Who Invented Watch

Peter Henlein is credited for the invention of the watch. He was a clockmaker, locksmith, and craftsman who built the first watch in the 15^th century. Helived in Nuremberg in Germany.

History of Watch and Peter Heinlein

Peter was born and brought up in Nuremberg. He was skilled and started working as a locksmith. During this time, clockmaking was a new field, and locksmiths emerged as the new clockmakers with their skills and tools. Eventually, over time Peter gained more profound knowledge in clockmaking. He soon started making spring-powered small portable watches, and he came to be known as the father of modern clocks. These became fashionable and were worn as pendants or pinned along with the clothing and were very expensive. Later, small watches became extremely popular.

Pocket Watch to the Wristwatch

After the invention of the watch by German clockmaker Peter Henlein, Charles II made the waistcoat fashionable, leading to the demand for the pocket watch. After this, the watches started evolving, leading to the more petite and slender designs of watches. Later, watches became popular with chains. Watches then were highly unreliable with only the hour hand showing time and were expensive. At this time, watches were more fashionable than functional, which stayed constant for some years.

Wristwatch manufacturing companies like Rolex started emerging in the early 1900s. In 1916, the New York Times published an article stating that watches are much more than a trend. This article brought a massive change in the perspectives, and the wristwatch became more popular than the pocket watch. Men and women started wearing it regularly to keep time.

The Invention of Wristwatch

The invention of the first wristwatch is a debated issue. It is believed by many that Patek Philippe created the first wristwatch in 1868. Women started wearing watches regularly in the 19^th century, but it wasn't popular among men until the First World War. The name watch came from the word 'watchman', who used watches to keep track of the hours of their shifts while working. Later, wristwatches also became popular among soldiers for whom wristwatches were the most convenient way to track time.

Timeline of Watch

With the advancement in technology, watches became more accurate, and new developments in watches are observed over the years. Here are some of the crucial years with the advancements that took place:

1892

Omega designed its first minute-repeating watch in 1892. It was a Swiss watch-making company.

1905

Wilsdorf and Davis were created in London in the year 1905, which later emerged as Rolex.

1908

Rolex was created in 1908.

1913

The first Japanese wristwatch was created in 1913 by Seiko.

1916

The introduction of the first five-minute repeating wristwatch by Patek Phillipe took place in 1916.

1923

John Harwood patented the self-winding wristwatch in 1923.

1927

Rolex showcased their first waterproof watch by sending it with swimmer Mercedes Gleitze across the English Channel for 10 hours.

1931

Rolex demonstrated the technology used in watches to date, which was their self-winding watch with a perpetual rotor.

1932 - 1940

Omega introduced their first driver's watch. Omega started flourishing in the water and shock resistance domain in 1940.

1959

Seiko started developing the first electric quartz watches.

1965

Omega Speedmaster was officially brought into use in NASA.

How watch made our lives easier

Keeping track of time to reach your favourite destination, or to reach the office, we always rely on watch. The watch helps us keep an essential quality intact, which is punctuality. It helps us lead our lives in an organized manner. When watches were invented, these were highly in demand as they were fashionable. Similarly, even today, our watches reflect our fashion sense, our personality and tell a lot about us. For school-going children, watches show the importance of punctuality in their lives and make them habitual to keep track of the most important resource: time. These days, smartphones, laptops, and other devices are extensively used to keep track of time, creating a disturbance while conversing with someone. Additionally, it is easier to check the time on a watch than on any device. Watches have significantly impacted our lives by making us responsible for keeping track of time and checking our productivity.