Vintage Eye for the Modern Guy: Hamilton PSR
Hamilton this week unveiled the latest vintage-inspired PSR, a throwback model recalling the Pulsar digital watch of the 1970s. Longtime fans of Hamilton may fondly remember the Pulsar as a short-lived but significant part of the brand?s history, requiring at least two years of focused development to create, and then dominating the watch market during the early days of the quartz crisis, from about 1972 until its quieter demise a few years later.
While commonplace and often considered cheap today, electronic digital wristwatches were a new and special invention in the 1970s, with the Pulsar leading the pack and even rising to a luxury status, commanding a price that was $150 more than a gold Rolex when it hit the market in 1972 in a solid gold variation (gold-filled and steel models, like the one pictured below, became available shortly thereafter).
By the end of 1973, Pulsar was selling more than 10,000 watches per month. The next year, sales doubled, and the following year, sales increased again by almost 50% to their peak. Then, by 1976, sales began to rapidly decline as the market became saturated with ultra-cheap digital models, especially those produced by Texas Instruments, and by 1977 HMW Industries (Pulsar and formerly Hamilton?s parent company) sold the brand to a company called Rhapsody Inc., which then sold it to Seiko in 1978 which continues to produce inexpensive analog quartz watches under the Pulsar name today. It was a rapid and striking decline af...
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