Unlike the original analogue watches digital watches are not popular for their timeless beauty but rather their precision timekeeping. Digital watches display time in digits rather than hands pointing to numbers so the watch can be much more accurate because of the ability to time in milliseconds and have many useful features such as stopwatch capability. So it was not an elegant appearance that made digital watches popular in the 1980’s but the introduction of the technology era and the need for precision time keeping and more functional capabilities than the simple clock could provide.



The Original Digital Wristwatch.

Quartz digital watches became the first popular digital watches in the 80’s they were a new breed of time telling and proved to be more functional and useful with the chronological stop watch features and calendar features for organizational purposes. Watches were no long an item of jewelry with the function of time telling but were becoming a personal organizer multifunctional utility. \Quartz was popular for its multi functionality features and simplistic display and ease of readability.


By the time it came to the 90’s technology had progressed and digital watches had more interesting features then before. They became very sophisticated items with multiuse and multi design capabilities. They came as water proof multi stop watches with memory, calendar and memo keepers they carved out a market for themselves within the sports industry due to there versatility and multifunctional capabilities. Specific watches are designed for different athletes from divers to golfers with exact precision time keeping.


Not only had the functions evolved but designs had evolved also making them the most sought after accessory for the 1990’s. With the World Wide Web growing in popularity in this decade technology was at the fore front of everyone’s mind and the digital age had arrived so it was very fashionable to own a digital watch in the 90’s and they came in every shape, color and size imaginable with every function you could
think of.



The Decline of the Digital Wristwatch.

With technology as advanced as it is today everyone owns a personal laptop, IPod, mobile phone and all of these have the function of a digital watch, stopwatch calendar, calculator and much more so the usefulness of the digital watch became less and less as progression took over. Now watches are worn for there beauty as an accessory rather then a time telling utility. People still wear wristwatches for this reason so that market had to change there marketing tactics and sell the products based on style and beauty instead of function capabilities.


Quite interestingly the digital watches are still very much a useful item in the sporting industry because of the same reasons as before, stopwatch capabilities, millisecond timekeeping etc. When playing sports, diving or doing athletics there is very little technology available so the simple digital watch still reins king of this forest.


So the new image a digital watch imposes now is very much a sporting one, digital watches are still very much en vogue with young sportsmen and active people. The designs are very modern and top designers such as Calvin Klein and Prada have their very own line of digital watches but they are marketed more at the younger generation as they have an active image attached.


Digital watches are also very popular among children as they come in a wide range of colors and themes such as Cinderella, Hello Kitty, and other popular kid’s brands. Kids love to play around with the build in functions and find them more interesting then the standard analogue watch. Digital watches can come in very affordable disposable type wrist watches or very functional technical high end sports watches.


They have never entered the luxury end of the watch industry but have a unique position of their own where they look like their going to stay. The initial digital watches of the 80’s are now a collectors item and are exchanged and auctioned at specific events and will only grow as time goes on, so don’t throw away your digital wristwatch that you got in the 80’s make sure you keep it in good condition and safe as you never know what it will fetch in a few years to come.
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