In many ways an excellent find @stuck-in-time ! Have never seen or heard about this edition either , it seems also the Instagram poster hasn't much information with a question mark in the description , ( "1 Millionth Walkman" ? ) . A crucial question for serious collectors ! Some information , extracted from this article : " According to the Nikkei newspaper on November 23, 1981, the number of WM-2s shipped exceeded 1 million units in just nine months after its launch. By the way, the first unit is 1.5 million units in the two years since its release." Simply " SPECIAL " , yeah why not ! A well deserved PWI trophy @stuck-in-time !
The outer paper box protected the inner red velvet box so well that the inner box is still in as new condition
I don’t think this was for a prison. It doesn’t work. PCB is missing. Batteries are fakes. Unfortunately I don’t know where it comes from and who made it. Looks very professional. Backside is red. Not like the Walkman in the Walkman room.
https://www.ebay.de/itm/165733711616?hash=item26967fbf00:g:KdoAAOSwsgBjXN4U&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAoC3hMZr5dlozlO4rNCPwelu/uK/pbg9Ji5mJaLysgP7mxg4Dlh9YuYUtiZPm9ihLkpyHEwJ0EsGpeO8bSNkU2LpPJgcPe1bXzt+4bMlq0sQDRmB7UHmSEfuT2LXF80hsRoPW/YsPk442IxLSl1Ofb30YF0TPsMzaOy9GQ12M8OPKyR/Ba3ZkjrNNKZzNqZTxUoiAknIoGu3VqFMEDTTdRP8=|tkp:Bk9SR8yFhMSPYQ
I'm guessing the clear Sony is a demo unit of some sort. Seems to be an original Sony one with the Sony logo on top. The original one has a metal logo that's molded into the plastic. Doesn't seem to be complexity that's going to be easily copied. These days there seems to be someone new clear covers for the WM-2 without the logos. I'm not sure from where, but there are similar clear doors from China for the slim 1990's Sony walkmans (making any walkman look like the WM-504). Maybe these comes from the same place.
I bought mine in Japan, from a seller where I often bought nice rare pieces in the past via a proxy-service. Unfortunately I cannot contact him to ask where it‘s from. The case of mine is more detailed than the eBay-WM2. There are the Sony logo, the „batterie“lettering and the embossed type label on the bottom. The printed lettering doesn’t really look like pad-printed, more than decals from scale models. The printing on the red door looks also different to the original red WM2. The glued-in batteries look like Sony-batteries from the 80ies but are hollow to avoid leaking. The battery-cover is also transparent and was glued in.
it was made for prison system and they even made CD players the same way. The demand for clear shell walkman was very significant. California alone housed about 200,000 inmate in the state prisons only (double it if you add county jails). different manufacturers made clear shell walkman due to this demand. at least in US correctional system regular walkman units were not allowed since prisoners families/ visitors could smuggle drugs inside the compartment. If any inmate wanted to but a cassette walkman this was mandatory to have clear shell.
I'm going with display model but it might be a prototype, the injection work on the clear case looks horrible and the fit and finish is really off. We have electronics like this at IKEA Furniture Stores, real cases, nothing inside.
@Mystereo , you might have something in your hands , if the "rare pieces" you mention are really rare and from about the same era the seller might have a lead to unique stuff but that is only speculation. This looks handmade with a lot of effort to look like a production model and this raises the question why to do that if the intention is not to make at least a short fake walkman production run ? Some points to note , this one has a later production "WALKMAN II" logo in contrast with the original display WM-2 which has a plain "WALKMAN" , in your model that logo seems to be a bit streched on the vertical axis but that may be just the photo. The printed inscriptions and symbols look like stickers although masterfully applied I must admit. The choice of transparent/ red combination is peculiar. Also the normally angular guiding "cut" on the corner of the bottom sticker looks circular as if it was hand made with scissors . Nevertheless congrats for an interesting find and in practice now you can enjoy the internal parts of a WM-2 while listening to it !
Looks like a good clear resin shell to me..probably they adopted the same system that I used with liquid rubber to make the knobs of the aiwa 770 ...Made a rubber mold then poured the resin ...the air bubbles you see in the photos are a clue
