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The first mechanical wristwatches required manual winding. During 1950s, Hamilton Watch Company introduced first battery-powered watch, which required no winding. The first digital watch appeared in 1970s, but digital watches still have not replaced analog watches due, in part, to a wildly successful marketing campaign by Swatch. Toward end of 20th century, a consortium of Swiss watchmakers and worldwide graphical designers resurrected analog watch as a throwaway fashion accessory, and introduced their first wild designs in 1983. It's design stupid! Swatches flew off shelves and they remain true to their original concept—cheap, fun, bold, Swiss—analog.
Along way, watches evolved into solar operated, kinetic powered (self-winding), lithium powered, digital, light-emitting diode (LED), liquid crystal display (LDC), and waterproof. Today's men's watches routinely include a calendar, and many women's watches also include a calendar. But why stop there? You can find a watch to suit your every need. Today's watches contain calculators, digital cameras, cell phones, and games. There have been several attempts to create a computer watch, but to date, only one has made it to market, Ruputer, by Seiko, and it didn't last. At time, it proved unmarketable, but stay tuned…
Whether you want high-tech functionality or you prefer to concentrate on aesthetics of your timepiece, watches are still about marking time, that precious, finite commodity around which our everyday lives revolve.
M J Plaster is a successful author who provides information on shopping online for http://www.watches-4-u.net/, http://www.watches-4-u.net/watch-bands.htm, and http://www.watches-4-u.net/pocket-watches.htm. M J Plaster has been a commercial freelance writer for almost two decades, most recently specializing in home and garden, the low-carb lifestyle, investing, and anything that defines la dolce vita.