Video Watches
The grandfather to todays video watches is the first TV watch that Seiko introduced back in 1983. It had quite a low contrast blue and white LCD screen and received UHF and VHF TV channels with a separate TV receiver which was intended to be placed in your pocket. It was noted at the time by the Guiness Book of Records as being the smallest TV set in the world. Trivia: Roger Moore wore one as James Bond in the film Octopussy.
Todays video watches and functionality
Back in 2002, when Archos released its first true portable multimedia player (PMP), many manufacturers quickly caught on to it and immediately began implementing ways to emulate this style and allow consumers to view images and play various audio and video formats with devices of their own design. Pretty soon, mp3 and mp4 players became an instant hit and the technology was quickly adapted to digital watches. These came to be known as video watches.
Modern video watches usually play videos at a resolution: 352 x 288 and usually come with the capability to play other media such as music files in mp3 and wma format, pictures in jpeg format ( typical resolution: 640 x 480) , read ebooks. They can also record video and audio and take photos so they really are very versatile where media is concerned.
Two examples of modern video watches by Oled and NHJ.
Most of these new models also have the capability of being computer friendly, which means you can transfer data from your desktop/laptop to the watch and can often be used as a web cam. Typical memory capacity is of 4gb or 8gb with Rechargeable Li-ion Battery usually powering the watch for 3-5 hours(watching video) between charges and a 1.8 Inch TFT Screen with a 128x128 or 128x168 pixel resolution.