David Falloure
On the face of it, pocket watches and wristwatches seem like they'd have little impact. After all, they just ell time. So what? Well, let's go back to the first pocket watches made in the 1500s. They were transitional—evolving from things sitting on a desk or hanging on a wall, to something wearable. They weren’t particularly accurate, amounting to little more than jewelry pieces. Refinement needed a reason to kick-start the drive. And it got one.
Navigating the oceans up to the 18th century had a serious limitation—longitude. To understand that, however, we need to step back a few millennia. The whole idea of latitude and longitude—the coordinate system we use for navigation today—was cooked up in the 3rd century BC by an ancient Greek mathematician. Determining latitude is pretty easy. Ancients learned to use certain stars or constellations to identify their latitudinal position. Later sailors used the angle of the sun at noon, which led to the sextant. Still, no one had a handle on longitude.
Longitude is the east/west position on the Earth, as compared with latitude, which is the north/south position between the poles. Unlike latitude that uses the sun to determine position, longitude has no direct or consistent celestial referent. At least, there’s nothing user-friendly.
Going back to ancient times, Hipparchus was a 2nd century mathematician actually using the latitudinal system to specify places on the earth. He also derived a way to determine longitude by comparing local time of a place needing to be pinpointed with another place recognized as “absolute time.” The place with absolute time was the control, making time the key. But why?
Patek-Philippe & Co created the first wristwatch in 1868, but it was not practical for men, nor did it get much traction in the marketplace. It was more bracelet than timepiece—and, as such, not masculine. Besides, the pocket watch was just fine. They were now accurate, attractive but not feminine, and much of men’s clothing accommodated placed to hold one’s timepiece. Nothing was really driving a need to make a man’s wristwatch. In 1903, however, all that changed.
The Wright Brothers are credited with the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft. From that moment, aviation exploded. In the early years of powered flight, watches were necessary not only for pilot navigation, but also for calculating flight time with available fuel remaining in the tank. Pocket watches, however, had a drawback. They were hard to hold in one hand while controlling the aircraft with the yoke in the other, and adjusting the throttle simultaneously. Additionally, try holding a map or, at night, holding a lantern to see the watch and the map at the same time, all while flying at a time before autopilot. Impossible.
The breakthrough came during those early years because of the friendship between one pioneer and another—Alberto Santos-Dumont and Louis Cartier.
Santos-Dumont was a Brazilian aristocrat. He was also an aviation innovator who led the way for commercializing aircraft, designing several variations and building them to order. He declined to patent his innovations in order to help the budding industry flourish. Santos-Dumont was an accomplished pilot, too. Moreover, it was his friendship with Louis Cartier that inspired the wristwatch innovation. In 1904, Cartier designed the first real wristwatch for his pilot friend. He called the Santos and it delivered as designed. Stylish, accurate, as well as innovative like its namesake.
Suddenly, the wristwatch became popular and Cartier’s watches for men went on retail sale in 1911. After all, it no longer appeared as a bracelet. The leather strap looked masculine and durable. The watch face was bold, yet practical. What’s more, pilots wore them—so, you know, there’s brand affiliation with cool and daring guys. So yeah, the wristwatch took off along with aviation.
Over the years, watchmakers have taken great pride in constructing the personal timepiece, both in terms of the finesse of timekeeping as well as aesthetics. The drive came from the much-needed ability to navigate the globe, and then to sustain such accuracy with the ability to "hands free" see that time.
This is only one facet of the evolution of time-keeping, and how it is so crucial. Time permitting, more stories may follow.
William Falloure graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a bachelor's degree in HIstory. He currently serves in the United States Army and related to the editor of this blog. He produced the award-winning student documentaries, The Hellenic Revolution and Cuban Missile Crisis. Falloure is an Eagle Scout with Bronze, Gold, and Silver Palms. His interests are history, military strategy, and lacrosse.
Before long, there will be a rush on wristwatches as gifts for those graduating high school or college. Maybe not so much now because we can get the time from a myriad of devices, but wristwatches and their predecessor, the pocket watch were revered gifts. These things were finely crafted pieces of mechanical engineering, and they became important elements to history.
On the face of it, pocket watches and wristwatches seem like they'd have little impact. After all, they just ell time. So what? Well, let's go back to the first pocket watches made in the 1500s. They were transitional—evolving from things sitting on a desk or hanging on a wall, to something wearable. They weren’t particularly accurate, amounting to little more than jewelry pieces. Refinement needed a reason to kick-start the drive. And it got one.
