Pulsar LED Digital Watch (photo: OldPulsars.com)
Richard Nixon was in office, and NASA’s Apollo program was still going strong. The year was 1972, and when the Pulsar II hit stores, the future had arrived – in the form of an LED wristwatch.
According to the history of Pulsar LED watches at OldPulsars.com, development of the high-tech watch was jumpstarted when engineer Dick Walton was working for Hamilton watches in the late 1960s, and Stanley Kubrick needed a futuristic-looking digital clock for his newest feature film (a little movie called 2001: A Space Odyssey). That particular clock didn’t make it into the final version of the film, but by 1972, after some trial and error and some design tweaks, the Pulsar II watch was ready for production.
The Pulsar II had exactly one function: it displayed the time. But it carried a 30M water resistant rating, it was shock resistant, and accurate to within a minute over a year. It was available in a stainless steel “Astronaut” model and a gold “VIP” edition.
Pulsar II LED Digital Watch (photo: OldPulsars.com)
The entry-level price for a steel Pulsar II was nearly $300 – a pricey watch even by today’s standards, and much moreso in 1972 – while gold versions sold for thousands. But in 1973, the Pulsar II was strapped onto James Bond’s wrist in the opening scene of “Live And Let Die”, and from that point forward, it was a must-have piece of pop culture technology.
Thanks to the folks at OldPulsars.com for all the specs and history.
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