Digital Watches As Fashion Accessories

By Tanya Khatri
January 09 2020

It doesn’t matter if you’re into modern trends or are classically old-fashioned when comes to watches, a smart yet definitive dial, and design go a long way with your personality and aura. Digital watches are well-suited for every occasion as they are fancy, and in fashion for the time being.
When talking about a digital watch as fashion accessories, they have been seen presenting enthusiasm as well as elegance when working with style. Also, in the age of smartphones and aesthetics, digital watches have now evolved to come with an in-built music system which makes them even more attractive.

What are Digital Watches?

A digital watch is basically a watch that shows time in hours, minutes, and even seconds in the form of digits instead of the standard clock hands on a regular dial.

The advent of digitization in watches began as early as the 1970s when the trend was just limited to reading time in the electronic way of numbers. But today, digital watches have become smartwatches. The digital watches have had to undergo very theatrical innovations to be able to fit in any and every feature possible to get in a digital watch.

Types of Digital Watch Trends in Fashion:

Digital watches come in a wide range of designs, styles, prices, and colors.

Sports Watch: The most typical and popular style of digital watches is the sports watch. They are usually rough and sharp in design and have water-resistance as the main catch. They also come with various features like the measure of heart rate, alarms, timers, and checking body temperature.
Diving Watches: As the name suggests, these types of digital watches are made specifically for divers and swimmers as they have the ability to endure any and all depths of water.
Dress Watches: Dress watches are very important to trends in the fashion industry. They are primarily classic in design, with a thin strap made of leather or metal, and their dials are organized and neat, with the time being easy to read. Mainly, dress watches are believed to have an analog reading, but digital watches add a touch of fancy for them to look immensely beautiful.
Field Watches: Field watches are generally made out of leather, with the strap perfecting their stand black dial and white digital lettering system, and steel casing. Most watches have an illuminated display too.

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History and Timeline of Digital Watches in the Fashion Industry:

The first time the introduction of a digital watch in the commercial market was as early as the year 1972. Hamilton retailed the first digital watch at a price of $1200, a watch that still is priced at $12000. But by the end of the 1970s, as the watches became a trend, the prices went down to $10 per piece, going inexpensive still in the 1980s and 1990s when brands started giving them as prizes in cereal boxes.

In the 1980s, digital watches came in with built-in data storage. With brands like Casio and Seiko entering the game, they came with abilities to calculate, as well as an LCD screen like that of a television. However, they were known to lose the data once the batteries died and this problem was fixed in the 1990s by Timex. The new feature that the brand added was the ability to transfer that data to a desktop computer through an optical sensor present on the dial. All you had to do was hold the watch in the face of your computer, and a flash made it read every data on the watch.

The 2010s, however, saw an extraordinary evolution when Apple decided to create the Apple Watch, which connects to your iPhone and can show caller information, made calls, send text messages as well as to measure health statistics. Apple made digital watches a luxury.

How did Digital Watches enter the fashion market?

Watches have always been known to be the most important accessory whether you are dressing for work, formal meetings, parties, weddings or fun nights out. The concept of digital watches as fashion accessories started when the Swiss watch brands entered the retail market in 1998. Brands like Timex and Swatch came in with the most elegant watches pricing at a range of INR 10,000 to INR 8 lakh.
Brands like Rado, Dior, Fossil, Titan Raga and Tag Heuer have been taking advantage of the market, by presenting stylish and sophisticated watches with collections that suit all the occasions and make you experiment with your look of the day. Not only that, a good watch is said to boost your confidence and level up your status in society.

Import and Exports of Digital Watches:

(Source:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/indulge/watches-an-indispensable-fashion-accessory/articleshow/6042331.cms?from=mdr
https://www.statista.com/statistics/663109/export-and-import-value-of-watch-industry-india/ )
According to the Economic Times and Statista, The Indian digital watch industry is estimated to have made an exchange of INR 33 billion in the year 2019 alone. Out of the mentioned 55 billion, imports have a higher stake of about INR 27 billion. Studies have shown that the demand for the watch industry mainly is made by the organized sector of the world, which is a heavy 40% in number. When talking about exports, digital watches shipped from India amounted to around $179 million in the year 2019, which was a remarkable $506 million in the year 2014 and $333 million in the year 2018. The five year period has shown a sudden fall of about 35.24%.

Luxury Brands:

Indian brands like Titan, Timex, Fastrack, Diesel, Citizen, Casio, Rado, Maxima and Giordano have set foot in the modern trends to give space to making the digital watch as fashion accessories by endlessly launching newest collections. These brands keep making additions to the features in timepieces, dials, shapes, sizes, and colors. Tag Heuer, the Swiss company that manufactures watches in India, introduces a novel collection of chronographs too.
These brands play a vital role in the import and exports of the watch industry, with Timex gaining a 32.6% share in the revenue and brands like Rolex, Titan, Casio and Armani standing close behind at 14.7%, 11.2%, 7.8% and 3.5% respectively.

Trends in 2020 of Digital Watches in the Fashion Industry:

The 2020 trends in fashion when talking about digital watches is that watches are supposed to tell more than just time. Setting an intelligent, that offers multiple features and excellent accuracies, while still being detailed and full of design, the year 2020 is ready to offer digital watches never seen before.

fashion industry news — Suunto Core Military Digital Watch

The popular names include :

Suunto Core Military Digital Watch, with a rough and tough design that looks cool on your wrist and makes you feel energized and accomplished.
Tissot T-Race Black Digital Watch has a chronographic dial and is water-resistant. The black strap with metallic dial and quartz movement is elegant and affordable.
Citizen Echo Drive E100 is best suited for casual wear, with its stitched canvas band and smooth dial.
Nixon Unit LCD Watch is a mix between street and sport with it’s all black and gold design and a rubber strap. The small and round shape is impressive as well as cool.
Braun Analog-Digital Watch is a minimalist must-have wardrobe accessory as it is durable and elegant in all ways possible with a dual-time feature.

IKF DESK

Today, digital watches have everything a watch can offer. From wearing a digital watch as fashion accessories at work or parties to using them for sports like running or mountaineering, they have become an appealing necessity for every one of us. And giving the time seems like a side-task for a watch today, with all the incredible features and style quotient digital watches come with.