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LED watches were the first watches to electronically display the time in a digital format, the first digital watches being mechanical digital watches. The first LED watch was also the first watch in the world without any moving parts.
They changed the way we tell time, until their appearance people didn’t say “4:25″ but twenty five minutes past four.
They changed the way we tell time, until their appearance people didn’t say “4:25″ but twenty five minutes past four.
It was the first new way of displaying time in 500 years. As one manufacturer remarked at the time, they were “probably the greatest breakthrough in timekeeping technology since the sundial.”
LED Technology
LED stands for “Light Emitting Diode” a technology which grew out of semiconductor research in the sixties, however the problem that needed to be overcome in order for their use in watches was their miniaturization.
The light emitting diode is created by passing an electric charge through inorganic materials, in the case of the red LED Aluminium Gallium was used. Each of the LED numerals uses seven electronic switches for its display.Pulsar also came out with a green LED which used Gallium Nitride.
Power Hungry
When they first appeared LED displays were quite power hungry and batteries were not as strong as they are now which meant the early LED watches in order to conserve power were only able to display the time briefly when a button was pressed. This was considered novel at first but consumers soon found it to be awkward and inconvenient.
LED watches were popular until the late seventies until LCD watches arrived which were a lot less power hungry and displayed the time constantly. They have in recent years enjoyed renewed popularity due to some interesting modern LED watch designs as can be seen above.