The Most Iconic Digital Watches of All Time

When you think of iconic watches, most of them probably have one thing in common: they’re analog — you know, with hands pointing to scales around a dial. But if you stop to think about it, some of the most recognizable watches of the past several decades are digital. They might not be as prestigious or held aloft like their “traditional” counterparts, but in many cases, their designs have stood the test of time and they’ve earned a place in our wider culture. In other words, they’re understated icons.

There are many digital watches we love, and many more that have a place in timekeeping history. Some were mere (though nevertheless fascinating) technological stepping stones that have now been mostly forgotten (like the first solar-powered watch or the first radio-controlled watch, for example). Others have made a lasting impression and remain in production today, in some form or another, or they’ve benefitted from nostalgia and the vintage reissue craze. Indeed, digital watches are given much more respect by collectors today than they once were.

Of course, one of the best things about digital watches is that they’re often fun and affordable (among other desirable qualities). We love a retro-futuristic Casio (and you’ll see several on this list, as the brand kind of owns the digital watch space), but you might be surprised by the variety of watchmakers represented here, which includes Swiss and German brands — and not all of them are even quartz.

Pulsar

Hamilton

• Year Introduced: 1970

Let’s begin with the first digital watch. In 1970 Pulsar, a brand under watchmaker Hamilton, created a prototype of the first all-electronic digital watch (digital watches don’t technically have to be quartz or electronic, though most are). The final product reach the market in 1972. It was curvaceous and space-age-looking and it made a splash right away — even receiving one of the highest honors a watch can achieve: gracing the wrist of fictional superspy James Bond.

The Pulsar used a power-hungry LED display and remained dark on the wrist until illuminated for a few seconds by the press of a button. Later, the now-familiar LCD would become the preferred display method, but the first examples such as Seiko’s from 1973 are largely forgotten. The Pulsar, on the other hand, wasn’t forgotten. It even made a comeback in modern form from Hamilton as the PSR in 2020.

Girard-Perregaux “Casquette”

Bukowskis

• Year Introduced: 1976

The delightfully funky-looking Girard-Perregaux Casquette isn’t an icon in the way some of the others on this list are. It’s known to enthusiasts and collectors, but more importantly, it’s one of the most notable examples of a certain type of watch produced by a number of brands (Bulova’s Computron, for example). These were LED watches in the form of “driver’s watches,” meaning the display faces the wearer from the side of the wrist — apparently in order that it’s easy to see without taking your hands off the steering wheel when driving.

The Casquette is also interesting because Girard-Perregaux was one of the Swiss companies that was strong in developing its own quartz movements. It shows how a Swiss approach to watchmaking and quality can also apply to quartz and digital watches. Even more fun and unexpected was when the modern brand, now known for high-end mechanical watches, released a reissue in 2022 with the Casquette 2.0.

Casio Databank

Casio

• Year Introduced: 1983

It’s the calculator watch! As seen worn by Marty McFly in the 1985 film Back to the Future — and quite possibly on your own childhood wrist. Casio wasn’t the first or only company to make calculator watches: Pulsar (see above) introduced one of the earliest alongside Hewlett-Packard in the 1970s, followed by a number of other companies, but it’s Casio that’s most remembered for this ultimate nerd accouterment.

Casio produced a great variety of calculator watches that were basically mini-computers of their time and included all kinds of functionality in addition to doing math. They still make a range of highly affordable Databank watches today — though, while they were cutting edge and trendy in the ’80s, today they’re riding more on nostalgia and irony. Of course, they can still help you calculate a tip, cheat on a math test or perform other useful functions.

Casio G-Shock

Casio

• Year Introduced: 1983

Yes, we’ve discussed it time and again, but you can’t talk about iconic digital watches without mentioning G-Shock and the most iconic of them all: the familiar square design that debuted the brand in 1983. Even in its multitudinous and highly diverse forms, G-Shocks tend to be immediately recognizable, and there are a number of famous and popular models. But models in the style of the square 5600 represent the brand more than any.

Born of the idea to make a watch that “won’t break even if dropped,” its inventor Kikuo Ibe ended up creating watches that would be known as all but indestructible. They then became icons of street fashion in skating and hip-hop culture with colorful and often brash designs. On the other hand, they also continue to be a watch of choice for demanding professions like police and military. Today, you can get a classic square G-Shock in its near original form with black plastic and positive LCD display but also many colors, iterations, and even metal cases and bracelets.

Casio F-91W

Casio

• Year Introduced: 1989

The Casio F91W is an odd icon. Due to extreme cheapness (its price varies but can routinely be found for less than $20) combined with its actually being quite robust and reliable, it became ubiquitous. The brand makes millions of them … per year. If you just need a reliable watch and want to spend as little money as possible, there’s a good chance you’d land on the F-91W.

This is one of the most recognizable ultra-cheap digital Casio watches, and it in some ways represents the brand’s dominance of the segment. We could easily include other models like the beloved World Time, but we’ll condense them here with honorable mention to avoid Casio overload.

Timex Ironman

Walmart

• Year Introduced: 1986

The Timex Ironman is one of those watches that seems like part of the fabric of certain decades. In this case, it’s the ’80s and ’90s. Developed for the famous Ironman triathlon, an earlier model called the Triathlon came out in 1984 while the Ironman name came in 1986. Obviously, it was made for sports and quite robust, leading to it being a favorite of athletes and professionals such as soldiers.

The Ironman had some notable wearers, but none more prominent than Bill Clinton, connecting with the everyman voter with his down-to-earth choice (he’s since moved significantly upscale in his watch taste). Timex continues to produce an Ironman collection today, some examples of which are evolutions of the concept, but you can also get a version very similar, though slightly larger than, the originals (~37mm).

Apple Watch

Apple

• Year Introduced: 2015

The Apple Watch is as ubiquitous as other Apple gadgets and iconic by default. It’s a digital watch in the sense that it uses digital technology — integrated circuits and information conveyed in the form of ones and zeros. Its display can also be digital, but then again it can be almost anything, from traditional watch dial designs to an analog Mickey Mouse tapping his foot to many forms of digital displays.

The Apple Watch, of course, deserves its iconic status for more than being ubiquitous. Its designers studied the traditional watch industry and created a product full of nods that watch snobs should appreciate (the above-mentioned dial designs among them). The Apple Watch was truly a big deal when it was announced. It seemed to realize sci-fi fantasies, change the status of wearable tech and go on to wide adoption, outpacing the entire Swiss watch industry by some measurements.

A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk

A. Lange & Sohne

• Year Introduced: 2009

You thought digital watches meant quartz or electronic, huh? You thought they were cheap? Well, you were mostly right, but high-end German watchmaking superstar A. Lange & Söhne’s Zeitwerk is a notable exception.

The Zeitwerk is an example of a digital watch that’s completely powered by traditional springs and gears. (Ok, its seconds and power reserve use analog displays but since its hours and minutes are both displayed digitally, we say it counts as digital.)

There were a good number of such watches back in the 1960s and ’70s (and a few examples are still made today). Those watches often use a jumping hour but a slowly sweeping minute display. The Zeitwerk, on the other hand, features jumping hours and minutes — which sounds simple, but is in fact very complicated to execute with mechanical clockwork, and especially in wristwatch size. The Zeitwerk is known for that but it also has an extremely distinctive and avant-garde (yet somehow simultaneously classical) design that doesn’t even look close to anything else.

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