Brand: Czerweny Electrónica S.A.I.C.
Model: CZ 2000
Country of origin: Argentina
Made in: Portugal (Lisboa/Lisbon)
First year of production: 1985
Dimensions: 233 × 144 × 30 mm (feet adds 2 mm)
Weight: 587 g
The CZ 2000 is a rebadged Portuguese ZX Spectrum in a black Timex Sinclair 1500 case.
Czerweny got their machines from Timex Portugal instead of Sinclair because of the Falklands War (Guerra de Malvinas) of 1982.
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During the 1970’s, Argentine engine manufacturer Czerweny Motores set up an electronics division to produce calculators. It shut down later, but after the Falkland War of 1982, was reborn as the independent Czerweny Electrónica company. It wanted to import Sinclair computers but couldn’t because Argentina and the United Kingdom did not have diplomatic relations after the war. Sinclair did sell ZX Spectrum computers in Chile.
Around April 1985 , Czerweny launched the Timex made CZ 1000, CZ 1500 and CZ 2000, competing with the Brazilian Prologic CP200 and the Brazilian Microdigital TK82C, TK83 and TK85.
The Portugal-made CZ 2000 came in a black Timex Sinclair 1500 case, similar to the “TS2000” Spectrum variant, although the box had “Spectrum” printed on it, instead of “CZ 2000”.
The motherboard was a standard Sinclair ZX Spectrum Issue 4 or 6.
After Sinclair was sold to Amstrad, Timex of Portugal stopped supplying Czerweny with computers and Czerweny started its own production with the “Plus” line—the CZ 1000 Plus, CZ 1500 Plus, CZ Spectrum and CZ Spectrum Plus which all had new locally manufactured motherboards (now with an added monitor output and one or two joystick ports) and a shared basic case.
Production ended in June 1986 when the Czerweny plant in Oro Verde, near Paraná, Entre Ríos, was destroyed by fire, probably due to a short circuit.
A few years later a company called CM& M resumed production. Assumed is that it stands for Compañia de Manufactura y Mediciones (Manufacturing and Measurements Company).