Electronic and quartz watches began growing in popularity throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Bulova catered to the growing demand for digital timekeepers by adding a line of Accuquartz watches with digital LCD time displays. Eventually releasing the all-digital Computron LED, with its very unconventional and (at the time) futuristic trapezoidal case with LED display on the side.

This style is often called a "drivers' watch" because its layout enables a driver to check the time without moving his wrist from the steering wheel; in the case of the Computron, the angled time display — the wearer would press the command button once for the time, and again for the date — also addressed the problem of glare from direct sunlight impairing the visibility on an LED watch.