About That Watch You're Wearing

That little timepiece on your wrist had quite a journey to get to where it is today. Did you ever wonder where the idea for the wristwatch came from? The inventor of the modern day wristwatch is widely credited to Peter Henlein from Nuremberg.

Originally in the 1500's, Peter had invented the earliest incarnation of what you call today a pocketwatch. Up until that time, people had simply carried their timepieces mostly in their hands and many watches were misplaced, lost or broken. Peter saw that the watches would be better suited to having a strap placed upon them and placed in a trouser pocket or vest pocket. The earliest watches were made almost completely from iron and were very heavy affairs. Imagine going through your day from the office to playing a game of tennis with a watch made from iron strapped to your arm. In the early 1600s lighter metals such as brass and later steel, were used to create timepieces.

The self-winding wristwatch was a concept that was patented in the late 1700's but there was not a fully functional prototype until the mid-1920's when Patek Philippe designed a working self-winding wrist watch.

From these humble beginnings, you have watches that can go skiing, rock climbing, diving deep beneath the ocean waves and come with usually light stainless steel casings and wrist bands made of materials ranging from stainless steel to titanium to rubber for the active watch wearer. Watches have come a long way and new models continue to appear every year as more and more strides are made in the development of more accurate timepieces that are constructed from lighter and stronger metals.
 posted by Watches Giant