While the giant Stay Puft marshmallow man might be the lasting image that we remember from the 1984 film Ghostbusters, it was not the only prop to make an impact on its big screen debut. Meet the Seiko M516-4009 ‘Voice Note’.
They didn’t make too many of them when they first launched in 1983, but a year later the watch gained worldwide fame on the wrist of Dan Aykroyd. In the film, the team used it to help pick up “Electronic Voice Phenomena” – but in reality its key feature was the ability to record messages of eight to four seconds by speaking directly into the built-in microphone. So while that not sound impressive by today’s connected smartwatch standards, back in the 1980s it was a mighty impressive feat by Seiko.
Keeping those nostalgic ’80s spectacles on, the watch contained a 16k solid state RAM memory (impressive at the time) that preserved verbal notes. But let’s be honest, the first of which was probably: “Note to self – Buy a proper Dictaphone”.
Worth nothing, however, is the casing of carbon-fibre and stainless-steel. While today The use of carbon-fibre was relatively rare in watches 35 years ago, thus adding to the feel that this was something high-tech and futuristic.
