After the clocks went forward over the weekend I was setting some watches by my G Shock radio controlled solar powered digital, presumably the idea is this watch will never need to be opened for battery change or serviced, so it set me wondering just how long does a digital display last.
How old is your oldest digital?
I have a couple from the 1970's and a fair few from the early 1980's all going strong.
Infact tonight my eldest son, was in one of watch cases and he found my gold digital timex LCD from the 70's that I bought in a thrift store, he had on his wrist, said he thinks it is very cool and can he have it. It's his now.
Obviously there's going to be a limit to how old a digital watch can be, I found this page which says the first production digital LCD was released by Casio in 1974.
http://blog.onlineclock.net/earliest-digital-watches/
Before that in 1973 there was the Pulsar LED used by Bond(also on that page) and the advert video says that that had a 50 year guarantee on the circuitry.
So if you bought one it's still got 6 years warranty :-)
Mechanical digitals date back over 100 years of course :)
The first digital watches were LED - light emitting diodes. In very simple terms the display was made up of a matrix of very tiny light bulbs. These can fail over time either individually by the wire at the back becoming detached which was a common Heuer problem, or the complete display failing due to problems with the circuit board.
The next digital watches were LCD - liquid crystal displays. Again in very simple terms the display consisted of a liquid sandwiched and sealed between two pieces of glass. Failure was usually caused by the seal failing and allowing air in which contaminated the liquid or as with LED watches a failure of the circuit board.
Check out my post:
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...igital-watches
I had one of these in 1975 (kit form version).
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Wow, that brings back some memoriesOriginally Posted by Chris_in_the_UK
I had one of these in 1975 (kit form version).
Very cool. How much assembly did it need - much soldering?I had one of these in 1975 (kit form version).
This one was a 21st birthday gift in 1977. Came across it unexpectedly last year. Put new batteries in it and was surprised when it still worked. Was cool in the 70s but wouldn't dream of wearing it now.
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I have a 1976 LCD Speedmaster and a Seiko 0634 LCD Chrono of the same vintage, they are my oldest LCDs. I also have a 1974 Omega Time Computer II LED.
My Synchronar LED sadly no longer works, though I don't think it's the display.
I don't think we know how long they'll last if kept carefully.
My oldest one is a Pulsar LED.
My second oldest came from the personal collection of the co-inventer of LCD himself.
@Caruso; COOL watch that! Is it a sunwatch or the split window one?
Best send it to Spares&Strikes in Germany before the Brexit customs add cost ;-)
I used to have a Seiko UC3000 - this thread sparked some nostalgia so visited e-bay. Wish I'd kept mine now...
There must be digitals far pre dating the Quartz watches, surely?
M
See #4. I think this thread is about LED and LCD digitals, but you can go way back with mechanicals.There must be digitals far pre dating the Quartz watches, surely?
M
There must be digitals far pre dating the Quartz watches, surely?
M
"Jump Hour" watches were popular in the 1930's. Here are some Bulova adverts.
1933.
1932. Slightly different style.
My 1970's Trafalgar model, with sparkly case.
Cortébert Jump-hour from 1890s.
I was the first of my friends to own an LCD watch, it was an "Instar" model around 1978. It had absolutely no functions other than showing hours and minutes, so my LED owning friends ridiculed this as they could show the seconds and even the date by pressing buttons! I recall that it was bought from our local H. Samuels for £13.50, on a sale - the original price was £27.50. The timekeeping was very good - around 3 seconds per month and the battery lasted much, much longer than in my friends' LED watches.
I actually quite like that. Wonder if Sugar has any NOS ones laying about?I had one of these in 1975 (kit form version).
Actually they where not LED but rather VFD, vacuum fluorescent display, like in the handhelds and tabletops games of the seventies (Mattel/Coleco/Entex anyone?) or the pocket calculators pre LCD.
....and that is why they sucked the batteries dry in a hurry!
This vintage DSM watch was posted on a more specialist horological forum. From 1972 it's now 45 years old and still going well.
From memory, no - just plug and play (sort of).
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I have the ´73 edition from the inventor himself.This vintage DSM watch was posted on a more specialist horological forum. From 1972 it's now 45 years old and still going well.
A very, VERY cool watch and the crown is ubercool.
Since all of these very early tech quartz watches were adjusted; a variable resistance in the qco which uses a very precise hand cut natural quartz crystal, they are usually very accurate.
Nice! I should have bought one when they were still available for sensible £££.
Is that a reverse LCD, which is now back in fashion.This vintage DSM watch was posted on a more specialist horological forum. From 1972 it's now 45 years old and still going well.
Very cool to see one still working.This vintage DSM watch was posted on a more specialist horological forum. From 1972 it's now 45 years old and still going well.
This would be my oldest
Seiko's first calculator watch from 1977. My dad bought it new.
No, it is a different method of aligning the crystals so the light refracts differently on the pat visible and invisible.
The 'reverse' displas are exactly that. The same, just aligning the bits normally 'invisible'.
The difference between the two most simply is that the one used today consumes less current and becomes visible through a polarizing filter on the display. Remove that film and you need polaroid sunglasses to be able to read it. The DSM system reflects light directly on the activated crystal atoms.
Nice watch Wibbs!^^^
My Elektronica-1.
That's really nice. I've started looking at these since seeing Huertecilla's. Do you mind if I ask where your's came from?Nice watch Wibbs!^^^
My Elektronica-1.
Thank you!
Ebay, it was sold as faulty but when the contacts were cleaned, and the batteries/holders put in correctly it worked fine.
Looking at those LEDs certainly brings back some memories, it also shows that the good quality ones are very long lived.
I remember a time when the cost of a battery replacement became more than the cost of a cheap LCD watch meaning the cheap ones ended up disposable.
Anyone got one of those Nixie tube ones?
Yes, but it's only the tubes that are vintage.
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...07#post4141707
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
This would be my oldest
Seiko's first calculator watch from 1977. My dad bought it new.[/QUOTE]
Wow. I remember a good friend of mine that had a Casio calculator watch in the very early 90s when we was about 9 he was seen the best for having such a cool watch. Wonder how easy they are to get now in working order.
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They still make them: http://amzn.eu/09DAG5m
The Casio's were seen as very cool alright. Actually back in the 80's I thought the plastic Casio way cooler than my dad's Seiko pictured above. :)
I got this one for Christmas in 1981.
Still going strong :)
Includes a very useful random number generator!
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