WEBVTT - Time for Smartwatches Part 1 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.200 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from half 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:14.680 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:16.919 I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren, both of them, and 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:21.480 it's time for a new intro. Okay, guys, So we 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:26.240 recorded just now an epic episode about smart watches. And 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:28.360 when I say epic, I mean it was over an 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.880 hour long. As as it turns out, there's a really 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.519 fascinating and very long history about not just watches, that 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.800 digital watches and the technology that has led up to 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.120 what we are currently calling smart watches. Right. So with 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.640 that in mind, we decided to split this episode into 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.720 two to make it more fun sized for all of 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:50.239 our listeners out there who may want to listen to 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:54.240 podcasts that don't have me talking on them. I don't 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.640 know why you do that, but anyway, we have decided 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.120 to split this up. So in this first episode, we're 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.960 going to really focus on the development of wrist watches, 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:07.880 into the development of digital watches, and then leading right 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:12.399 up to the the very birth I would say, of 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.640 what would become smart watch, the point at which these 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.920 devices started um getting interconnected, right, and a little bit 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:30.440 more than just about time. So smart watch I guess 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.840 it's a watch that does things betther than time. Yes. 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:37.440 Here's the thing about smart watches is that the definition 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.600 is somewhat vague, and it's probably because we've got a 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.920 lot of different ways that people are coming at the 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.280 smart watch design. It's kind of a convergence really, which 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:53.120 is for those of you who have been listening to 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.320 tech stuff for a long time, you remember that's one 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.600 of my favorite words in the whole wide world. Convergence, 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:03.680 this idea of very previous types of things converging into 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.880 a single form factor. And we're seeing this across multiple platforms, 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:10.640 not just with watches obviously. Sure sure, I mean you know, 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.160 as as technology as is letting UM chips be smaller 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.959 and more powerful, and as displays are getting um more 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:23.239 energy efficient and um more more capable of show and stuff. Yeah, exactly. 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.839 You know, as as the touchscreen capabilities are getting better, 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.560 voice recognition capabilities are getting better, it's making the smart 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.560 watch more of a reality. Although, as we'll see, the 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:35.840 idea of a smart watch, or at least a watch 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.000 that is able to do more than just tell time, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.000 is not exactly a new idea. It's actually been around 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:46.520 for several decades, but really defining it as tough really 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:51.160 because as we add more capabilities to watches, we then 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.280 have to have the discussion of does this make it 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.679 a smart watch? And more frequently than not, I see 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.720 people say, no, that's not really a smart watch. So 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:00.720 really a smart watch is more about what a watch 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:03.400 isn't rather than what a watches right right, And you know, 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:05.119 it's if we were talking a little bit before the show, 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.240 and I kind of think that the you know, if 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.480 we can define a smart phone as um as as 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:15.000 a phone that lets you, um access the internet and 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.880 access the power of the Internet through various things like 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:22.480 apps and browsers. But but but furthermore, choose what software 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:25.160 you put on it, most watches are not really at 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.280 that point yet, even I mean most smart watches, even 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.160 you know, there are a few. There are a few 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.160 instances of smart watches that are running something like the 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:37.080 Android operating system that allows you to install apps, although 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:41.320 the utility of those apps is somewhat compromised by the 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.280 fact that the watch form factor is pretty small. So 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:46.480 using a lot of apps that are designed for a 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:49.240 screen that's at least the size of a smartphone, if 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:53.200 not a tablet makes it problematic when you're getting down 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.960 to the smartphone size. Yeah. Yeah, So so I would 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.120 say that a smart watch is probably more like something 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.440 that um that allows you to have connectivity to your 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.880 other devices, right, it might be a second screen experience 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.040 for something like a smartphone. Uh. It's really you know, 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:12.640 getting into this era of wearable computers, and we're seeing 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:15.880 that grow year over year, and I think the watch 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.800 is going to be probably one of the earliest examples 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.200 of a wearable computer, but we're going to see this 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.240 implemented into lots of stuff, uh in the future. We 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.480 we've got activity trackers, which we've talked about in previous podcasts, 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.719 and in fact, activity trackers and smart watches are converging 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.640 as well, just not just the smartphone and watch models, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.000 or even the computer and watch models, because because a 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:39.800 lot of these smart watches coming out have some of 