Our goal at Timepieces-2-Watch.com is to educate you, the consumer, on the various types of Wrist Watches, Timepieces and Watch Accessories available.  Additionally, we have amassed an impressive collection of fine Ballpoint Pens, Fountain Pens and Roller Ball Pens for you to peruse.  All of the legwork and research has been completed for you.  We will be able to direct you to that hard-to-find, Digital LED Watch, Luxurious Pocket Watch, Internet Wrist Watch and  MUCH,  MUCH  MORE . . .

Digital LED Watches

On May 6^th, 1970, the Hamilton Watch Company introduced the Pulsar; a Digital LED (or Light Emitting Diode) Watch that is now recognized as an icon of the space-age 1970's.  These were the first wrist watches to utilize (what was then) state-of-the-art, electronic micro-circuitry display technology.  The Pulsar prototype was developed by the Hamilton Watch Company and Electro/ Data Inc., of Garland, Texas.  Pulsar production began in 1971, initially offered as a limited edition, red-light-emitting diode watch, at a price of $1,500, with a case design created by renowned metal sculptor, Ernest Trova of St. Louis, Missouri.  After appearing in 1973’s James Bond Movie “Live and Let Die”, many manufacturers produced LED watches until they became as recognizable as shag carpet, lava lamps or black light posters.  This film was one, of only two 007 films, in which "Q" (Desmond Llewelyn) fails to appear.  Instead, it is Ms. Moneypenny who brings Roger Moore his gadget watch.  The film begins with Moore wearing a Pulsar digital watch.  This was the very first digital LED watch on the market.  The wearer had to press a button to activate the illuminated red digits.  Otherwise, the time remained hidden.  It was groundbreaking technology (at the time) and the watch is worth far more to collectors today, than it cost out-of-the-box then.

Cheaper electronics aided in this popularization.  The digital watch was seen as the newest, most technologically advanced thing.  Douglas Adams, in the introduction of his novel “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, comically wrote;

“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy, lies a small disregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this, at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles, is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet, whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time.  Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches”.

The timepiece market was flooded with the LED's and they sold as fast as they were produced.  John M. Bergey, director of research for Hamilton's watch division, was quoted as saying; "The high rate of vibration, or frequency, is four times greater than in electromechanical quartz crystal watches and enables us to achieve an unprecedented degree of accuracy.  Units we've been wearing have not deviated more than three seconds a month."  Then came the 1973, Seiko Quartz LC VFA 06LC Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Watch, with a six-digit display.  Earlier LCD watches, with a four-digit display, were marketed as early as 1972 (including the 1972, Gruen Teletime LCD Watch).  In 1979, with the popularization of Seiko's LCD watches (which used less battery power), the power-hungry LED watch became almost extinct.

Today, LED watches are a favorite with collectors, especially those timepieces that can reach values worth 5 to 10 times their original price.  Now that the high-volume manufacturing process for LED watches no longer exists, they have become increasingly difficult and expensive to reproduce.  The production of these authentic LED watches involves careful work.  Modern and highly reliable digital watch modules are fitted with the original seven segment self-illuminating digits that are wire bonded by the manufacturer to the modern module.  The result is a great combination of authentic 70's LED watch look and feel, with the reliability and longevity of modern electronics.

Digital watches have not replaced analog watches, despite their greater reliability and lower cost.  In fact, because digital watches are so inexpensive, analog watches are often worn as status symbols.  In addition to the time-telling function of a timepiece, digital watches can have additional functions, such as; a chronograph, calculator, video game, personal organizer, internet sending and retrieval system or even USB connectable data storage.

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