Past generations often imagined the future in ways that now seem anything from prescient to silly or downright bizarre. Yet science fiction is more than entertainment and fantasy, as it inspires subsequent generations of scientists and engineers to think outside the box. Many have credited inventions to fictional technologies that they wanted to see become real.
As the 20th century was a watch-wearing century, it’s natural that many predictions took the form of wrist-born wearables. In the 2020s, then, the age of the smartwatch, how do we stack up against our predecessors’ hopes? Here are some examples of fictional watches (or similar devices) that formed the basis upon which our modern smartwatches are formed. Put your nerd glasses on, and let’s see how they compare to the real thing…
Dick Tracy
Dick TracyDick Tracy comics debuted in the 1930s, but it wasn’t until 1946 that they evolved to include the intrepid detective’s iconic Two-Way Wrist Radio. The character would use it to communicate with fellow police, a distinct crime-fighting advantage — and something that seemed cutting-edge to readers at the time. (The device became a Two-Way Wrist TV in 1964.)
In 1952, scientists were inspired to create an actual functioning such device, as this historical film titled Calling Dick Tracy shows. When smartwatches began to offer some of the same features, still only relatively recently, Dick Tracy was the first thing many consumers thought of, and it felt like technology was finally catching up.
