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[Discussion] Hot take: If G shocks existed 75+ years ago, all the pilots, divers, and astronauts would have used them instead of Daytonas/Speedmasters/Submariners (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by owiseone23@alien.top to c/watches@style.land

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A lot of people wear speedmasters because the Apollo astronauts wore them. This is mostly in jest, but if people really wanted to emulate those Apollo astronaut icons, they would choose the most practical options which would be quartz watches, not mechanical watches. They'd be brighter, have better battery, keep better time, more durable, etc

But in seriousness, I totally respect the history and craftsmanship of these watches, just not their practicality in modern day.

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[–] 33manat33@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

If G-Shocks had existed at that time, the technology inside would probably have revolutionized computing. Such early advances in miniaturization and LCD technology would probably have led to an earlier development of microcomputers and ultimately personal computers in consumer homes.

The Apollo mission computer had a 32 kb hard disk. It weighed 30 kg and was ungodly expensive. A Casio PF-3000 calculator released in 83 (same year as the G-Shock) had a 2.9 kb storage capacity in a unit that weighed a few grams and was powered by a little battery. And it probably had a lot of processing power in comparison. I tried to find specs for the Databank watches, but I couldn't find it spelled out in kb. It's safe to say that G-Shock level electronics could have had a huge impact on computing at the time.