Birth year watches
Watches made in 1983.
1983 produced two watches that changed the industry. Swatch arrived in March: plastic, cheap, colourful and Swiss, selling in numbers nobody had predicted. In April, Casio launched the first G-Shock, built around a movement suspended inside the case so it could survive being dropped.
Between them they redefined what a watch was for. A 1983 watch sits at the start of the modern era rather than the end of the old one.
173
In our collection
96
Available now
14 days
Returns window
Made in 1983
7 watches
c.1983
Seiko E029-5540
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£135
Soldc.1983
Longines Presence
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
Sold
Soldc.1983
Seiko 1320-6060
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
Sold
Soldc.1983
Seiko 7N43-8001
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
Sold
Soldc.1983
Seiko 8123-5110
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
Sold
Soldc.1983
Seiko 1320-5930
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
Sold
Soldc.1983
Seiko 1320-5780
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
Sold
More from the 1980s
166 watchesSee all 173 from the 1980s
c.1982
Seiko 8522-00101n01-0at0
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£55
c.1982
Seiko 6923-80000
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£90
c.1984
Seiko H448-5000
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£100
c.1984
Seiko 6530-5480
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£120
c.1984
Seiko 2A23-0020
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£120
c.1981
Seiko 8223-704B
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£100
c.1985
Citizen 2200-224167
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£140
c.1981
Seiko 1719-3000
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£260
Further reading
Buying guide · 9 min readLED, LCD and ana-digi: a guide to vintage digital watchesRed LED displays, always-on LCDs and the ana-digi watches that put hands and a screen on the same dial. What each era was, what goes wrong with them, and what they cost now.Guide · 6 min readHow to date a vintage watchSerial numbers, reference numbers, movement calibres and design clues: a practical guide to working out exactly when a vintage watch was made.History · 6 min readThe quartz revolution: why 1970s watches matterThe 1970s is the most consequential decade in watchmaking history, and arguably the most misunderstood. The 'quartz crisis' is only part of the story.
Frequently asked questions
What watches were launched in 1983?
Swatch launched in March 1983 and the first Casio G-Shock, the DW-5000C, followed in April. One rescued Swiss watchmaking commercially and the other invented the shock resistant digital watch, which makes 1983 one of the most consequential years in modern watch history.