depart, and Timex's time at Milton of Craigie ended in the 1980's after around 3 decades of having a presence there.
This photo taken at the tail end of the 80's, shows where the Timex factory once stood, looking over the barren ground to Douglas Road, with Longtown Road to the left.
Shortly afterwards, it was ASDA's turn to keep the area ticking over!
Big thanks to Ecky.

INSIDE TIMEX - 1980'S - #2

7. THE MACHINE SHOP.

8. CELL ASSEMBLY.

9. HEAT TREATMENT.

10. PLATING PROGRAMMED CONVEYOR.

11. FINAL INSPECTION.

12. THE TOOLROOM.

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Another half dozen images from the 80's brochure I featured on yesterdays post.

Click on the pictures if you want to view the large versions.

1000's on the dole quite a hefty price to pay for affordable watches!

Thanks to Ecky.

INSIDE TIMEX - 1980'S - #1

1. NIMSLO 3D CAMERA ASSEMBLY.

2. COMPUTER CIRCUIT BOARD ASSEMBLY.

3. TIMEX WATCH ASSEMBLY.

4. PRESS SHOP.

5. CHUCKING LATHE DEPT.

6. GEAR CUTTING DEPT.

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After a mass of redundancies in the early/mid 80's, many of the departments in Timex factories around Dundee lay idle. To try and attract alternative use for the machinery available, Timex printed hundreds of brochures in various languages to see if they could entice other companies to make use of what the factories had to offer. However, despite the desperate effort, it was all too little too late and they eventually closed their doors for good with the factory contents having been auctioned off.

The above pictures are from these 80's brochures and show a variety of departments when they were still in full flow.

The 3 main Timex factories were at Camperdown, Milton of Craigie and Dunsinane, which in their heyday employed many thousands.

A local saying back then was "Everybody in Dundee knows someone who works in Timex".

So on that basis, there are bound to be some of you out there who will be familiar with the departments in the pictures, or maybe even recognise a friend or relative.

If you need a closer look, click onto the image to view the large versions.

There will be more tomorrow.

Big thanks to Ecky.

TIMEX AND WINTER ADS - 1966

Many of the adverts in the Souvenir Supplement I posted yesterday, incorporated the new bridge into their sales pitch.

Here's a couple of examples...

Timex manage to use the idea of "modern engineering and design" to relate it to their own product.

Winter's, in Shore Terrace, go for a bit of witty word play in their ad with the phrase "The Modern Approach To Printing" going along the side of the bridge.

Having all that machinery on the roof looks a bit dangerous mind you!!

Click on images to enlarge.

TIMEX CANTEEN - MILTON - 1973

When Dundee FC won the Scottish League Cup in 1973, some of the players went on a wee tour of the Timex factories, flaunting the trophy and signing autographs.
Above is Bobby Wilson & Dave Johnston doing the biz in the canteen at the Milton of Craigie factory in December 73.
Not sure whether the ladies are from a particular dept or if they are the canteen girls, but hopefully someone may recognize a face and pass on the information.
There are also a couple of photos on the Timex Reunited website gallery of Jocky Scott & Gordon Wallace visiting one of the other factories.
Photo by DC Thomson.

2 TIMEX ADS

The top Timex ad is from the late 70's and is for a Quartz - the watch that didn't need winding!

The ad below is from the late 60's and reminds you how water proof & shock proof Timex watches were!

The Timex factories in Dundee used to have sales on around Christmas time, which had employees queuing up to grab last minute bargain stocking fillers!

 

THE NIMSLO 3D CAMERA

One of the more offbeat products to come out of Dundee in the early 80's was the Nimslo 3D camera. Timex manufactured them, with the project financed by Fred Olsen. However, the novelty camera never really generated much interest with the general public and it wasn't too long before the Nimslo was chucked onto the consumer goods scrapheap!
The name came from the 2 American guys who invented it, Jerry Nims & Allen Lo.

DUNDEE AT WORK #3 - TIMEX

Timex moved into Dundee in 1946. At their peak they employed 5,000 Dundonians, spread around 3 factories.
Watches were their biz of course, but not only time pieces were manufactured. They also produced Polaroid cameras & flash guns, the Nimslo 3D camera, Spectrum micro computers and flat screen cathode ray tubes.
The short piece of film below features Milton of Craigie factory, the Autoshop dept to be exact. Every inch of the building's interior was painted blue, as seen in the footage, and I'm told there were a few houses in town painted the same blue...as a result of paint pots going astray!
Almost everyone in Dundee knew someone who worked in Timex. I had relatives and neighbours who were there for years. A quirky little memento that was passed onto me back then was a flexidisc record featuring the Timex advertising jingle from the 70's. It was based on a 1960 hit single by Jimmy Jones called "Good Timin'", and basically all they did was replace the word timin' with Timex. The record was dished out free to employees. I had a rake for it recently but couldn't find it so I've included a snippet of the original on the video instead.
The Milton of Craigie factory no longer exists as it was knocked down and is now an ASDA. Not sure if they have a shelf with Timex watches on sale though!
Timex's time halted in Dundee in 1993.