With the advent of the digital era, suddenly in the 70's and 80's digital watches were the rage. It signified that the wearer was keeping abreast of technological innovation. The first digital watches featured LED display technology. LED technology consumes lots of power so the user had to press a button for the time to be lit up. Further advancement were made with the introduction of LCD display which enabled time to be shown constantly.

Furthermore, digital watches now come with an array with functions such as stop watch, calculator, alarm and many more.

So what type of watch is better: analog or digital?
Digital watches feature a set of numbers to tell you the time. They tell you the time very precisely up to the second and enable you to have accurate information.

Another advantage of digital watches is that should the watch fail, immediately the reading disappears and you know it's time to change battery or the watch. However, the long and short hands of an analog watch simply stop moving and you may be misled into thinking you have ample time on hand and miss your appointment. There is simply no warning given to you that your watch has failed.

On the other hand, analog watches serve the user very well too. At one glance, you can roughly tell the time. Analog displays can also tell you if something is wrong straightaway. An aircraft contains many instrumentation dials. The aircraft manufacturers therefore have come up with an ingenious idea of building them such that needles are always pointing north or to the top to indicate everything is in working order. The pilot can tell if there is anything wrong just with one glance. The pilot can easily know something is wrong if he sees a needle pointing down or any other fluctuations in the readings. This applies to the motor car as well. Straightaway, the motorist knows something is wrong if he sees the needle in the red zone. A digital display does not convey if anything is wrong. It is simply a number and does not immediately tell the user if things are right or wrong.

We humans are by nature analog creatures.
Do you tell your friend to meet you at 3: 27? No, you'll tell him to meet you at half past three. A picture tells a thousand words and humans find it easier to interpret pictographic information rather than numbers.

If you think carefully , a watch with a face looks more beautiful than a watch simply with numbers on it. It is a work of art and beauty. It is no wonder luxury watches from Cartier or Breitling only feature analog display.

The writer is the webmaster of digiteevee.com which covers the use of technology in your daily life.