What Are LED Watches?
Since the first clock was invented at the beginning of time keeping history, clocks, watches and other time keeping devices have continued to evolve. We have progressed from pendulum clocks and wind up watches to quartz and atomic watches. A popular watch design on the market today is termed the light emitting diode watch or LED.
What is an LED watch?
Commonly referred to as LED watches, the light emitting diode watch was developed in 1970. The first LED watch hit the market in 1972.
The most striking difference between LED watches and other designs is the display. In comparison to analogue watches that have moving hands to tell the time, LED watches have a display with numbers that change.
How do they work?
LED watches are a variety of quartz watch that does not contain moving parts. Instead, semiconductor diodes are used to conduct energy between terminals. The LED display has four numbers that can be lit according to the time of day. Each number is divided into seven segments. Each segment is fed or lit by electrical current to the diode. For example, if the time is 1:00, when the wearer activates the display the diodes servicing the two segments of the one will receive current. The diodes servicing the six segments of each zero will also receive current.
LED watches consume too much energy to continually light the display. The wearer must touch a button on the side of the watch in order to light the display. Once pressure is removed from the button, the display will again go dark. As technology continued to advance some LED watch manufacturers were able to design displays that would light as a result of pressure to the display. This enabled the wearer to simply touch the display to see the time.
How have LED watches influenced watch production?
Since the LED watch consumed so much energy, the batteries needed replacing often. Consumers did not care for the expense or inconvenience associated with battery replacement. As a result, the LCD or liquid crystal display watch was developed. LCD watches consume considerable less energy and the display is continually visible.