Introducing The Amida Digitrend Open Sapphire

The original Amida Digitrend was very much the product of its time. Originally released at Basel in 1976, the original Digitrend was an attempt to offer an entry level mechanical analog to the then-more expensive LED quartz watches like the Bulova Computron, which was released the same year. The Digitrend had two disks printed with numbers for the hours and minutes, which were visible through the edge of the case thanks to a triangular plastic prism, and it was one of a whole generation of mechanical digital watches which had futuristic styling (although digital mechanical watches considerably predate the 1970s fad; one obvious example is the Cartier Tank à Guichets). The watch had an undoubted cool factor going for it – after all, we all thought the future belonged to digital displays – but the Digitrend in its first incarnation was ultimately not much more than a novelty, and as LED displays were rapidly being replaced by lower power consumption LCDs, the appeal of the Digitrend waned as the quartz watches it sought to emulate faded from the market, and by 1979, Amida had filed for bankruptcy.

As so often happens, this quirky watch had an afterlife as a cult favorite among collectors of unusual (and generally affordable) vintage watches, especially the quirky and sometimes almost Op Art louder designs from the ’70s, and in 2024, the team of Matthieu Allègre, Bruno Herbet and Clément Meynier brought the name Amida back to life, along with a new Digitrend. The new Digitrend was an improvement over the original in just about every respect, with a modified Soprod NEWTON P092 automatic movement, a 50 meter water resistance rating, and a synthetic sapphire prism. The launch model sold out quickly, and was followed by variations in black and PVD gold, and today, Amida’s announced the Open Sapphire model, with a sapphire crystal upper case, exposing the disks.

At 36mm x 39mm x 16mm, it’s not an especially large watch but thanks to the contrast between the orange numerals and the black disks, the Geneva stripes on the movement, and that sapphire upper case, it has a very vivid visual presences. It looks and feels like a premium product – the upper crystal and overall sleek execution gives it an almost MB&F feel, far removed from the slightly claustrophobic closed case of the original Digitrend (and of course, fans of MB&F will remember that it’s made several watches directly inspired by the Digitrend, including HM5, HMX, and HM8).  The inspiration for the design according to Amida, is the “retro-futuristic, space-age universe, automotive design and architecture from the 1950s to the 1970s,” and certainly the new Digitrend Sapphire looks the part; it’s got echoes of everything from 1960s sports care design, to post-World War II science fiction, with its improbably aerodynamic interplanetary rocket ships.

The Digitrend Sapphire takes a little getting used to; the part of the watch that you’re actually going to see the most, is the upper surface of the case, which doesn’t tell you the time unless you’re good at extrapolating the approximate time from the position of the disks. Everything is handled in a clean, crisp fashion, including the internal bevel around the window for viewing the time, the streamlined tapering shape of the case, and of course, that upper sapphire crystal – which I suppose you could think of as a display back, in a way, since it shows you the mechanism rather than the time. (The view through the upper case does make me think that Amida missed an opportunity to make use of Super-LumiNova on the disks – this would have not been practical for earlier models nor for the original Digitrend, since the closed caseback would have prevented enough light getting through to charge the SNL, but with an open upper case, the disks are flooded with light).

I have always thought it a bit strange that this sort of watch is called a “driver’s watch” – the rationale for such a description is that the time is supposedly visible to a driver without their having to take their left hand off the steering wheel. The term has been applied to watches of varied designs, including timepieces with curved cases designed to sit on the inner edge of the forearm, watches with dials rotated so that the 12:00 position is where 2:00 is normally located, “cobra” style watches with dials perpendicular to the wrist, and so on. I haven’t been able to find any vintage Digitrend advertisements or promotional material that specifically mentions this application; in fact, the only ad I’ve seen is from 1976 and it’s pretty sparse on copy (although it’s worth noting that at launch, the Digitrend was advertised as being available in “lever and pin lever quality” so despite the fact that the original gets dunked on nowadays for having a cheap movement, there were apparently better quality versions made, at least in 1976).

In practice, reading the time on the Digitrend takes a little bit of effort. The numbers sit at the back of a recess in the side of the case, and they’re slightly distorted by the prism (which, it must be said, is still head and shoulders above the original Digitrend in terms of optical quality) and the display isn’t something to which most owners will have been acclimated by decades of habit. Rather than making it safer to check the time while driving, I’d think that you’d be more apt to have a crack-up in your car whilst squinting to make out the time – a practical wristwatch for drivers is probably something with a large dial and instantly legible hands and markers; the Speedmaster is an example of a watch marketed from the get-go as aimed at automotive enthusiasts, whereas the Digitrend simply seems to have been, in 1976, a piece of hopefully futuristic design, with perhaps more to do with science fiction than automotive fact.

But none of that really alters the appeal of the new Digitrend Sapphire. It is a very striking watch, and something the likes of which you are probably not going to see on anyone else’s wrist unless you know a completist MB&F collector, or a fan of 1970s analog digital watches (two communities between which there might be a surprising degree of overlap, at least conceptually). It’s nominally a watch, but its real identity is as a conversation piece, and as a point of connection to a time when science fiction and science fact seemed a little less divorced from each other than they do today.

The Amida Digitrend Sapphire: case, 36mm x 39mm x 16mm, stainless steel, curved sapphire crystal upper case and sapphire display back, 50 meter water resistance. Movement, caliber Soprod NEWTON P092, jumping hours with dragging seconds display, viewed through a lateral aperture via a sapphire prism, running at 28,800 vph in 23 jewels with a 44 hour power reserve. Alacantra strap with orange calfskin inner lining. Limited edition of 150 pieces; price, CHF 4,500; optional metal bracelet available for CHF 350. For more info, visit Amida-Watches.com.