Watch Is Timed to Cash In on Quayle’s Image

Two former stockbrokers from Thousand Oaks hope to make money from Vice President Dan Quayle’s image as the embodiment of confusing times.

Three weeks ago, Richard Ongstad and his partner, Steve Hill, began selling the “Quayle Time” wristwatch.

It costs $30 and features a cartoon depiction of a disoriented-looking vice president. Perhaps that’s because the numbers on the watch are in the wrong places, but the hands keep time according to the conventional system. Consequently, even while the watch is right, it appears to be wrong.

Ongstad said the watch represents Quayle’s apparent state of confusion because “every time he turns around, something goes wrong.”

Ongstad said he and Hill initially sold 250 of the watches by word of mouth through their Krazy Time Co. They have 250 more on order from a Los Angeles based-watch maker.

“So far it’s done extremely well, much better than I thought,” Ongstad said. “Everybody thinks this is going to be the next pet rock.”

Eventually, he said, there are plans to market the novelty in Washington. But, Ongstad added, “I don’t want to make fun of the guy. I think he’s probably a hell of a guy.”