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.720 those um, you know, GPS tracking components are a pedometer gyroscope, 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.839 but will let you, um right right track whatever you're doing, 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.800 whether how many steps you're taking or whatever. And we'll 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.039 talk about a couple of those one in particular as 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.520 we go on in this podcast. So so we're kind 0:04:55.520 --> 0:05:00.000 of narrowing down the definition. But to really understand about 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.159 aren't watches, it would help for us to kind of 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:07.080 take a trip through time. Ha ha, since we're talking 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.240 about time anyway, Lauren is just going to be shaking 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.080 your head through this whole episode because which I'm like, 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.880 electricity lends itself to lots of puns. Yeah, that's why 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:17.960 you know it's gonna be a good episode when Jonathan 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.960 opens the show and I just go yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.440 I know that she's already shaking her head twice and 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:28.120 we haven't really gotten started yet. Anyway, Let's let's look 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.560 at the history of watches and clocks in general. So, 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.800 first of all, clocks date back hundreds and hundreds and 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.080 hundreds of years, especially if you're going to things like 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.440 water clocks or hour glass anything that is used to 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.520 track the passage of time. But if you want to 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:47.080 talk about watches, something that's a wearable clock, you really 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:49.400 got to go all the way back to the sixteenth 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:54.640 century hundreds. So this is the same century where Henry 0:05:54.680 --> 0:06:00.040 the Eighth wed and wived, and wood and beheaded and 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.200 lots of other stuff round around that same time. This 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.360 is the time at which Shakespeare would have gone like, man, 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.480 that's a minute ago. Yeah yeah, Actually Shakespeare for the 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.400 for the earliest watches would have gone, I'm not born yet, 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:16.760 but yeah yeah. Watches at this time were mostly coming 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.360 out of Germany. There are a couple of cities and 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:23.920 well what would be Germany and uh. The watches at 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:28.719 those times were these big, heavy things made out of 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.560 bronze that really only had our hand. They didn't have 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.599 a minute hand at all. And because they that, the 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.040 mechanism um would have been some kind of um. I 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.039 was pretty primitive. Like this was before they had invented 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:46.440 screws for things like watches, so they're like giant pegs 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.440 holding this stuff together. Really, the watches were these enormous, 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.600 heavy pieces of jewelry that weren't meant to help you 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:57.120 keep time. It wasn't. I mean that's what they were 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.640 supposed to do, but that's not what they actually did. 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.960 What they really did was they acted as status symbols. 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.600 So flavor. Flavor would have been perfectly at home at 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:07.760 this time, because that's how you wore them. Under these 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.760 you have an enormous chain holding it up a big 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:15.720 what I'm from the street, Well, I'm from a street anyway, 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.040 big heavy watches that were meant to show off status, 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.760 wasn't you know, because they were expensive, they were very 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.440 difficult to make, they didn't work so well. Uh, which 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:28.480 really when you get down to smart watches, kind of 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.920 mirrors the development of the smart watch. So but at 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.000 any rate that they were just wearable clocks, so so 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:38.679 not a wrist watch at all. These things were heavy 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:43.160 and you warm around your neck and on a big chain. Eventually, 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:48.520 the the technique for making watches improved, you began to 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:53.280 see more precision in watches and clocks as well, and 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:59.120 they began to get smaller and lighter and so yeah, 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.320 and they were still in his pendants really until the 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:07.240 late sixteen hundreds, So around the sixteen seventies or so, 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.720 that's about the time that the waistcoat became a fashion statement. 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.800 So once the waistcoat became a fashion statement, also pockets 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.120 became a thing, and that's when we started seeing the 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:24.640 pocket watch. So the next step in the evolution of 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:29.040 the wrist watch was the very first wrist watch. Now 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:33.199 there's some reports that say that people began to modify 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:36.200 pocket watches so that they could be worn around the wrist, 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.680 mostly for the ladies, because gentlemen like to have a big, old, 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.600 unwieldy pocket watch because it showed how again wealthy and 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.680 important they were. Right. But but as ladies did not 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:51.080 necessarily wear waistcoats, I imagine that was a that was 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.080 a fashion thing. Where again you're just going like, look, 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.760 I've got twenty eight yards of dress, zero pocket, right, 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:58.880 I need I need a way to show off that 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.400 both one I'm important and too I need to know 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.559 what time it is. Uh So, in eighteen sixty eight, 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:09.640 a Swiss watch manufacturer named Petick Philippe created the first 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:14.000 documented wristwatch. Now, again, there may have been wristwatches before this, 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.000 but this is the first time that anyone actually bothered 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.880 to say this is this is it? This was designed 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.360 to be worn upon the wrist, and it was jewelry, 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.120 