A Short History of the Wristwatch
Over the centuries clocks have been used as a status symbol
by those who wear them. Their precision, elegance and convenience are just some
of the attributes that clocks and watches represent. Often they are bought
purely for their aesthetic looks. and at other times they are bought because of
their technical attributes like being precise to the last second or even
millisecond. This is what makes clocks and watches so collectible and in some
cases they can command high sums of money.
Whether you collect the new
high precision watches or ones that come from a past era, the fact is that over
the years this hobby has become a high turnover business. And collecting watches
is in a lot of circles regarded as a wise form of investing.
At the start
of the last century the clocks that were available for men or women were firstly
pocket clocks, and then clocks that held by a pendant attached to the lining of
jackets or corsets. The advent of war, industrialization, and the development of
the sport activities, brought over new trends which extended to not only the way
we dressed, but also how we carried our clocks.
It is said that it was a
nanny who invented wrist watches at around the end of the 19th century, who
fixed a clock around her wrist by using a silk band. The first watches to be
made were in fact smaller models of pocket clocks that were fitted with a
leather strap. Once this product hit the market newer designs started to be
produced based around this same concept.
It was Louis Cartier who first
made the kind of watches we see today when he created a watch for a flying
pioneer hero by the name Santos Dumont. By 1911 this same type of watch was on
general sale. That same type of watch became the blueprint of what wrist watches
look like to this day.
Soon after the design of wrist "clocks" began to
diversify away from the classical round shape that had been in vogue up until
that time. From the Cartier classical wrist watch other makes of watch started
to emerge which were characterized by their shape. Movado is the perfect example
of these new designs when it came out with the "Polyplan" shaped watch. Then
came the famously and cryptically called "clock reference n. 1593" by Patek
Philippe which was a rectangular shaped watch.
From 1913 onwards more and
more watches started to be developed in all shapes and styles. From the
"gondola" watch of Patek Phillipe to Louis Cartiers' "Tank"; named thus because
it was inspired by the shape of English armored cars of the time. These are
watches which are very much sought after. There were other numerous watch makers
like Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin who along with Patek Philippe and
Cartier came out with many other designs which added other features to the
watches like lunar phases, month and day most of which are found in modern
watches now.
Of course we could not mention wrist watches without
mentioning the most famous of them all: the Rolex watch. In the 1920s Rolex
debuted in the world of wrist watches with the elegant Rolex Prince and its
revolutionary "dual time" feature made famous for having the "seconds sector"
larger than that of the minutes. At the same time Jaeger Le Coultre produced an
even more advanced piece called the "Reverse", also very revolutionary in that
it could be turn 180 degrees within its case, thus protecting the crystal and
dial. It became incredibly popular and was only prevented from achieving even
greater success by the recession of the 1930s and the advent of world war
2.
These early watches of the 1910s to 1930s are what define all the
makes of watches that we see and wear today. This short article has only
scratched the surface of what is a very vast subject which has many more watch
makers with diverse and revolutionary designs. However it is makers like Rolex,
Cartier, Jaeger Le Coultre and the others mentioned that are amongst the most
valuable and collectible, and should you ever be so lucky to get one then make
sure you hang on to it - preferably to your wrist. Article Source:
http://www.content-corral.com
By: James
Ross James Ross is the web master of AntiquesAppraisal.info -
The Number One Site For Antiques a website totally dedicated to antiques and
antique furniture. For more articles and information please find out more at www.antique-appraisal.info
