The
Digital Display
In 1972, Hamilton
produced the first watch with a digital display. They had hinted
that they had a new breakthrough as early as 1970 but had two
years of teething problems before its 18-carat gold Pulsar hit
the world at a price of $2,100. By pressing a button on the side,
the time was displayed on a red numeric display, caused by a
light emitting diode (LED) display. Hamilton had provided a brief
glimpse into the future in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001:
A Space Odyssey when the company provided the futuristic digital
clock that featured in the film. John Bergey who was head of
Hamilton's Pulsar division said that this had inspired his team
with the vision for their new timepiece which was then in development.
The LED is
created by passing a electric charge through inorganic materials.
Seven electronic switches went into making each of the numerals
on the display. The original red light was generated by using
aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs), however Pulsar later produced
a green LED using gallium nitride (GaN).
Many in the
industry began to believe that the new quartz analogue watches
would even be doomed to extinction so soon after their arrival
that it wasn't worth buying into the trend, something which was
reflected in the writings of Douglas Adams and other contemporary
writers at the end of the 1970s and start of the 1980s.
Before the
watch companies could 'do away with' the analogue watch though,
they first had to bring down the price of the digital successor.
Competition in the digital field increased and by 1975 there
were over 80 varieties available. This competition helped to
bring prices down but the product was still out of the range
of the average consumer.
Digital watches
even in the late 1970s still necessitated two hands - one to
wear the watch and the other to press the button to turn on the
LED display. The reason for this was that LED used up a high
amount of the available power from the small power cell that
could be fitted into the casing. The next innovation in digital
watches would free up one hand for time keeping in a way not
seen since the wristwatch replaced the pocketwatch.
Liquid Crystal Display
first became possible in 1972 with the invention of the Twisted Nematic Liquid
Crystal Display (TNLCD), following decades of research into liquid crystals
at Hull University. It allowed a lower power level to reflect light onto
a passive screen. However, this first breakthrough proved impractical due
to the lack of photochemically and chemically stable nematic materials in
existence in liquid-crystal form at room temperature1. A year later this
problem was overcome when scientists discovered that a crystal known as cyano-biphenyl,
could be made to change from one form to another near room temperature; these
then were used in LCDs. They were first used in calculators in 1972 but the
displays were still too big for watches.
However, by 1973 Seiko
yet again led the way, this time with the first watch to utilise LCD technology.
It had a six figure display. As LCD used less power than LED, the display
was permanent, thus allowing for the addition of seconds to the display.
The Swiss finally embraced
quartz technology but left the digital field to the Japanese and Americans
settling instead to make elegant analogue quartz watches.
