History of the Wrist Watch
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009From pocket watch to a fashion accessory. What was once, in the earliest years of portable watches, considered to be unsuitable for men and only for women, has developed nowadays into a fashion utensil that everybody has. Meanwhile, the wristwatch is no longer just a instrument to tell which time it is. It is a designer piece and can indicate much more than the time.
A great deal of mechanics in a small housing
The first confirmable portable timepiece was built in 1500. This was not a wrist watch, but more of a pocket watch. Through technical advance, which made it possible for people to house mechanics in an more and more smaller space, the needed components of the clockworks were able to be brought into a manageable form. In this way, the first pocket watch was born, which at the time was still the size of an egg.
The computerized wrist watch from Japan
A totally new wristwatch came onto the market in the 1970’s from Japan, which had built its own watch industry. The new wrist watch from Japan was no more set on a mechanical basis, but on a computerized control. This wristwatch extended its range of capacity rapidly. The wristwatch no longer just showed the time. The little timepiece on the wrist now also knew the date, the day of the week and even knew whether a leap year was involved.
The wristwatch as jewelry
Nowadays, the wristwatch is much more than a watch. The wristwatch has become a fashion accessory. Wristwatches come in all colors and shapes conceivable. One can also buy compatible watches from every fashion collection. The current watches are dominated by the correct fashion trends. Despite these contrary trends, there is something for every taste. The tiny watches, which require eyeglasses to tell the time, and the extravagant giant watches, which make it hard to walk upright. By all means, one thing is certain: science is still likely to make so much advancement – that the wrist watch will be found on the wrists of people for a long time, to respond to the question as to what time it is.
