How Does a Digital Watch Work?

Basics

A watch is essentially a clock, and all clocks work basically the same way. There is a power source, which in a watch is a small battery. There is an accurate time base and a way to gear down the timebase. This is the heartbeat of the watch and what keeps the watch at the correct time, hours, minutes and seconds. Each watch also has a unique design and way to display the time.

Power Components

A digital watch works the same way as a mechanical watch, but instead of using mechanical workings, it uses electricity to function. A digital watch uses an electronic power supply, usually a small round, flat, watch battery. While a mechanical watch ticks as it keeps time, a digital watch uses an electronic time base. This is also known as the accurate rate, and the gearing mechanics are referred to as the counter. The face of the watch is lit up by either an LED or LCD.

Producing the Numbers

The counters need a drive to display the numbers. The counter uses binary numbers. The counter creates a zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine number sequence. It then uses this sequence to display the time by blocking out sections of the numbers, thus displaying the correct numbers in the most accurate order which reads the current time.