A ‘rewind’ of the clock on watches

History notes that mankind has been successful at measuring the passing of time from aeons ago. An array of timekeeping tools have been invented, the earliest of them being a sundial which was as early as 1500 BC.

But let us turn the pages a bit faster and come to the time of AD, shall we?

According to the Britannica, the first watch came into existence towards the late 15th Century. The inventor was a clockmaker, Peter Henlein from Nuremberg, Germany. The watch that initially was shaped like an oval egg progressed towards being more flat and finally became a pocket watch. This design continued to be in vogue pretty much till the beginning of the 20th Century, albeit the size and materials used kept evolving.

It was not until the beginning of the 20th Century, more precisely in 1904 that the first wrist watch was made. Invented by Frenchman Louis Cartier and Swiss national Hans Wildorf. I’m sure you would have guessed at least one of the brands that these men gave birth to, by now. Yes, one of them is Cartier. The other one is Rolex by Hans Wildorf.

Surprisingly, when wrist watches were made available in the market, they were used only by women and sportspersons. Men continued to use their pocket watches as that was considered a status symbol especially when these pocket watches started getting adorned with gold, diamonds and other precious stones.

And then came World War I.

World War I

Imagine a soldier in the middle of a warzone, taking out his pocket watch and looking at the time. Within the time he got to his pocket, he would have been shot twice. Well, the British Army realised the need much earlier than the other nations and introduced wristwatches to their officers so that they can coordinate troop movements and their attacks against the enemy forces.

The USA understood that watches had a significant role in the advancements made by the Europeans, let alone the British troops. They too, started using wristwatches to synchronise their artillery, gunners and infantry. Watch companies, upon understanding the growing demand, as an augmentation, started putting thick metal grills on top of the watch glass to provide an extra level of protection during combat. In 1917, one year prior to the end of World War I, the British Army started issuing watches to all its troops as a part of their official uniform. And thus, the First World War made watches popular amongst the men.

The pilot watches or the aviation watches that we see today dates back to the World War days where the pilots wanted to see the time in big bold digits. The design continues to this day and is used by almost all the world’s leading brands including Seiko.

The Seiko 5 Sports Flieger – SRPH29K1 for instance is inspired by the original military style watches that were used back in the days by pilots and navigators. The dial and the hands of this watch make it easy to read. The Automatic with manual winding makes it robust and reliable too. This Flieger style watch features a bomber jacket style nylon strap with an orange leather lining. Seiko watches are available with Krishnan Nair & Sons, one of the best wrist watch shops in Trivandrum. They have a wide variety of watches for both men and women.

Quartz Watches

While there were other watches such as the electrical watches that made their way to the history books in the mid 1900s, nothing revolutionised the watch industry as much as the quartz watches.

It all started in 1959. Watch makers across the world were looking to incorporate the results of a Pierre Curie experiment onto a watch – the idea is that when an electric current is passed through the quartz crystal, it would vibrate at fast, precise speeds. The project was codenamed ‘59A’ and it was the Research & Development laboratory in Suwa Seikosha, modern day Seiko that came up with the first working model of this technology. However it was not a watch but more like a watch tower that was 2.1 metres high and 1.3 metres wide!

Further advancements were made in this space by Seiko itself and they came up with a more portable version of the technology. That went on to be used for 1964 Tokyo Olympics which was also the first time that an Olympics was using a timer for longer events.

Soon after the multinational event, in 1969, the watch company came up with Quartz Astron, a quartz watch wrapped in an 18 carat gold case. To make things exciting, Seiko made just 100 pieces of the watch. The Quartz Astron was precise to five seconds a month, 100 times more accurate than any existing watch. The Quartz Astron was the game changer. But the real catalyst was when Seiko as a company decided in the early 70’s to open up all their quartz patents to the world. The industry hasn’t looked back since then. Many watch manufacturers to this day use the technology that Seiko made available then.

There has been a flurry of technologies since then. Watchmakers went all in. They came up with watches of different sizes, colours, shapes etc. More brands came up and thrived; even clothing brands came up with their own watch lines.

Solar Watches

The first solar powered watch was built by an American engineer named Roger W. Riehl in 1972. Their reliability and minimal maintenance continue to keep this type of movement a popular option.

Casio’s Edifice Series leads the solar watches space. The Edifice has a design that is bold and has no reliance on ornamentation. It uses the world’s finest material and is of super quality when compared to its peers.

The whole series of Casio including Edifice, G-Shock, Sheen and the others are available at Krishnan Nair & Sons, Trivandrum. The watch experts available at the showroom will help you select the best watch that suits your requirement, taste and budget.

While there have been more advancements in the history of watches such as smartwatches, they are in the recent past and it is something that we are all living through as we speak. Moreover, the smartwatch space is still fast evolving and it would be some time before someone enters them in the history books.

Meanwhile, do check out the watch collection at Krishnan Nair & Sons. They have a wide range of watches for both men and women. You will surely be able to find ‘the one’ that you are looking for. You can find us on Google Maps here.