Hodinkee:

Today, the American LED makers are forgotten. “The phenomenon of the American digital watch is quite unique in the history of watchmaking,” writes watch expert Lucien Trueb, in his exhaustive 2013 book about electronic watches, “Electrifying the Wristwatch” . “Hardly anybody remembers the short-lived [American] watch ‘adventure.’ Their once promising diversification into the watch business ended as a flop, which nobody really wants to remember.”

The world’s first digital watch was made in America: Pulsar should be remembered for that, if nothing else. But the American LED watch adventure, which lasted from 1972 to 1981, is actually a whale of a watch tale that deserves its place in watch history.

I’m old enough to remember lusting after an LED watch when I was a kid. They seemed so cool and space age-y. I had to “settle” for an old Timex my dad gave me that turned out to be my most valued possession for years – just because dad gave it to me.