The History Of Wristwatch
Wristwatch
A watch is a timepiece that is made to be worn on a person. It is usually a wristwatch, worn on the wrist with a strap or bracelet. In addition to the time, modern watches often display the day, date, month and year, and electronic watches may have many other functions.
Before wristwatches became popular in the 1920s, most watches were pocket watches, which often had covers and were carried in a pocket and attached to a watch chain or watch fob. Watches evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century.
In the present day, a wristwatch is not just a device to tell time, it has rather become a status icon. This is because with the increasing popularity of cell phones and pagers with small clocks, the wristwatch is just used as a fashion entity rather than being an object of function. Nowadays, expensive watch brands include Rolex, Cartier, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Tag Heuer, and Omega. Rich business persons and officials are found usually wearing one of these brands.
However, the scene was different almost 100 years ago. People were never found wearing expensive wristwatches, instead rich men always carried pocket watches, with a gold half-hunter, which was the status symbol at that time. Women also wore pendants attached to their jackets and corsets. Wristwatches were known as Wristlets and were mostly worn by women at that time.
Louis Cartier, the kind of watch that we see today, made the first watch. He made the first watch for the flying hero Santos Dumont. After this, by the year 1911, these watches came in the market and became popular among people. To this day watches almost look like the same as they were back then.
Soon after this, the designs began to be modified. From the classical round shape that had been in fashion, new shapes and sizes started to be introduced. New companies introduced new shapes. Movado is the company that came out with the new “Polyplan” shaped watch. Patek Philippe made the first rectangular shaped clock.
The most famous wristwatch of all times is the Rolex. In 1920s, Rolex introduced the dual time feature for the first time, in which the seconds’ sector was larger than that of minutes. Jaeger Le Coultre introduced a watch, which could turn 180 degrees within its case, thus providing a shield for the crystal and dial. It became very popular instantly, but its strength was lost by the recession in 1930s and starting of the Second World War.
Watches made between 1910s and 1930s are the type of watches we see today. Brands like Rolex, Cartier, Jaeger Le Coultre , Omega and the others mentioned in the article are among the most expensive and collectible varieties.
In conclusion, from pocket watch to a fashion accessory. What was once, in the earliest years of portable watches, considered to be unsuitable for men and only for women, has developed today into a fashion utensil that everyone has. In the meantime, the wristwatch is no longer only a tool to tell the time. It is a designer piece and can indicate much more than the time.