How much attention does your LED watch bring?

[TheFordGuy]

I never really gave it too much thought, but there's a few generations (well, most everyone that's at least 5 years younger than me) that have probably never seen or heard about LED watches. I get comments/questions/compliments all the time from younger folks. Most of whom simply asked me for the time, and when I raise my wrist and press the button and the time lights up in bright red, they're absolutely stunned. They've never seen anything like it. A girl at the jewelry counter at Wal-Mart who was in her early 20s was just flabbergasted. She even asked if I'd take it off so she could look at it more closely. She couldn't believe the weight and thickness of it, and was even more stunned when I told her that it took two #357 batteries.
At first she thought it was something new, until I told her that it was at least 30 years old.
(I still don't know the exact production year...Anyone willing to help me find out? This is my watch: http://www.ledwatches.net/photo-pages/compuchron16.htm
I'm guessing mine is just a fuzz newer since it has a date button on the opposite side, whereas this one is just a single command button. Ser. #60321502 if that helps more.)

I just think it's kind of cool that old things like this are becoming "new" again by a young generation who have never experienced them.

The older people who do remember the LEDs all seem to have an appreciation for them. I've never run into anyone who said "those old things were junk" or anything like that. I have however talked to people that have commented that the LCDs were garbage, and went back to a quartz analog watch for better reliability.

[retroleds]

The people at my post office EXPECT me to wear in a new watch every time I come in. One of the guys [Brian}always gets fired up," that is so f'n old-school", then usually tells someone else to come look at it - sometimes this is pretty irritating to people in line...but they look too . About the only negative the older folks remember is the high price and the incredible battery consumption. Mercifully, we have much better batteries and the price of the batteries is actually quite low considering inflation. It's not that LCDs are and inferior technology, but they are mostly just a low end consumer product for the masses and constructed as such.

[LEDluvr]

Yes, I get a kick every now and then when a 20 something year old sees one of my LED watches and wonders "how can you tell time on that thing?".
I light it up and it always brings a smile. But I've encontered a few people in their 50's who claim to never have seen one or even heard of one. I wonder where in the @$%! were they in the '70's? Obviously not with the 'in-crowd'!

[CompuChron]

I often year my Hamilton SS when working , a beautifull wath which birngs about 0 attention even though I cross about 500people/day when I'm working and I wear short sleeve shirts!

My NIXON Dork brings much more attention than any of my Led watch.

I think they were not very well sold back in the 70's here in France, so I think I hardly met 1 person knowing what I was talking about.

Digital is always associated with "cheap" for watch lovers.

And I've never came accross anybody wearing a vintage LED watch.

[TheFordGuy]

And I've never came accross anybody wearing a vintage LED watch.

I'm the only one I know of that has one in my circle of friends and acquaintances. Even some customers of mine notice it when I'm at the desk with them.

[azimuth_pl]

and what can I say? I'm the only LED freak in my country. there are only some people that remember Sanyo LEDs sold locally under the Unitra brand. perhaps there are a few more that just bought one or two LEDs on eBay but don't have a clue about them.
on a local watch forum, after 4 years I'm still the only LED expert and there's nobody to talk to.
this way or another, people make big eyes when they ask me for the time

FordGuy - your Compuchron is a late one 1976/77 for which plenty of cases remained after Hughes stopped producing 26mm modules.

[retroleds]

....But I've encontered a few people in their 50's who claim to never have seen one or even heard of one. I wonder where in the @$%! were they in the '70's? Obviously not with the 'in-crowd'!

Oh, they were with the "in crowd" - that's why they can't remember. Much of that time is a blur...

[LEDluvr]

Oh, they were with the "in crowd" - that's why they can't remember. Laughing Much of that time is a blur...

LOL! You got me there Ed!
So how did you manage to remember them??

[retroleds]

LOL! You got me there Ed!
So how did you manage to remember them??

I don't distinctly -I was a teenager, had older siblings,played bass in rock bands...need I say more? Plus, they were expensive and we were borderline poor...I do remember the first combination LED & paper print calculator my father bought. Since my dad and I were always tinkering with electronics and other stuff I probably thought "eh, another consumer product. Or as Roger Reihl, Sr. said[paraphrased badly]," it has always been the desire of the electrically minded person to build an all electronic timepiece".... prophesy fulfilled.