Wristwatches - History’s Most Notable Watches
Since the introduction of men’s watches in the 1800’s mens watches have been an item that has caught the attention of all who see them. Many wristwatches are purely a fashion statement while others are purely functional. There are many fine men’s watches that are a beautiful combination of form and function. There have been many notable wristwatches created since the first wristlets, as they were known then, were introduced in the 1800’s. Some of the more notable watches are described below.
The innovation of wristwatches started in the 1800’s with women being the first wearers of the new fashion fad. Many men scorned the idea of wearing a timepiece on their wrist in the early 1800’s. In the mid-1800’s many men felt that a true gentleman should wear a watch in his vest or pants pocket. Some even went so far as to say they would rather wear a skirt than wear wristwatches.
One of the first marvels of innovation for wristwatches was a watch made by Perrin Freres of Switzerland in 1800. The watch did not display the hours and minutes in an analog manner as did all other watches of its time and even many today. The watch had a rotating dial that had the hours and minutes engraved in it and the dial turned. The hour and minutes could be read by looking through a glass that magnified the hours and minutes that were rotating beneath it. This made the Freres’ wristwatch the first digital display watch. The movement of the watch was made in the traditional manner with a mainspring, balance and gears.
The 1910 Rolex Oyster set the standard for man’s watches and changed men’s wrist watches for ever. This watch had the first perpetual motion placed in a production wristwatch. The concept was first thought of by Louis Perrelet in the mid 1700’s but it took Rolex to perfect the design. A small weighted wheel on a ratchet wound the mainspring and was driven by the motion of the person wearing the watch. This revolutionized wristwatches. Never again would people have to remember to wind their watch. The Rolex Oyster had two revolutionary concepts employed within it. The second innovation was a screw down crown that made the watch waterproof. In fact the watch was marketed by dropping it in a fish tank in the jeweler’s shop. This made the Rolex Oyster the first dive watch which has been a mainstay for Rolex since 1910.
In 1916 Patek Philippe introduced the world’s most complex men’s watch. James Packard of Packard automotive fame wanted to own the world’s most complex wristwatch so he commissioned Patek Philippe from Switzerland to build it for him. The watch contained 16 features including a star map as Packard would see from his bedroom in Warren, Ohio. The creation of the world’s most complicated watch soon led to a competition between Packard and Henry Graves, a banker from New York. In 1933 Graves commissioned Philippe to create a more complicated watch which he did. This watch had over 24 functions while Packard’s had 16. In 1999 the Graves watch, known as the Graves Complication, sold for over $11 million making it one of the world’s most expensive men’s wristwatches.
The Royal Oak of 1973. The Audemars Piguet was founded in 1854 and made high-end men’s watches that were purchased by a very select and exclusive clientele. When Switzerland was making wristwatches made of precious metals and encrusted with jewels Piguet focused on using metals that were far more common. In 1973 designer Gerald Genta created the world’s first luxury watch made of stainless steel. The watch is known as the Royal Oak. The initial edition sold for $2,000 and has climbed to $42,000 for the Outdoor Survivor edition. The Royal Oak, while made of newer high tech materials like stainless steel, titanium and ceramics, has a case that is still made in an octagon shape to remain true to Piguet’s origins.
Now move to 2003, Breguet introduced its remake of the 1813 Parisian watch that was made for Tsar Alexander of Russia. The 1813 version was one of elegance and function. It had a pedometer to measure the cadence of his army and dials that return to zero when they reach the end of the scale. The 2003 versions have been updated but are still elegant and functional gents watches with alarms and a second time zone indication.
In 2006 space age technology made its way to men’s watches market with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gryotourbillon. Tourbillons is French for whirlwind. Abraham-Louis Breguet created the tourbillons during the French Revolution and it offsets the impact of gravity on the balance wheel. This was a major step forward in movement design. Jaeger-LeCoultre wanted to expand on the design in 2006. He recreated the tourbillons by making a sphere within the watch that spins on all axis, moving like a miniature planet. The visual effect is stunning as it can be seen through the watch face and makes for one of the most facinating gents watches ever made.
Men’s watches today have features that include atomic clock synchronization to keep them accurate to less than a second, automatically updating the time and date for leap years and any time the daylight savings time start or end date change. Your watch can play your music selection for you, probably has more built-in memory than the Lunar Lander had in the ’60’s, can synchronize your business calendar and appointments automatically reminding you of that next appointment, can store your address book, can count your calorie intake, calculate a tip, track any number of time zone, record conversations, remain intact to depths beyond 300 meters under water, can be less than 2mm thick, can let you watch your favorite TV program or just about any other feature or function you can think of. Wristwatches today have become technology marvels while for those that wish to remain true to the engineering beauty of a mechanical movement there are plenty of renowned watchmakers producing fine watches of this kind.
Whether the wristwatches were made in the 1800’s or yesterday, watch design is continuing to take steps forward in both form and function.
Tags: men’s watches | gents watches | wristwatches | fine watches | fine watches | wristwatch
September 30th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Wah! The great hostory of the time of my grandpa! I didn’t know the hostory. Thanks for that! Keep up the good work.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Very interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. I think that’s pretty funny that men in the 1800’s would rather wear skirts than wristwatches. That is not something that would happen today, obviously. Thanks for this great history lesson, this was a great read.
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July 27th, 2010 at 4:51 am
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