# The Digital Watch Generation,



## zed4130 (Jun 25, 2009)

I was born in 1970 my first watch was around 78 and was a star wars watch leather strap and c3p0 on the front lol, next was a casio silver not sure of model was around 81, next i brought myself a G-shock 83ish, i didnt buy a analogue watch till 91 it was a seconda sorry cant remember the model , what im trying to get at is i almost forgot how to tell the time on a analogue due to digital watches , now im having a similar problem with my 10 year old, i got her a daish recently but to be honest the 24 hour part confuses her so im after a watch with all the numbers on it, so who else grew up in the digi culture, funny as not a great fan of digital these days other than most G-shocks,

paul


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## nAscA (Oct 17, 2009)

I had a lot of digi watches in childhood. Some of them was Casio, many was no names. But since this time I love them. Even I started to collect g-shocks.


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## bobbymonks (Jan 13, 2009)

I was a 70's child, but my dad insisted if he was going to buy me a watch it will be analogue as you need to learn to tell the time properly, instead of just reading numbers. And I'm glad he did, otherwise I might not be on this forum right now, or have the fine collection of watches.

The nearest I got a digital was a Timex Marathon dual time thing many years ago, analogue display with small digital screen at the bottom


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## KobeWorst (Jun 1, 2008)

My first watch was a Casio digital, the alarm went off when it was wrapped under the Christmas tree, happy days!!


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## funtimefrankie (Sep 8, 2009)

My first was a Timex and then what can only be described as a Humphrey Watch. Red plastic case with a silver strap. The face was red and white stripes, just like the Humphrey's that used to steal our milk in the 70's

Frank

PS But thinking about it now maybe it was only the straws the Humphrey's used that were red and white stripes. I don't think we ever saw the Humphrey's. A bit like the Mysterons really.


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

I was born in '64, so I was a child of both worlds. I started with crappy Timex mechanical and electric watches. The first L.E.D.s, in their huge gold cases, looked like the most futuristic and fantastic things I had ever seen.  They were so expensive that there was no chance I would ever get one though.  In 1978 at Christmas, I received a Timex L.C.D. which I thought was super cool.  By the mid 80's L.C.D.s were so cheap, I decided I wanted an analogue again, they seemed "better". Now that I am an old fart I have trouble reading L.C.D.s in many situations. :lol:

Later,

William


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## dickstar1977 (Feb 4, 2008)

Long live the revolution:










Mmmmhhhh, strap model time computer Omega LED, bet not many people have seen one of these before?


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## Defender (Jan 27, 2009)

I'm a bit older being a child of the '60's :to_become_senile: , but remember the digital revolution very well.

My first digital watch was an LCD Sekonda, followed by a 'nameless' one, then a Beltime, two Seiko's after that which I still have, the are/were far more robust!

I have acquired a couple of LCD watches more recently, but prefer analog or analog and digital for the function laden types, multiple alarms, countdown timers etc.

Thanks for an interesting topic, brought back some memories







!

Best regards,

Defender :astro:.


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## Markrlondon (Feb 20, 2009)

bobbymonks said:


> I was a 70's child, but my dad insisted if he was going to buy me a watch it will be analogue as you need to learn to tell the time properly, instead of just reading numbers.


The same applied to me. Unfortunately my dad bought me a really naff Sekonda/Poljot which I never much liked. As soon as I could save up the money I bought myself a lovely Casio CA-901, which I still have and wear from time to time.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I discovered a love of mechanical analogue watches. It's now turned into an increasingly expensive hobby for me.


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## Guest (Oct 31, 2009)

Well I was born in '69 and had my 1st digital watch around '78 and it lasted 1 day-I can't remember what make it was. Since then I haven't had a digital watch, I look at them and I shudder-even the expensive digital watches make me shudder.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I keep meaning to come back to this topic...

Some of my Seiko Digis..


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## RS24 (Mar 13, 2009)

Well I was a child of the 80s and also forgot how to tell the time for a while... my pride and joy was a super mario game watch and this post I found on blog pretty much sums up my playground watch memories:

Thanks to CT for the comment on the last post and reminding me about this!The swatch, and 80s watches in general were brilliant. Todays watches are rubbish. The 80s ones were a fad that caught on around the playground pretty quick in the 80s.There were basically two types of people. The digital watch people and those that had swatches. Both types of people would routinely wear 2, 3, sometime four or five watches at a time. Why? God only knows. But it seemed like the right thing to do back in 1985. I personally loved the digital watches. First of all the calculator one came out by Casio. Brilliant. Then, you had the one with the A to Z keyboard and a slightly angled screen. This was my favorite, and it still looks futuristic today. I want one again! They were so cool.In addition to the calculator and computer watches from Japan, you had the game watches. Well ahead of their time, you would usually have two buttons, and the only one I ever owned was a football game that I swapped with...


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## RS24 (Mar 13, 2009)

For the record, I whole heartedly disagree with this part of the blog post - "Todays watches are rubbish"


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## tixntox (Jul 17, 2009)

I'm a fan of mechanical watches, mainly because I like all things mechanical. You can't argue with the accuracy of the microchip though. I studied mechanisms and microelectronicas at university and can admire both technologies.

Mike


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## Markrlondon (Feb 20, 2009)

tixntox said:


> I'm a fan of mechanical watches, mainly because I like all things mechanical. You can't argue with the accuracy of the microchip though. I studied mechanisms and microelectronicas at university and can admire both technologies.
> 
> Mike


As with many mechanical watch owners I use my old Casio digital to set my mechanicals. Somehow I feel as if I'm betraying the mechanicals when I do this... ;-)


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## ValvesRule (May 20, 2009)

Markrlondon said:


> As with many mechanical watch owners I use my old Casio digital to set my mechanicals. Somehow I feel as if I'm betraying the mechanicals when I do this... ;-)


I use the Greenwich Time Signal on Radio 4 L.W. or F.M. in conjunction with my most accurate [mechanical] watch. I call it my Chronometer, though technically it isn't a chronometer.

I have no digital or quartz watches any more; I lost most of them at school in the late '90s

My last was a cheap Casio digital alarm/chronograph/backlamp on which the strap broke after a couple of years. I carried it in my pocket for about a year after that (my first pocket watch), but then lost that, too.


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## Zephod (Nov 15, 2006)

Well as a child of the 60s I remember my first digital was at secondary school and it was made by Trafalgar and I also had one of the Sinclair watches both of these were led of course later on I had lots of casios

and I remember wearing the jewlers windows out wanting a Bulova I think thats why I bought this as the design reminds me of those days


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## Markrlondon (Feb 20, 2009)

Zephod said:


> Well as a child of the 60s I remember my first digital was at secondary school and it was made by Trafalgar and I also had one of the Sinclair watches


Good grief, Trafalgar rings a bell from the dim and distance past.

I always wanted a Sinclair watch back then, too.

Luck you! ;-)


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

This talk of old digis got me interested enough to dig up my old ana-digi.







I picked it up back in 84, when I was a wee lad of ... umm ... 20. :lol: It was my gateway watch from digital back to analogue.










They were made in Asia, of course, and were badged with dozens of different names. I took the back off, it's still as clean as when it was made, with no leakage of the original cell.  It has a made in Japan Miyota 4800-01A 1 jewel unadjusted movement inside. It even has a tiny trimmer screw. I'm going to pick up a 391 on Monday and see if it will still run.

Later,

William


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## Markrlondon (Feb 20, 2009)

William_Wilson said:


> I'm going to pick up a 391 on Monday and see if it will still run.
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


It's always exciting when an old watch comes back to life with a new battery. Hope it works!


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