WW’s Vintage LED Week #5 HAMILTON PSR Digital Quartz (H52414131)

WatchWookiee

7 months ago

I am closing out my Vintage LED Week with, until recently, one of my LED grail watches, the Hamilton PSR Digital Quartz. The PSR is part of Hamilton’s American Classic Collection and a homage to the release of the first all-electronic digital watch, the Pulsar Time Computer, in 1970, and a homage in looks, to the Pulsar P2, released in 1972. The original Pulsar watches were released by HMW, the original American Hamilton Watch Company. The current Swiss Hamilton Watch Company, which is part of the Swatch Group (SSIH), had nothing to do with the development of the technology or the release of the Pulsar watches.

There are others, but here is an interesting Hodinkee article on the history of the development of the LED Watch:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/four-revolutions-led-watches

Some interesting tidbits (good trivia night questions) include:

The design of the original Pulsar Time Computer was inspired by a custom Hamilton clock that appeared in the movie, “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
The PSR’s case back is engraved with a diagram of a pulsar (star), a clear nod by the current Hamilton Watch Company to HMW’s original Pulsar Time Computer.

SPECS:

Case: 40.8mm wide; 13.3mm thick; 34.7mm lug to lug

All Stainless Steel case and bezel (brushed); Stainless Steel screw down back; 100m WR; Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating

Stainless Steel bracelet (brushed; 24mm at the lugs to 19mm at the clasp)

Movement: Swiss Digital Quartz with Hybrid LCD/OLED (“Dot-Matrix”) Display, showing digital hours, minutes, and seconds. The LCD is always on, showing the time, while the first press of the only button (3 o’clock) activates the OLEDs, showing the time in hours and minutes, while a second press illuminates the running seconds OLEDs.

#hamilton #hamiltonpsr #about #vintage