Watches : Know the unknowns

Some historians say that the first to invent watches were people from Egypt and Mesopotamia. The period was 1500 BC.

They developed a mechanical way of estimating time by the flow of running water.

The first accurate clocks were created by Italian monks almost 3000 years later, i. e. around 1524 AD. They developed more or less precise clock to know when they have to pray. Clocks told time using acoustical indicators, there were no hands to show time.

The first pocket watches were invented in Tudor, England, in the 16th century. These pocket watches were incredibly big, which is why people wore them around neck. There are rumors that in the famous painting of Henry VIII, the medallion on his neck is a big pocket watch, which he owned, and not a medalion how most people think.

Leonardo da Vinci draw a sketch of a fusee for a clock. The system used in his sketch was later used in watch industry.

The first innovations in time keeping were the hourglass and measurement of shadows. These methods could give a rough estimate of the passage of time.

In 1583 Galileo Galilei realized that how often does a pendulum swing depends on its length.

Breguet was the most preferred watch of the Russian Tsars. Breguet was also worn by Napoleon at Waterloo.

In 1795 Breguet was the one to invent the tourbillon which till nowadays represents a great horological achievement.

It compensates watch errors caused by gravity. Even today tourbillon is one of the most sophisticated mechanisms to manufacture.

The first wristwatch was invented by Patek Philippe. Until the First World War the wristwatch was considered to be a woman’s accessory. Till WW I men wore pocket watches.

The first atomic clock that used ammonia was developed in 1949 by the National Bureau of Standards, which is now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The first wristwatch for men was invented by Cartier. The famous jeweler created a watch for his friend Brazilian pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont.

When Sir Edmund Hilary climbed Mt. Everest (the first human to conquer the mountain) in 1953 he wore Rolex Oyster.

The first mass production of wristwatches was started by Girard-Perregaux. The company created its timepieces mainly for military use.

The world’s first anti magnetic watch was created by the famous Swiss watchmaker Tissot.

The first and the only watch, chosen by NASA, worn by astronauts in their mission to the moon remains Omega Speedmaster.

The Russian and American astronauts wore Omega Speedmaster during the world’s first craft meeting of Apollo-Soyuz that took place in 1975.

The Oxford Dictionary stated that the word “Time” is the most often used noun in the English language.

Traditional mechanical watch movements use a spiral spring called a mainspring as a power source.

Expensive, collectible watches valued more for their workmanship and aesthetic appeal than for simple timekeeping, often have purely mechanical movements and are powered by springs, even though mechanical movements are less accurate than more affordable quartz movements.

Electronic movements have few or no moving part.

Electronic watches use the piezoelectric effect in a tiny quartz crystal to provide a stable time base for a mostly electronic movement.


Compared to electronic movements, mechanical watches are less accurate, often with errors of seconds per day, and they are sensitive to position, temperature and magnetism.

Radio time signal watches are a type of electronic quartz watch which synchronizes its time with an external time source such as in atomic clocks, time signals from GPS navigation satellites

Solar powered watches are powered by light. A photovoltaic cell on the face (dial) of the watch converts light to electricity, which in turn is used to charge a rechargeable battery or capacitor.

A rarely used power source is the temperature difference between the wearer's arm and the surrounding environment (as applied in the Citizen Eco-Drive Thermo).