For almost everyone, a watch is a necessity item. Irrespective of age and gender, it is a requirement for everyone. The main function that a watch performs is to tell the time, but it has been widely used as a luxury accessory.
Over time, there have been many advances in watch technology. Traditionally, watches have been in an analogue form. Analogue watches have a numbered dial, and an hour hand along with a hand for minutes, which tells time. In the 1970s, watches with a new kind of display were introduced known as digital watches. A digital watch shows the time simply as a number displayed on the screen, such as 06:30 pm. There is no hour or minute hand, and one does not have to be able to tell time, as you can just see it on the display.
Electricity is used for power in digital watches, but it works in the same way as a mechanical watch. This electricity for power is generated from a small cell that is placed in the watch. As the digital watch has an electronic time base, therefore it gives the accurate time.
The display screen can be of two types, it may either be a light emitting diodes (LED) or a liquid crystal display (LCD). As compared to the mechanical watch, a digital watch has a counter that has the same function as that of a gearing mechanism in a mechanical watch. The counters functions in a way, that it produces numbers from zero to nine in a sequence, which enables it to keep track of the time.
The Pulsar division of Hamilton Watch Company made the first digital watch in 1970. At that time, digital watches were quite expensive, and most people could not afford them. In 1975, digital watches were massively produced, and so came in the reach of the common people. At that time, most digital watches had a red coloured display, and made use of light emitting diodes (LED). In order to see the time, you had to press down a button.
During the 1980s, the digital watch industry went through drastic changes. The most renowned brand in watches, Seiko, launched a watch with a television screen built in display. Then a renowned Japanese brand, Casio, launched the first digital watch that could translate Japanese words into English, and the other distinguishable feature was that it had a thermometer in it.
Since then, the digital watches went through revolutionary changes. There are even digital watches that enable you to store information like the telephone numbers. There are even some watches with calculators, which enable to carry out both arithmetic, and scientific functions. During the era of 1990s, the digital watches were launched that had the feature of downloading, and storing data form external sources.
The digital watches are used just for telling the time, and they do not have much appeal, as a luxury item. Many expensive brands are famous for their analogue watches, and they even have their collection range. Still the digital watches have their own function and appeal and is still very useful as it has many features that an analogue watch cannot have.
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