Wristwatches Were Invented For Women On June 19th, National Watch Day recognizes an industry which has been around for more than 500 years and is steadily evolving. Choosing a watch is very personal as the choices are vast and numerous. Even with the advent of smartphones and smartwatches, the classic wrist watch is a sign of individual taste, culture, and a rich history that cannot be disputed. There wouldn’t be any Rolex watches if Peter Heinlein had not invented the “mainspring” all the way back in 1511. A German clock maker, Heinlein decided to start experimenting with spring powered clocks in the early 16th century, and after reducing the size of these springs dramatically he was able to create the very first modern watch. A Swiss watchmaker named Eterna was the first company to produce a wristwatch that included an alarm function in 1908, but it wasn’t until 1914 that they started full-scale production with this amazing little invention. The first pocket watches had one single hand showing the hours. Minute hands started being used only in 17th century. Though specific watch styles come into and go out of fashion just like everything else, wearing a watch – or keeping a pocket watch in your waistcoat – has always been a big part of men’s fashion since the early 1600s. King Charles II popularized of the wearing of pocket watches, and that trend has trickled down throughout history. Pocket watch was incredibly popular throughout nearly 1800s all the way up until the 1930s, and was really only killed off during World War II where military men were forbade to use anything but a wristwatch – all in an effort to keep them safe, keep them focused, and keep both hands on their weapon. When it comes to diving beneath the surface of the ocean, no name is quite as famous as a Jacques Cousteau. It was he had popularized the wearing of the Rolex Submariner, during his 1954 documentary “The Silent World”. All dive watches since then have stolen at least a little bit of design inspiration from the Submariner. When it comes to outer space, however, NASA astronauts have always turned to the Omega Speedmaster. Worn by Buzz Aldrin (and the first watch on the moon), Neil Armstrong was also supposed to be wearing a Speedmaster, but had left his watch inside the lunar lander when he made those famous first steps. All astronauts ever since have worn Omega watches scrapped on their wrists. Stanley Kubrick helped to usher in the digital watch area when he commissioned the Hamilton Watch Company to design a futuristic looking (but at the time non-functioning) digital timepiece for his 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”. It will be until almost 4 years later that the first digital watch was produced by Hamilton themselves – costing close to $2100 (even back then). Watches, when displayed in shops, are often pre-set to show the time at ten minutes past ten o’clock or sometimes ten minutes to two o’clock (“Happy Time”). When displayed at that time the hands on the watch face resemble a smiley face. This helps to subconsciously raise the customer’s mood, which subliminally encourages them to make a purchase. In the James Bond movies Sean Connery wears a Rolex Submariner while Daniel Craig wears an Omega watch. In the Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon wears a TAG Heuer watch. However, the self-claimed watch brand of the movies is Hamilton – they seems to appear in 151 movies from The Frogmen in 1951 (Robert Wagner – Frogman) to Interstellar in 2014 (Matthew McConaughey – Khaki Pilot Day Date; Jessica Chastain and Mackenzie Foy – Custom Murph Watch). The earliest known example of humans measuring the passage of time via the current sexagesimal system (i.e. numeral system with sixty as base) relates to about 2’000 BC with the Sumer. The Egyptian divided the day in two cycles of twelve hours and measured the time with sundials (measuring changes on shadows position over time) for day time and water clocks for night time. Then the ancient Greeks started using the so called clepsydrae that were measuring time with the passage of sand from one container to another. The pocket watch started to be known in 15th century but really became popular during Tudor times in the 16th century (as seen also in a portrait of King Henry VIII). The first pocket watches had one single hand showing the hours – minute hand started being used only in 17th century. Since then watchmakers competed to produce smaller and smaller watches that could be easily carried and in 1518, François I spent a fortune on two watches set in daggers. Wristwatches were actually first designed for women. At the time watches were created it was the fashion for men to have a pocket watch. It became fashionable for men to start wearing wristwatches much later in history, around the the start of the first world war. The Seiko 35 SQ Astron was the first quartz watch to go into production, on Christmas Day in 1969. It is the world’s most accurate wristwatch to date and was the combined effort of Swiss, Japanese and American watchmakers and engineers as no one could patent the whole movements of the quartz wristwatch. In under 10 years the quartz watch market ended the dominance of the mechanical wristwatch which had lasted for over a century. Sources: National Day Calendar The Best of PRC200 Todd and Marion First Class Watches Antique-Watch.