Wristwatches Evolution: Amazing Facts Watch Lovers Must Know
So many people know wristwatches as that small timepiece sitting neatly on our left wrist. The first object of attraction is the little clock face, and then the wrist band, sometimes made of leather, metal links, or another kind of material. But how did such an excellent piece of art come to be?
Take a journey down the 15th century, and you’ll find that modern watches are nothing compared to what obtained in those days. Today, many factories lay claims to inventing wristwatches, so it’s quite tricky to determine who truly pioneered the idea of wristwatches.
So, here we explore the history and evolution of timepieces.
A Fashionable New Idea
The first-timers were small personal pocket clocks. Some were also designed in a way that they could be pinned to dresses and aprons, and withdrawn at various intervals to check the time. Though useful, these watches were slightly impractical, making the user stop whatever they were doing, open the protective cover to check the time, close it up again when done.
Some incredible timers today like the Glashutte Original have gone through a series of innovations, starting off on a similar foot. With the earliest model in 1845, it remains one of the longest quality timepieces.
But the concept of a wristwatch itself dates back to the 16th century when Queen Elizabeth I of England received a so-called arm watch. It’s uncertain when this timepiece was made but Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester who invented the one presented to the queen, is believed to have designed various models earlier.
Invention Of The Practical Wristwatch
The initial wristwatches were damaged at a faster rate. It is believed that they were delicate in appearance and function, and they were not hermetically sealed as modern watches of today. As a result, people continued to prefer pocket watches to wristwatches.
After that came the invention of practical timers. These looked very much like pocket watches, but only designed to fit the wrist with a leather strap. Swiss company Dimier Freres & Cie received the patent rights for a wristwatch with wire lugs in 1903. With this, innovations continued to move at a fast rate.
By the 1910s, soldiers taking part in the first world war preferred a watch on their wrist they could read. And after the war, the wristband became popular and mainstream. Even many who had believed it to be feminine wore it.
The Invention and Evolution Of Electronic Watches
The Beginning
Electronic (quartz) movements were introduced by CEH, Switzerland, in 1967. The BETA 1 quartz wristwatch was a square timepiece that set performance records when it was shown at the International Chronometric Competition. By the 1970s, different manufacturers had their own quartz watches in the market.
This was possible with the technological advancements at that time, which ushered a smooth transition from the ones originally produced. While popular companies lost profits, the lack of technological permission fueled rapid innovation and expanding the market growth. Towards the end of the 1990s, watchmakers worldwide had measured a certain level of success.
The Calculator Watches
Calculator watches were invented alongside watches with simple computer games. These were invented in the late 1970s and remained popular throughout the 1980s. The art of buying and wearing a wristwatch became fun, thanks to the diversification of motifs.
The Swatch Plastic watch of the 1980s’ made thousands of people get timepieces not necessarily to know the timer per interval but to change from one look and color scheme to another.
The 1990s saw the emergence of Timex’s Datalink wristwatch, which could communicate wirelessly with a computer. This feature created a stir when it was released in 1994. A man named Steve Mann designed the first Linux wristwatch in 1998, and in 1999, Samsung released a watch phone with a greater amount of talk time.
The Mechanical Movement
After this, the mechanical watch came into existence. It started out with renaissance and horological technology. Its center dial style was later adopted by other watch manufactures.
Soon after this, there were electronic watches, another innovative discovery became available. Diving watches, aeronautical watches, and even space watches were released by top manufacturers including Rolex, Seiko, and Omega.
In 2000, the combination of diverse watch materials to bring out a new design became popular. This was possible with different case structures, which combined up to 50 individual parts.
The Smartwatches
This same year saw the evolution of smartwatches too. IBM offered a Linux Smartwatch. The company partnered with Citizen to produce a “watch pad” that had a touch screen display, Bluetooth, and 16MB flash memory. Samsung, Fossil, Sony Ericsson, etc. continued to develop smartwatches.
In 2010, many scrapped the traditional watches in place of smartphones. With this came a new era of watch-making. Communication pathways were linked from smartphone to smartwatch. Thus watches delivered live data and even notifications straight to the wrist.
And so, smartwatches exist symbiotically with companion devices that prove a rejuvenating power for the humble watch, to a generation that has lost the necessity to wear a timer on the wrist.
Computer-Integrated Watches
Apple introduced the Apple Watch in 2014, the same year that Microsoft released its Microsoft Band watch. From this time onward we have seen watchmakers improving on various models of timers. And with technology almost in every corner of the globe, we see that the competition to sell is on the high side.
While some geographical locations produce timers with specific characteristics that point them, others also bring innovative technology that is quickly adopted by almost every corner of the globe.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we see that just like every other creation in the world, wristwatches have gone through various stages of evolution. From pocket timers to a thin wrist band and now to digital watches. One cannot exactly know what the future of the watch industry will come with, but with the current rate of competition, we can certainly expect new and more innovations soon.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
