[DingoDave]

I have a few digital Casio and all my Ironman watches where the display goes completely black when wearing them on my left wrist when I wear my polarized sunglasses. I wear my sunglasses most every day so this is an issue. My question is what can be done about this other than just buying non-polarized sunglasses? Not all my digital watches have this problem so it must be the way the polarizing film is applied. All of my Ironman watches and some of my Casio watches can be seen perfectly when worn on my right wrist. Can I remove the film and put the new film on the LCD screen in a different orientation without making it a negative display? This seems crazy that Timex Ironman watches all work well with polarized sunglasses on the right wrist only. Maybe Timex is trying to corner the market for left-handed people?

 

[pteranodon]

Have you tried tilting your head 90 degrees? 😉

I guess Timex are placing their polarizing filters diagonally. So on the right wrist held at 45° to your eyes the filter lines up with your glasses but switching to the left rotates the watch face 90° and now the filter is perpendicular to your shades.

If the filters were parallel to the LCD display the filters would be at 45° with your specs no matter what wrist it was on, so you would see the numbers although they would be slightly darker than normal.

I know on many vintage LCDs the filters can be peeled off but I don't know about your specific watch.

If you did you would need to source some self adhesive polarising film. There are two filters on an LCD, front and back, which are placed at 90° with each other.

Here's a pic I stole off the internet that illustrates it.

 

[gaijin]

I have a few digital Casio and all my Ironman watches where the display goes completely black when wearing them on my left wrist when I wear my polarized sunglasses. I wear my sunglasses most every day so this is an issue. My question is what can be done about this other than just buying non-polarized sunglasses? Not all my digital watches have this problem so it must be the way the polarizing film is applied. All of my Ironman watches and some of my Casio watches can be seen perfectly when worn on my right wrist. Can I remove the film and put the new film on the LCD screen in a different orientation without making it a negative display? This seems crazy that Timex Ironman watches all work well with polarized sunglasses on the right wrist only. Maybe Timex is trying to corner the market for left-handed people?

The simplest solution would be to put a quarter-wave filter film on top of your display (under the crystal).

Something like this product: 50mm x 50mm 1/4 wave film - Edmund Optics

From the link:

Polymer Retarder Film is an extremely durable, birefringent polymer sheet that has been designed to modify the polarization state of transmitted light. The highly transparent, achromatic λ/4 (WP140HE) and λ/2 (WP280) Polymer Retarder Films consist of a single layer, modified polycarbonate sheet that acts an achromatic retarder, and is optically and mechanically sound up to 90°C or 80°C respectively. The 1λ (WP560) Polymer Retarder Film consists of two λ/2 films that have been laminated together to create retardation values of 560nm. These films are ideal for use in a variety of coherent and polarized light applications, including circular polarizers, LCDs, and fiber optics.

You can Google "quarter wave film" to learn more about how these filters work to avoid display "blackout" when wearing polarized lenses. Most (if not all) LCD displays used in Avionics have this or similar quarter-wave film.

HTH

 

[cal..45]

Easiest solution is to avoid polarized (sun)glasses, IMO one of the silliest gadgets on the planet but YMMV.

 

[dwalby]

Easiest solution is to avoid polarized (sun)glasses, IMO one of the silliest gadgets on the planet but YMMV.

yeah, I gave up on those years ago, they made a lot of things take on a strange appearance that I didn't care for.