A watch
is a small timepiece typically
worn either on the wrist or attached to a chain and carried in a pocket, with
wristwatches being very common type of watches today. They evolved in 17
century from spring power clocks, which appeared in 15th century.
The watches which were introduced for the first time were strictly mechanical.
As technology progressed, the mechanism used tom measure the time have, in same
case been replaced by use of quartz or electromagnetic pulses and are called
quartz movement. The first digital electronic watch was developed in 1970.
1485: Leonardo Da Vinci sketches a fuse for a clock.
www.watches-universe.com/23-history+of+the+wristwatch.html
History
by time period
1485: Leonardo Da Vinci sketches a fuse for a clock.
1504-1508:
The first pocket watch was created in Germany by Peter Henlein which and made him the inventor.
1550s: The clock- watches
became popular and they were fastened to clothing or worn around the neck on
chains. They only had hour hand and didn’t keep time very well. They were more
a status symbol and worn by rich.
1657: The balanced spring was invented by either Robert Hook or
Christiaan Huygegens, This improved the accuracy of watches greatly. Leaving
only 10 minutes of error time per day instead of few hours that watches of
the time did.
1675: Charles 2 of England introduced the waistcoat. Watches at
that time were reshaped similar to the style of pocket watches to fit the
pocket.
1687: Daniel Quare patents mechanism that that repeats a bell ring
every quarter hour.
1680-1700: The minute hand was introduced in Britain in 1680 and
1700 in France.
1704: Nicolas Facio Jacob and Peter Dabaufre are among the first
to use rubies in there watch movement.
1759: Thomas Murtge invent
the lever escarpment which was latter improved by Jasiah Emeryin1785 gradually
came poplar 1800 onwards.
1780: Abraham Laus Perrelec
invent the safe winding movement which would latter useful as it wound
by responding to wrist movement.
1848
: Louis Brandt opens his own workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds which eventually
became the Omega Watch Company.
1868: Patek Philippe of Patek Philippe & co made the first
wrist watch in 1868. They pioneered the
perpetual calendar, split seconds hand chronograph and minute repeater in
watches.
1876: Cheaper materials
allowed mass produced dollar watches to be produced which allowed ordinary
worker to own a watch for the first time. Yet these were still
pocketwatches.
1880: constant griad developed a concept of wristwatches Made for
German naval officer and ordered by
Kaiser William of Germany. Two thousand watches were produced, which represent
the first important commercialization of wristwatches.
1884
: Greenwich, England is officially named the zero meridian and used as the
world wide recognized basis of time zones.
1900s: A type of wrist watch, originally called a wristlet was reserve
for women and consider more of passing fad then a serious timepiece. Gentleman
who carried pocket watch were actually quoted as saying that they would “sooner
were a skirt as wear as wristwatch” .
1904: Brazilion aviator Alberto Santos Dumont asked his friend
Louis Cartier to come up with an alternative that would allow him to keep hands
on the control while timing his performance during his flight. Cartier and his
master watchmaker Edmond Jaeger soon came up with the first prototype for a
man’s wristwatch Called the Santos wristwatch. Alberto was a celebrity of his
time and his style replicated by many helping the wristwatch to become popular
with man.
1905: Hans Wilsdorf founded ‘Wilsdorf and davis’ in London. In
1908 he opened an office in Switzerland and started the Rolex watch company.
1914-1918: During the first world war soldiers needed access to
their watches while their hands were full. They were given wristwatches called
‘trench watches’ which were made with pocket watch movement, so they were large
and bulky and had the crown at 12 o’clock position like pocket watches. After
the war pocket watch went out of fashion and by 1930 the ratio of wristwatch to
pocket watches was 50 to 1.
1957: Electric watch which commonly means any watches that is
powered by electricity, has become a generic term for the first generation of
electrically powered watches.
1969: the introduction of quartz watches in 1969 was revolutionary
improvement in watch technology. In place of a balance wheel which oscillated circuit.
In place of wheel train to ad up the beats into second, minutes and hours, it
use digital counters.
Sources I used to write this article:
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