Modern Living: Going Digital

Last year technology put pocket calculators under the Christmas tree. This year's great space-age spin-off is the digital watch. Hailed by one effusive manufacturer as "probably the greatest breakthrough in timekeeping technology since the sundial," the solid-state, quartz-crystal "time calculator" displays the time (and, on the more expensive models, the month and date) with glowing numbers, rather than hands moving around a clock face. Digitals are expected to account for at least 5% of all watches sold in the U.S. in 1975—some 2.5 million—at prices ranging from $30 to more than $3,000. Acknowledged to be as accurate as any watch now...