Today in 1969, Seiko introduced the first electronic quartz wristwatch.
The Seiko-Quartz Astron 35SQ was an 18-karat gold watch that replaced the traditional mechanics of the wristwatch—hairspring, balance wheel, and escapement—with a quartz crystal that oscillated at a rate of 8,192 cycles per second. Its miniature silver battery lasted more than a year. But it was a luxury product, retailing for $1,250. Nevertheless, the “quartz revolution” had begun, and within a few years the technology became affordable and ubiquitous. By 1976, Texas Instruments was selling a twenty-dollar watch line, and within a few years, it could no longer compete with models selling for less than ten dollars.