Wrist watch . Watches fulfill a very important function, such as time control, in addition to being aesthetically highly valued as fashion elements.
Summary
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- 1 Beginnings
- 2 History
- 3 Automatic wristwatch from 1924
- 4 Source
the beginning
The emergence of the wristwatch occurs between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century if we look at serial production and not at the singular pieces whose appearance dates back several centuries before. The first wristwatch whose creation is documented is the one that, in 1810, was commissioned by the Regent Princess of England and Queen of Naples Caroline Murat , the youngest of Napoleon Bonaparte’s sisters , to the prestigious watchmaker Breguet . It was a small pocket watch with a chain adapted to be worn on the wrist.
History
However, the concept of a wristwatch began to be accepted as indispensable in the military campaigns of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The possibility of consulting the comfortable time and quickly ended up prevailing. In 1880, the watch firm Girard-Perregaux created, at the request of Emperor Wilhelm II , particularly robust wristwatches for use by officers of the German navy. These watches had glass protected by a metal grill or grill that was later relatively common in military watches during the First World War. This Girard-Perregaux series of watches is probably the first serial collection. Unfortunately, none of the originals are preserved.
Thereafter, men began to vary their opinion about the wristwatch: before the First World War, it was considered a feminine ornament, an item worthy of serious disregard. A North American correspondent for the publication ” The Horological Journal ” wrote in 1916 that American men, until then, considered the wristwatch a mockery, worthy of appearing in comic scenes from movies and ” vaudevilles “; He went on to say that detractors were now gladly placing a value on the wristwatch as an item for occasional use, but had not yet found a way to adopt it for use on all occasions.
After the war, watch manufacturers tried to deny any evocation of the feminine image hitherto linked to wristwatches, reaffirming their masculine image through a wide variety of advertising brochures, many soldiers returned from the war with their military watches , a fact that led to the acceptance of the use of the wristwatch among the population: a war hero could not be linked in any way to an effeminate object, so the perception of the wristwatch varied rapidly and ostensibly.
Automatic wristwatch from 1924
In 1923 the English watchmaker John Harwood applied for a patent for an automatic wristwatch in Switzerland , obtaining it a year later. The oscillating mass consisted of a circular sector held in the center, which rotated on an arc of 130º. At the ends, two springs cushioned the shocks . The spring was loaded by moving the wrist using a single direction of rotation of the oscillating mass . Harwood’s obsession was to prevent the entry of dust and moisture that caused the deterioration of machinery: that is why the removal of the remontoir crown was his main objective. The handsthey are regulated by a ribbed glass ring and a red dot that appears in an opening on the dial above six o’clock .
Today they are worn by women and men alike, we can find it in various shapes, sizes, designs and different brands. Due to its usefulness, it is one of the most used garments by all people.
