January 7, 2009
Think 1970s, Saturday Night Fever, The Bicentennial, and... LED digital watches. In 1972 the Hamilton Watch Company launched the "Pulsar-P1", the first ever digital watch, utilizing low-current CMOS technology to show the time in a simple display of red digits. According to the lead engineer on the project, they were inspired by the futuristic digital clock in the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
These 18k gold units (original retail price: $2,100) are the holy grail of vintage LED (light-emitting-diode) watch collecting: the 30 or so examples known to exist trade for five to ten thousand dollars depending on condition, completeness (original box etc.) and documentation.
Also at the high end are early LED calculator watches, like the 1977 Pulsar 3822 or the 1977 Hewlett-Packard HP-01, which can each command several thousand dollars in pristine condition. Expect to pay up to $1,000 for other early LED watches from Pulsar, Bulova, MIDO (Swissonic), Timex, Texas Instruments, HP, Compu Cron and Omega. Models with green displays are also particularly rare, and command high prices.
In the mid-range ($100-$400) are popular models like the Pulsar P2, famously worn by Roger Moore in the 1973 Bond movie Live and Let Die. These are more widely available, and pricing depends upon condition. On the very low end, there are plenty of other LED watches available for under $100.
LED watches, which required holding down a button to see the time because the LEDs drew too much power to leave on, were ultimately replaced by more efficient always-on LCDs in the mid 1970s, when Texas Instruments introduced a mass-produced model for only $20.
This gallery of hundreds of LCD and calculator watches from the 1980s includes nerd-friendly brands like Casio, Sei… [more]
Gruss Kaspar’s amazing collection of seemingly every minor variation of Casio LCD digital watch, along with watch… [more]
Steve Waddington’s vintage Omega watch site, featuring in-depth pages on models like Omega’s Pilot Line, Chrono… [more]
This virtual museum, created by the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, lets you stroll through tim… [more]
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