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Digital Watches

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Digital watches first became available in the 1970's but were so expensive and rare that few people owned one. It wasn't until the 80's that the technology became widely available and it was common place to see people wearing digital wristwatches with red LED screens. As the technology moved on, the grey LCD screens became more popular and manufacturers like Casio started adding more and more features to the watches. From humble beginnings, the digital wristwatch stopped being just a way of telling the time and became a calculator, computer games console, alarm clock, stopwatch, calendar and even TV remote control.

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Do You Remember Digital Watches?

Do You Remember Digital Watches?

  • Anonymous user
    on
    I remember my first digital watch from around 1980. It had a calculator and the alarm tune was 'Yellow Rose of Texas'. I also remember the face plate around the calculator buttons falling off repeatedly and poor battery life. Around the same time mirror aviator shades were the big thing.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Digital LED watches are now collectible item due to its age. however now there many modern led watches are out in market but 70s led watches are gold filled even some watches are made with 18k or 14k gold too. http://ledwatches.info
  • Anonymous user
    on
    The first LED digital watches were introduced in 1971 under the Pulsar brand. By 1973 they had taken the world by storm. After appearing in the James Bond Movie Live And Let Die, many more manufacturers produced LED watches until they became as recognisable as the lava lamp. Millions of LED watches were sold and then, with the introduction of Seiko's LCD watch in 1979, LED almost became extinct overnight, rarely to ever return since the 70s. Now LED watches are a favourite with collectors and those in the know! Vintage watches can now be worth 10 times their original price!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I remember getting a bionic man digital watch I think it was 76 ish I liked the glowing led it was ace in the dark :)
  • Anonymous user
    on
    The beauty of the LED watch was that you could only tell the time by pressing the button - you couldn't drive yourself masd staring at it willing it to change and, by making a big deal of pressing the button, everybody could see that you had a digital watch ! The bigger they were in the 70s the better but the reverse was true in the 80s. And, yes I remember the calculator ones.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I remember seeing a digital watch for the first time at school. I think it must have been around 1978. I don't remember who it was who had it but isn't there always one kid at school whose parents were rich and always seemed to have the newest and coolest things but the kid himself was a complete ass. Anyway it was a big chunky black Texas Instruments effort with one silver button on the side which when pressed displayed way down in its depths the time in bright red digits. If you pressed it again it would display the date - for about a sceond and then it would disappear because if the display was permanent the battery would last for 2 days! I remember thinking wow, this is like star wars!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    In the early 80s critics claimed that the digital watch would become the mass market portable timepiece and analogue watches would only be made by Swiss manufacturers to be sold primarily as jewellery and luxury goods. Technology rarely makes a retrograde step but the analogue watch is still going strong today whilst quality digital watches in metal cases are difficult to come by.

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