it was ornamentation. It was meant for a lady. In fact, 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.520 it was a very important lady, the Countess Costcowitz of 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:33.760 Hungary and h Other watches again may have been adapted 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:35.280 for bracelets, but this is the first one that was 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.920 designed for that purpose and actually documented as such. That's 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.200 according to the Guinness Book World Records. By the way, now, 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.600 if you go up to the eighteen eighties. That's when 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:50.880 another Swiss watch manufacturer began to mass manufacturer wrist watches 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:55.040 for German military officials who wanted to have a way 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:59.320 of of of synchronizing time, but not have something so 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.199 unwieldy as a pocket watch. Now, if you want to 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:06.040 talk about a wristwatch designed for the general consumer and 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.800 not just the military, you have to get up to four. 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:13.360 And that's when Louis Cartier designed the first wrist watch 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.360 for a man that was not designed as just a 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:20.920 military wrist watch. It was for Alberto Santos Dumont, who 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.240 wanted a time piece he could use while he was 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:28.680 also operating his marvelous flying machine, because while piloting a machine, 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:30.880 he wanted to have both his hands available at any 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.520 time and not fumble for a pucket watch. That's fair, Yeah, 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.920 I can see that. So Cartier created a wrist watch 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:41.479 for his buddy, and he called it the the Santo 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.680 and they began to manufacture them in mass amounts around 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.400 nineteen eleven, and that's when we started seeing wrist watches 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.920 hit the actual general public. And then we have to 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.680 skip ahead to digital watches. So the first digital watch. 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.600 That's why like what the nineteen seventies, the twenties say 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.559 what say what? Yeah, no, no, it was it was 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.560 a mechanical digital watch. So we're kind of stretching the 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.240 definition here, but um, but but by digital I mean 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.880 showed numbers on its face that moved, rather than a 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.520 watch hand that that aund circulate around the face. So 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.400 we're talking about digits like the way you would think 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:22.800 of an analog pinball machine where he had the little 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.160 digit counters which would fall when you use your supple 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:30.160 wrist to play pinball better than anyone down in soho, 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.040 what was basically going on was was instead of having 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.480 having watch hands move, it would be a little dial 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.120 with numbers that would that it would would turn right. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.880 So so this was designed by well, it was the 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.680 court to bear digital wristwatch in the nineteen twenties. Just 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.080 like saying that word. Yeah, so spoiler alert here, guys. 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.400 I actually didn't know about this, but only because I 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:56.760 had looked it up just before Laurence started talking. So um, yeah, 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:00.720 So the nine twenties first digital wristwatch do for digital 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:02.920 being that the digits are written down as opposed to 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:05.680 and the digits move as opposed to uh, an actual 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.120 watch hand sure right, um, And and now other other 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.720 stuff was going on in the early twentieth century with 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.280 with watch technology. Um. The quartz movement was invented in 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.719 the nineteen thirties in larger clocks not at all and 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:21.640 risk watches yet and and quartz movement UM just means 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:25.480 that that when you hook up a quartz crystal to 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:32.079 an electric battery, the it will vibrate a very specific frequency. Yeah, 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.280 it's it's the piece of electric effect. That is what 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.360 it's called, thank you. And when you when you you know, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.400 hook up a bunch of gears mechanisms to this quartz crystal, 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:47.080 then it will vibrate the the mechanism, the mechanism in time, 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.320 which is how we get ticking watches. And because it's 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.120 such or ticking clocks, yeah, because it's such a a 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.839 regular occurrence, then it kept time in the level of 0:12:55.880 --> 0:13:00.520 precision that had not been really affordable for any up 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.440 to this point except for the very very wealthy. Because 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.920 I mean, like the Swiss clockmakers were famed for their precision, 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:13.600 but this was tear springs and by hand, I mean, 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.600 this is like not a mass manufacturing kind of way. 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:18.800 And making sure that making sure that add that that 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.199 you could wind it in a way that would not 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:26.120 decrease the accuracy. Yes, because as as this mechanism would 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:28.560 wear down, it would become less accurate over time, less 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:32.600 precise over time. So the because precision and accuracy being 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.800 related but different things. Yeah. Now, if we get up 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:40.400 to nineteen six, that's when a character who was becoming 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.160 quite well known in the comics strips the funny papers, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.720 Dick Tracy, plain clothes cop. You may have heard of 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.440 this character, if you're not familiar with him. Uh, he 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.120 was a crime fighting cop who had lots of different 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.600 adventures throughout decades and decades of stories that the comics 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.480 are actually debuted in nine thirty one, Right, there was 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:05.960 a movie with Warren Batty in something around