Don’t Sleep on Armitron: The Easily Accessible U.S. Brand Turns 50, and It is Just Getting Started

Several really cool, really important things came out of the 1970s. In pop culture, products like the Rubik's Cube, the Sony Walkman, and the VCR were introduced in the ‘70s. As was the first cell phone, digital camera, and MRI machine.

Floppy discs, while short-lived, were also born in the ‘70s. And email. And UPCs. And Post-It notes. Oh… and me. I am also a really cool, really important thing to come out of the 1970s, but unlike the floppy disk or the VCR, I reinvented myself, stuck around, and dammit, I’m better than ever! (She says whilst taking her blood pressure medication, which is being washed down with Metamucil.)

My point is that the 1970s was the first decade we can pinpoint as being “technological,” in the modern sense of the word. In the watch industry, this meant that brands either had to accept and adapt to what is not-so-lovingly referred to as the “quartz crisis” or meltdown, as many of the more traditional Swiss brands did. 

From the power vacuum caused by some of the more spectacular meltdowns, newer, more forward-thinking brands arose. One such brand, out of the United States, was Armitron.

The Armitron watch company has been in business since 1975 and was founded by Eugen Gluck, a Romanian-born Holocaust survivor who immigrated to New York City in the late 1940s.

Eugen passed away in 2019 at the age of 92; however, the business – which is known for selling one of the world’s first mass-produced digital watches – is still family-run, and since its humble beginnings has manufactured fashion timepieces for brands such as Anne Klein, Vince Camuto, Nine West, Badgley Mischka, and others. The brand is currently helmed by one of Eugen’s three children, Bobbie Weichselbaum.
 

According to the brand’s history, Eugen is quoted as saying the following with regard to his experience during the Holocaust: “I’m going to survive this. And I’m going to show you how human beings are supposed to treat each other.” It is a mantra that still rings true today for many, leading to Armitron’s current catchphrase: “Love Every Second.”

Originally launched in 2023, Armitron’s “Wave” collection mirrors the brand’s commitment to sustainability. The brand, like many of its more expensive competitors, has gone the route of ocean conservation. In the case of the newest Wave pieces, Armitron has incorporated plastics from Tide (yes, THAT Tide – the one you use for your clothing).
 

The laundry soap brand is also going the “green” route by transforming ocean-bound plastic into reusable materials and aims to collect and upcycle the equivalent of one billion plastic bottles this year. Armitron has moved the needle even further by supporting the Wildlife Conservation Society, donating tens of thousands of dollars to that cause.
 

The latest Armitron Wave chronograph timepieces were introduced in June and are available exclusively on the company’s website (armitron.com) in a 40mm diameter black case, and with rubber straps in the options of pink, blue, or purple. The quartz watches retail for $95.00 and are water resistant to 165 feet.