Retro digital & electronic tools and gadgets

Watches and timekeeping gadgets

Anyone remember those early digital watches? They had a kind of red LED display, which required the user to press a button to activate them, and only the rich could afford them.

Awful things, but I guess that they now have a certain kitsch value and I wouldn’t be surprised if they cost a fortune for collectors. Then we got the LCD displays, which looked a lot nicer and apparently have a much longer battery life. Nowadays you can even get LCD digital watches that simulate the analogue watch hands, which is a kind of post-modern twist on things.

Personally, I have come a full circle and nowadays always stick to analogue watches. And analogue only. I am fed up with the interface of digital watches and more often than not the alarm goes off when it feels like, as the result of inadvertent pressure on one of the badly designed buttons.

I currently have a Rip-Curl watch which tells me the times of high and low tides, should I ever decide to go surfing. One day, you never know, I may just grab a surfboard and…

July 1st, 2006