Watches that were smart before there were smart watches

Believe it or not, some watches were smart, in their own ways, well before the Pebble was kickstarted or the iWatch rumored

By Phil Johnson

March 28, 2013, 11:21 AM —

Nothing said "smart" (or "nerd") like a good old calculator watch

Image credit: flickr/jonrawlinson

Smart watches are all the rage these days, from the Kickstarter-backed Pebble to Apple’s long rumored iWatch. LG, Samsung and Google each are also supposedly working on their own smart watches as well. It seems almost inevitable that smart watches will be the next hot mobile computing device.

But, hang on, there have been watches with all sorts of “smart” features for decades. Even before the Internet came along (for those who remember those dark ages) we had watches with calculators, calendars and video games and watches that could play music, pick up radio stations and even show broadcast television. Watches didn’t need Wi-Fi or a full-blown operating system to be smart.

In this brief window before we’re all wearing something on our wrists powered by iOS or Android, let’s take a moment to remember some classic watches that were “smart,” in their own ways, back when an LCD display was cutting edge.

Click here to launch the slideshow, 11 classic "smart" watches.

Did you have a favorite "smart" watch back in the day? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Phil Johnson is a writer and editor for ITworld.com, after having survived 17 years in the corporate wild as a software/web developer, technical lead and project manager. Along the way he also used to write monologue jokes for David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno.

In his spare time these days, when he's not chauffeuring his daughters to and from school, lessons and Justin Bieber movies (ugh), he enjoys drawing cartoons, tweeting about his life and taking pictures of cranes.