Nostalgic Post: Shop NBC Watches: Invicta, Croton, Renato, etc
So… I am a millennial. Relatively young. During my early, mid, and late-teens, I use to stay up late watching Shop NBC’s (now SHOP HQ) wristwatch shows. The brands they advertised: Invicta (infamously), Croton, Renato, Stuhrling Original, Deep Blue, and others. Android (now Aragon).
Notable hosts during that time: Eyal Lalo (Invicta owner) and hosts Jim Skelton (everyone assumed he was fired over jokes on live TV), Michael Davis (Invicta employee), Tim Temple, and others, some of which still work at Shop HQ.
Anybody else?
These shows on Shop NBC really got me into watches as a kid. I loved Jim Skelton and Michael Davis. And Tim Temple. Learned a lot from them. I’ve moved on from Invicta, but it was the brand that got me into watches (same story for a lot of people).
Nostalgic Shop NBC clips:
https://youtu.be/Negk-fsBGwo?si=cM6pDtCRuKjO_ZXq
https://youtu.be/YlEeVu_mrjA?si=ZNSCwVNfEZzu5kuh
A troll calls out Michael Davis for his criminal past with a joke. It was later found by watch forums of old that Michael Davis, a former employee of Invicta, did in fact rob a bowling alley. Hence the troll’s joke about robbing bowling alleys to fund his watch collection 🤣
Welcome to my WatchCrunch profile.
I remember buying giant and heavy Invicta Diver and going woo originally, it’s $1200 but they are selling it for only $200 today! Can’t believe i fell for that. I’ve sold 3 few years back but kept 2 for memories… great times!
I remember buying giant and heavy Invicta Diver and going woo originally, it’s $1200 but they are selling it for only $200 today! Can’t believe i fell for that. I’ve sold 3 few years back but kept 2 for memories… great times!
I always thought they were giving great deals on TV after discounting a $1k Invicta Pro Diver to only $80 🤣This tactic did fool people. I’m now too knowledgeable to get sucked into buying a watch with that unscrupulous sales tactic. I still have some of my Invictas for the same reason you provided
Croton always reminds me of cretin. Which is unfair, but I can't get it out of my head.
Croton always reminds me of cretin. Which is unfair, but I can't get it out of my head.
What I find crazy about Croton: they made solid 18k yellow gold datejusts and daydate homages on jubilee and President style bracelets. You can find some of them on eBay for around $2k to $4k. They’re old though. 90s and early-2000s
Croton always reminds me of cretin. Which is unfair, but I can't get it out of my head.
It's Croatoan for me. I forget what network MIke Rowe started at but I remember him saying that the only requirement was the ability to just vamp ad nauseum as this was live television.
Used to get drunk with my watchmaking classmate on the weekend and watch the Invicta infomercials. We would laugh at the terrible designs and the crazy prices. The people selling them always seemed completely out of place for the product.
Croton always reminds me of cretin. Which is unfair, but I can't get it out of my head.
Reminds me of Crouton which are excellent on salads I must confess.
Used to get drunk with my watchmaking classmate on the weekend and watch the Invicta infomercials. We would laugh at the terrible designs and the crazy prices. The people selling them always seemed completely out of place for the product.
Tell me about it. The only tasteful models Invicta has is cheap reissues of vintage models from their past glory days and homages. With the exception of some models, rest of their watches looks fitting for clowns 🤡 I still can’t believe they manufacture (and successfully sell) 50mm and 60mm wide watches.
As far as the hosts, they were all decent. Had an acceptable education concerning horology. But yeah… the things they use to state 😩 😆
Thx for sharing your story. I would have enjoyed being there after smashing a few beers lol
Oh boy! My first watch I bought off the shopping Channel!
Oh boy! My first watch I bought off the shopping Channel!
That’s actually a good looking model. Thx for sharing
The nadir of watch collecting, and the con continues to this day. Sorry - it's not so much the products that used to anger me, but the well-reported fact that the company allegedly too often either refused to or couldn't fix the all-too-often faulty watches they hawked. Shameful in my eyes. Yet, they all prospered greatly, thanks to the magic of the legendary One-Eyed Bandit.
Come to think of it, a lot of things do these days.
The nadir of watch collecting, and the con continues to this day. Sorry - it's not so much the products that used to anger me, but the well-reported fact that the company allegedly too often either refused to or couldn't fix the all-too-often faulty watches they hawked. Shameful in my eyes. Yet, they all prospered greatly, thanks to the magic of the legendary One-Eyed Bandit.
Come to think of it, a lot of things do these days.
Yeah, their sales tactics and lack of honoring their warranty turned a lot of people that loved Invicta during the Shop NBC days away.