there, right 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.400 when Madonna did all the music. Right, Yeah, she played 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.600 one of the characters. Yeah, that happened. Dick Tracy had 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.400 lots and lots of adventures. Well six, that's when he 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:20.680 got his infamous two way wrist radio. Now, this was 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.280 one of those examples of using something like the wrist 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.840 watch had now become something of a fashion item by 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:31.280 the forties, and so now this was taking it to 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.600 the next step, having a two way radio on your 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:35.800 on your wrist as opposed to some sort of enormous 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.760 radio that you're carrying around um and it gave Dick 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.000 Tracy that edge over some of the nefarious evil doers 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.040 they would face off against. In nineteen sixty four, he 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.080 upgraded his two way wrist radio to a two way 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:53.200 TV screen so you could actually see stuff and be 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:59.200 recorded back, obviously decades ahead of any real world technology 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:00.960 that would allow you to do do this now. I 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.840 should also point out that in nineteen six, this is 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:08.480 before anyone outside of a few laboratory folks had any 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.240 inkling that a transistor would even be a possibility. So 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.880 transistors are what actually allowed us to go the route 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:21.440 of miniaturization and have technology that's that's that's tiny. Other 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.440 before that, I mean you you're talking about vacuum tubes 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:29.280 and enormous pieces of of of electronic equipment. That's one 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.400 of the reasons why we didn't have that quartz movement 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.160 in uh in wrist watches yet because it's hard to 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.720 get that manaturization. But it was starting to to follow 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:44.760 through um so in in nineteen fifty four, Popular Science 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:49.280 showed off a prototype wrist radio, so already people were 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:53.960 talking about it being like Dick Tracy's uh wrist radio, which, 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.160 by the way, to this day, when you see smart 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:00.440 watches announced, there's about a seventy chance there's gonna be 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.480 a Dick Tracy reference in there somewhere. I mean, I 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:05.640 remember seeing those in two thousand nine, and I'll get 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:07.640 to that when we get to that part of the podcast. 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.040 But I think that must be a law. It's really 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.880 enduring image. It is. So the one in that Popular 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:18.120 Science showed off was designed by Sylvania and it had 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.880 a transmitter, so it wasn't just a radio as in 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.200 a receiver where you could listen to the radio on 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.920 your on your wrist. I've seen other radios that were 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.119 designed that way, wrist radios, but they were just receivers. 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.040 So it's like having a pocket radio, except reward on 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.880 your wrist instead of in your pocket. Uh. This was 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:40.200 a transmitter as well, so you could actually communicate with somebody. 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:43.480 But again, just to prototype wasn't meant for mass consumption. 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:58.880 It wasn't until that we even had a watch that 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.240 ran off of a battery instead of needing to be wound. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:06.320 Holy cow. It's it's still used a balance wheel mechanism. Um. Again, 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.960 the Courts technology had not been miniaturized yet, got you, 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:15.120 So it's but still we're making progress. We are making progress. UM. 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:20.399 Nineteen sixty was when Belova released their first Acutron watch, 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.600 and that was that was a kind of a takeoff 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.639 of the Courts movement. UM. It used a nickel alloy 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.520 to to vibrate with the electric current of a battery 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:33.840 UM at a at a less accurate interval, not as 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:37.000 precisest quarts, but still better than what had come before. 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:42.960 Certainly nice. I like Acutron like a very very anal 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:48.600 retentive robot, like the The Accutron is the is the 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.399 robot that goes on Twitter and starts every tweet with 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.720 well actually, and he knows something. By the time this 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.400 podcast has circulated, someone will have made an Accutron Twitter account, 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.480 if there's not one already, I guarantee it. I certainly 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.000 hope so I will be very disappointed if Acutron is 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.600 not active with a week. Within a week of this 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.600 podcast going live, get on that listener, and every tweet 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:18.119 has to start with well actually, all right. Seven UM 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:22.720 was when the c e h the Center Electronic hor Lagger, 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:27.679 which was a Swiss research lab. The swisss mixing German 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.360 and French together in a way that just defies my 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.639 ability to pronounce things. They that was the year that 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.200 they that they came out with a prototype of a 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.480 miniaturized courts movement clock. Um. It did not hit the 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.119 market because because the I think the Swiss were kind 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.520 of like, we can do so much better with mechanical stuff, 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.080 and then they were doing really well with mechanical movements 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.320 at the time, so um uh yeah. Yeah. The in 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:58.879 in nineteen sixty nine, that was the first commercial release 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:03.760 of a quarts movement watch. That was Sacho's um s 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.679 q Astron. Yes. Psacho would become a big name in 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:12.320 watches over the next couple of decades. It should