History of the Smartwatches

Did you know that the Apple Watch is far from being the first ever smartwatch? In fact, the first smartwatch dates back to 1927, when the first Wristlet Route Indicator was launched. There was no GPS built into that model, but a scroll map cartridge allowed users to set their route in some European countries. You had to manually turn the knob on the device, but it was easy to manipulate otherwise. You also didn`t have to charge it every night, as electronics weren’t yet used.

The first electric digital watch arrived in 1972; boasting LED, the first model was wrapped up in gold. Users had to push a button to see the time on this magic device, conceived and fabricated by the Hamilton Watch Company. Ten years later, in 1982, Seiko presented its own first TV-watch model – Seiko TV Watch, which needed an adapter, a large receiver box, in order to show TV images below the digital time display. The display was also only in black and white. The next year, Seiko launched the Data-2000, a watch with calendar entries and a calculator. This model was followed by a few other Seiko devices. Much later, in 1995, Seiko conceived its Seiko MessageWatch which could display updates on a variety of subjects ranging from sports scores, weather forecasts, and stock prices, all in black and white.

Breitling Emergency Watch was developed in 1995. It could send a distress signal that could be picked up from anywhere within 90 nautical miles. In 1998, the first Linux-powered watch was built. It was designed to communicate wirelessly with personal computers, cell phones, and other wireless-enabled devices. Fossil’s Palm Pilot appeared in 2002. It featured a small display, 2 MB of internal memory, memo pad, an address book, a to-do list, and a calculator.

More recently in 2010, Nike+ Fuelband, Sony Smartwatch, Pebble, Samsung Galaxy Gear, Samsung Gear Fit, Android Wear, Moto 360, and Samsung Gear S made their entry. Thus, Apple Watch is far from being the first smartwatch in the world.