The World's First Digital Watch Is Coming Back -- For $750

Given that a dumb watch doesn't seem so dumb any more, Hamilton is re-releasing the world's first digital watch that does nothing more than tell the time Made famous with an appearance on the wrist of James Bond in the opening scenes of Live and Let Die, the Pulsar P2 2900 LED digital watch, co-developed by the Hamilton Watch Company and Electro/Data Inc., was the world's first digital watch featuring an active numeric display instead of hands pointing at a ring of static numbers Originally released in 1972, the Pulsar was also one of the first watches to use a quartz crystal to keep accurate time.

Functionally, the new Hamilton PSR works exactly like the original Pulsar did: At the push of a button the face illuminates to show the time-and nothing but the time Instead of relying on LEDs, which were cutting-edge in the early '70s, the PSR features a hybrid LCD-OLED display As aBlogtoWatch discovered while going hands-on with the piece, in passive mode the time is displayed using a classic segmented LCD screen, but when the watch's single button is pressed, the OLED turns on, recreating the appearance of the original Pulsar's numeric display with improved brightness and contrast so the PSR can be used outside in bright sunlight.

Instead of targeting well-funded watch collectors this time around, Hamilton is going after nostalgia seekers. . Source