be 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:16.679 mentioned that this first uh commercial courts movement watch was 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.640 such a technical failure that it was recalled after only 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:26.080 a hundred pieces were made. Oh not yet, but but 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.200 it was. It was an important I think it really 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.680 got the world to set up and pay attention and 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:32.440 go like, oh no, no, no, this is a thing 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.879 that is going to happen and we should start getting 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.199 on it, all right, So let's let's talk about an 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:41.880 actual electronic digital watch, not a mechanical one that happened 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:49.439 in seventy two. That was Hamilton's made it, and it 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:54.720 was called the Pulsar P one Limited Edition Pulsar Um 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:59.800 it was. It was. It was encased in eighteen gold. Yeah, 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:03.600 and it was using an LED display with behind a 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:07.680 synthetic ruby crystal, right, so all the light was kind 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.359 of like it was like a Cylon visor from the 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:14.000 like a toaster, the classic Galactica, you know, the good one. 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:18.439 Oh well, okay, that's a whole other conversation. Um uh. 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.239 So it was a little expensive, as I recall it was. 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.600 It was dollars at the time, which equals out to 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:28.480 about eleven thousand, four hundred in today's currency. So yeah, 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:30.600 if you got about twelve grand to drop on a 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.240 digital watch, that's the one that you would have bought. 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.000 And and well, you know, it was the only one there, 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.320 so I guess that's I guess that's why I would 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:40.879 have thought. But and and you know, certainly certainly gold 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:44.280 gold watches with with you know, all of the fixings 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.880 these days are still quite expensive. That's true. There are 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:51.440 watches that are well beyond the eleven thousand dollar mark. 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:53.520 But this was this was pretty expensive. Now I will 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.639 I will say that it was a celebrity watch because 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.720 it was seen in a film, Uh, Live and Let Die, 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.320 which was one of the James Bond movies. Yeah, um 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:05.920 it was. It was also Yeah, it had it had 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:10.959 a twenty five chip circuit. Yeah and um and then 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:14.359 I'm crazy. So supposedly the idea for this watch. Hamilton's 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:19.320 had done a digital clock for Stanley Kubrick's film two 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.480 thousand one, and um, this is this is according to 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:24.280 it to a great little article from the BBC that 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:27.200 all all link on social and um and yeah, and 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:29.720 and that kind of inspired the team to to put 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:34.600 together the wrist watcher. Now, uh, you know, we're getting 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:37.240 to the point here we're still talking about just wrist 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:40.840 watches here, digital wrist watches, but still just something that 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:45.239 tells time. But we're slowly working towards the this this 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:47.159 idea of a wrist watch that can do more. And 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:49.680 I'll keep in mind we had the examples of the 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:53.000 two way wrist radio, which wasn't necessarily a watch, but 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.879 was taking the watch form factor and converting it into 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.880 something else. But we're now getting into an era even 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:01.520 now in the seventy when we're talking about watches that 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:04.680 could do more than just tell time. Uh. It was 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:08.800 also the mid seventies when we started seeing the price 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:11.600 for digital watches start to drop, when other companies got 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:15.240 involved and began to find ways of mass manufacturing transistors 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:20.760 at at a price that was way more affordable, right right. Also, 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:23.280 Ellie l c D was coming onto the scene a 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:26.840 little bit in in nineteen seventy three, Saco had the 0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:30.960 first liquid crystal display watch UM. And then but but 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:34.480 it was around seventy six UM companies like like Texas 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:37.919 Instruments UM started putting out these like twenty dollar digital 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:42.000 watches UM, and you know, including in seventy seven they 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:44.080 had like a whole Star Wars license line that was 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:48.600 you know, it was for seventeen bucks and that's including 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:51.160 the license fee. So you know, so much much less 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:54.479 expensive than the than the two thousand watch that came 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:57.439 out just a few years earlier. And uh so in 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:01.280 nineteen seventies six, that's what Hamilton's you know, they were 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:03.119 the ones who got on the on the board with 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:05.240 the first digital watch. They came out with the first 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:09.560 calculator watch one of the first ones to hit the market. 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:13.000 There were a few companies that were vying for the 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.160 time but I think I think Hamilton's might have gotten 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:17.960 it under the y that the buttons on this were 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:19.480 so small that they had to be pressed with a 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:22.840 stylists which was included with the watch, and you would, 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:26.240 I hope not lose it immediately because if you did, 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:31.080 it just became a very uh, buttony looking digital watch. 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:33.199 You couldn't and if you were in the middle of 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:36.080 a calculation, I assumed that eventually it would fade away 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:39.679 to whatever the time was. But in HP got on 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:42.840