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The "Clock Bracelet" is made in 1868
The first watch designed to be worn as a bracelet is made by Patek Phillepe in 1868. It sold for 1,200 francs which, at the time, was a small fortune. The first person to own this watch was the Comtesse Koscowicz of Hungary. This style of watch was made for women and seen as silly and fragile by men who trusted the pocket watch to be more durable and tell the time more accurately. -
British Male Soldiers use leather pocket watches in the Battle of Burma
In the Battle of Burma, British soldiers used pocket watches held by leather straps on their wrists to coordinate attacks with more stealth than when they relied on visual or audible ques. They used wrist watches, which could be easily checked without having to fumble through pockets like a soldier would need to in order to use a pocket watch. The idea was to use a pocket watch, but place it on the wrist where it was more accessible. -
The Bicycle Watch Is Made in the early 1890s
The Bicycle watch was made "out of necessity" when a bicycling craze hit the world. It was important that bikers could check the time easily and efficiently and not have to worry about their wristlet's becoming damaged because of the hazards biking posed towards watches. Biking would allow dust, dirt, and even rocks to get inside or hit the watch and damage it. This caused watch manufacturers to make watches more durable and started to lead to more high quality watches. -
The First Trench Watch
Trench watches were watches that replaced pocket watches issued to officers in the British army. Their purpose was to look stylish, tell time accurately and hold up in the trenches of warfare. They also became much easier to check in tight trenches or the cockpits of airplanes. They were first advertised in 1914
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The Service Watch is created
The Service Watch is the first analog watch that started to resemble some of today's analog watches. It was targeted to more common soldiers and came after the Trench Watch. It was once again marketed towards the military. The main improvements were that it had "unbreakable glass" and the hands were "luminous". It also did not have a leather case enclosing the watch itself. This allowed for straps to be swapped out in the event one of them broke and offered a more stylistic look. -
The Campaign Watch
The Campaign Watch was marketed as entirely dust and water proof. The advertisements for this style of watch told the reader that it had survived in battles in vast deserts which was seen as the ultimate test for a watch. It was essentially a hyped up, renamed version of the service watch and had very few differences except for more water and dust proofing and chain metal wrist straps. -
Modern Analog Watches
The Modern Watch is a lot more durable and accurate than some of the first watches and requires much less effort to maintain. These watches of today make a statement about the owners status, such as a Rolex which is synonymous with wealth and success. Today's watches are symbols of style and class. -
