We don’t think of Stanley Kubrick as the father of the digital watch, but he had more than a little to do with it. In the 1960s, while Kubrick was developing “2001: A Space Odyssey,” he envisioned a futuristic watch that the astronauts would wear. He brought his concept to the Hamilton Watch Company and asked if they could create it as a prop for the film.
This was the resultant prop (which, ironically, is never once focused upon in the finished film):
For those of you who are younger, prior to this there was no such thing as a digital electronic watch. But Hamilton engineer John Bergey, the company’s head of R&D, figured they could create one for real. Following the success of the 1968 film, Bergey got the company to partner with Electro/Data, a Texas-based electronics firm, to create a new Pulsar division within Hamilton. Their goal was to develop a digital watch.
By 1970 they had a working model, but it was a far cry from what was depicted in the film. Bergey somehow managed to get booked on The Tonight Show, and he showed the Pulsar invention off to several million Americans.
The LED display used so much power that the display was off by default. You had to push a button, then the red numbers would illuminate for 1.5 seconds.
Host Johnny Carson was shocked at the announced price of $1,500 (about $13,000 in today’s money), and joked “The watch will also tell you the exact moment that you went bankrupt.” That aside, the episode and the watch generated buzz. Bergey and Pulsar had a production model ready by 1972, and they leaned into the expensive price: The watch was now 18-karat-gold-plated and sold for $2,100, more than a Rolex at the time.
The 400-unit first production run sold out in a matter of days.
In 1973, Pulsar released a more affordable stainless steel version called the P2. It retailed for a more manageable $395.
James Bond wore one in “Live and Let Die,” and the P2 became a giant hit.
Sales figures aside, the watch looked nothing like Kubrick’s prop. In 2006 Hamilton created an homage to Kubrick’s vision and released the ODC X-01…
…though they still couldn’t nail the digits:
Today you can find X-01’s for sale on eBay. And, wouldn’t you know it, they sell for around $1,500.