Sunday, April 26, 2015

Pulsar Watches - Past and Present

There are always lots of pictures of high end watches.  The heritage of mechanical watch making is well celebrated.  But, it's also worth noting that the quartz watch makers have their own history to celebrate.  For example, PULSAR was created as a joint venture between Hamilton watches and Electro/Data Inc.  The company was a pioneer in the development of digital watches.  They created the first ever LED watch in 1972.   

Vintage 1970s Pulsar LED watch - Photo by Joe Haupt from USA [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Watches like the PULSAR Model P2 Time Computer LED Watch pioneered the whole idea of digital watches.

PULSAR Model P2 Time Computer LED Watch by Joe Haupt from USA [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
PULSAR also introduced the very first calculator watch in 1975.  It was an LED watch with small calculator buttons.

PULSAR LED Calculator Watch - Photo by Rept0n1x (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Today's PULSAR watches are powered by accurate, reliable, quartz watch movements.  PULSAR was bought by Seiko in 1978.  As part of the Seiko family of watch companies, they are certainly reliable and accurate.  In stores, you generally see far more analog PULSAR watches than digital.  But, today, you can still get Pulsar digital watches.  When you glimpse at your wrist, you'll also be wearing part of digital history.

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