« Aerospace Evo, Tissot T-Touch, Horological Smartwatch »
Ever since the so-called quartz crisis of the 1970s and 1980s, when manufacturers from the Far East all but flooded the world's watch markets with inexpensive quartz watches, these have often been equated with digital watches – and are also regarded as cheap mass-produced goods. Yet digital watches can just as well be found in the luxury segment – and for good reason. Some manufacturers even combine digital and analog displays in one and the same watch. These luxury watches are often referred to as analog-digital watches and frequently come with a range of additional functions that go well beyond simply showing the current time. In the following article, we present a few of these models.
Digital Time Displays – Not an Invention of the Quartz Era
First of all, it's worth clearing up a misconception that, unfortunately, is widespread even among watch enthusiasts: contrary to popular belief, digital watches are by no means an invention of the last century – they actually existed long before. Although the vast majority of digital watches today are electronically powered, there are indeed mechanical examples as well. When it comes to watches, the terms digital and analog simply describe how the time is displayed. The traditional display using hands and corresponding indices on a dial is referred to as analog. Digital time displays, on the other hand, show the time itself in the form of numerals. It makes no difference whether the displayed time has been measured mechanically or electronically.
A well-known example of an early digital clock in Germany can be seen above the stage portal of the Semperoper in Dresden, dating it to the 1870s. In Venice, you can even admire a digital clock that is well over 200 years older than the one in Dresden's Semperoper. It was installed as early as 1599 on the Torre dell' Orologio – the clock tower – on the world-famous St. Mark's Square. Other examples of mechanical digital displays include split-flap displays, often used on departure boards at train stations and airports, or odometers, where the numerals are printed on rotating drums.
In modern mechanical wristwatches, however, a digital time display is practically never found. Only for date displays do some mechanical watches use a digital format. In quartz watches, by contrast, models with a digital readout initially dominated, and they still play a significant role in this segment today.
Meanwhile, though, there is also an almost endless selection of watches that are powered by quartz movements but display the time not digitally, but in the traditional analog way. Combinations of these two display types, typical of so-called analog-digital watches, are often chosen when other data is to be shown on the dial alongside the time – without compromising clarity or the quick legibility of the information displayed.
Tissot T-Touch: Analog-Digital Watches with Useful Outdoor Functions
One luxury watch collection in which this concept is particularly evident is Tissot's T-Touch collection. These models stand out not only for combining digital and analog displays, but above all for their use of a tactile crystal. Much like a touchscreen, it lets you access various functions simply by tapping the crystal with your fingertip. Tissot launched the first tactile watch of this collection back in 1999.
In addition to timekeeping with a chronograph function, the features of this model – which caused quite a stir in the watch industry at the time – included an altimeter, a barometer and a thermometer, an alarm, and a compass. That hasn't changed with the successors to the first Tissot T-Touch watches available today, but over the years Tissot has repeatedly expanded the collection with further models and versions. Some of these offer a considerably wider range of functions.
Some T-Touch models, such as the Expert Solar or the Lady Solar, also run exclusively on solar energy and, once fully charged, can keep running for around a year without further exposure to light. On the Tissot T-Touch, the analog display of the time via hour and minute hands is paired with a digital LCD display. The latter shows, for example, weather information, timed intervals, or azimuths. The role of the hour and minute hands is particularly interesting: on the Tissot T-Touch, they not only provide a clearly legible display of the current time but also take on additional functions – serving as a compass needle, for instance.
Breitling Chronospace – Rugged Analog-Digital Watches in Military Style
Breitling, the watch manufacture best known for its pilot's chronographs, also offers analog-digital watches in its lineup. A well-known example is the Breitling Aerospace Evo. On these watches, too, the hours and minutes are displayed in analog form, while the digital displays on the dial handle functions such as the chronograph, alarm, date, or calendar.
With these watches as well, a key advantage of the concept proves itself: the time remains easy to read. That isn't always the case with purely digital watches offering a particularly wide range of functions. Thanks to its luminous indices and hands, the Breitling Aerospace Evo stays highly legible even at dusk or in the dark.
Frederique Constant - Horological Smartwatch
An analog watch plus a digital display – and now a smartwatch on top of that: the Frederique Constant Horological Smartwatch makes the dreams of tech geeks and watch enthusiasts come true at the same time. "Swiss watchmaking meets Silicon Valley" was meant to be the credo behind three years of development. The result is a milestone in horology that will go down in history as a hybrid watch bridging digital and analog. But let's turn to the present. The display of the Horological Smartwatch has been invisibly integrated into the dial and can do considerably more than the digital displays of the timepieces presented so far.
In addition to the usual chronograph functions, the second-generation smartwatch bearing the name Vitality, for example, measures your heart rate directly at the wrist. This is made possible by a collaboration with Philips, which contributes its Wearable Sensing technology to the smartwatch. Activity tracking, sleep monitoring, breathing exercises for relaxation – all of this is handled by the additional display, which can be hidden when not needed. The companion app also connects the Horological Smartwatch to your smartphone and notifies you of incoming calls or messages. This is where luxury analog-digital watches become true all-rounders. What's truly impressive is how seamlessly the functions are integrated – it's bound to win you over.