Going back to ancient times, Hipparchus was a 2nd century mathematician actually using the latitudinal system to specify places on the earth. He also derived a way to determine longitude by comparing local time of a place needing to be pinpointed with another place recognized as “absolute time.” The place with absolute time was the control, making time the key. But why?
Even if someone had a mobile, easy-to-use and accurate method for keeping time, one small ingredient was missing. In fact, it took a millennium to reveal it. Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī was an 11th century Islamic scholar. He was, among other things, an excellent mathematician and astronomer. He understood that the earth rotated on an axis, and that the speed of that rotation directly connects to our measurement of time. Once he got that figured out, it was, well, a matter of time to solve the problem.
Accurate time between the two points remained elusive until the arrival of John Harrison—keymaster. Yes, between ancient times and 1773 when Harrison perfected his marine clock, everyone and their mother had an idea to determine longitude—from Galileo to Halley (of comet fame), and on and on. After all, governments, in effect, put a bounty on time by offering prizes for methods reliably demonstrating a longitudinal method that was user-friendly. Nothing worked particularly well, until Harrison crafted an amazing innovation—the watch.
Accurate time between the two points remained elusive until the arrival of John Harrison—keymaster. Yes, between ancient times and 1773 when Harrison perfected his marine clock, everyone and their mother had an idea to determine longitude—from Galileo to Halley (of comet fame), and on and on. After all, governments, in effect, put a bounty on time by offering prizes for methods reliably demonstrating a longitudinal method that was user-friendly. Nothing worked particularly well, until Harrison crafted an amazing innovation—the watch.
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| Harrison's H4 |
Watches are mechanical timepieces—duh. But they are a solution different from other timekeepers, such as sundials, hourglasses, etc. Clocks were fine but not at all steady resting anywhere on a ship because they relied on pendulums or balances easily thrown off by movements of wind and sea. And there is the difference. Watches are by concept, mobile because they utilize a balance spring, which is the crux of making a totally self-contained, sustainable timepiece. The funny thing is that it took a Yorkshire, England carpenter to figure out how to build a marine chronometer—and it took him four prototype developments to do it. His efforts began around 1762, and he completed them by 1773 when he won the Longitude Prize.
It took quite a while longer for marine chronometers to become the standard, but they did. And the small, portable, and reliable chronometer became a standard for navigation. It let ship captains find their position in longitude. With knowing longitude and latitude, captains finally knew their exact position. Without the pocket watch, that was impossible.
It took quite a while longer for marine chronometers to become the standard, but they did. And the small, portable, and reliable chronometer became a standard for navigation. It let ship captains find their position in longitude. With knowing longitude and latitude, captains finally knew their exact position. Without the pocket watch, that was impossible.
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| Patek-Philippe |
Pocket watch to wristwatch
Patek-Philippe & Co created the first wristwatch in 1868, but it was not practical for men, nor did it get much traction in the marketplace. It was more bracelet than timepiece—and, as such, not masculine. Besides, the pocket watch was just fine. They were now accurate, attractive but not feminine, and much of men’s clothing accommodated placed to hold one’s timepiece. Nothing was really driving a need to make a man’s wristwatch. In 1903, however, all that changed.
The Wright Brothers are credited with the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft. From that moment, aviation exploded. In the early years of powered flight, watches were necessary not only for pilot navigation, but also for calculating flight time with available fuel remaining in the tank. Pocket watches, however, had a drawback. They were hard to hold in one hand while controlling the aircraft with the yoke in the other, and adjusting the throttle simultaneously. Additionally, try holding a map or, at night, holding a lantern to see the watch and the map at the same time, all while flying at a time before autopilot. Impossible.
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| Wright Flyer |
The breakthrough came during those early years because of the friendship between one pioneer and another—Alberto Santos-Dumont and Louis Cartier.
 |
| Louis Cartier |
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| Santos 1911 |
Over the years, watchmakers have taken great pride in constructing the personal timepiece, both in terms of the finesse of timekeeping as well as aesthetics. The drive came from the much-needed ability to navigate the globe, and then to sustain such accuracy with the ability to "hands free" see that time.
This is only one facet of the evolution of time-keeping, and how it is so crucial. Time permitting, more stories may follow.
William Falloure graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a bachelor's degree in HIstory. He currently serves in the United States Army and related to the editor of this blog. He produced the award-winning student documentaries, The Hellenic Revolution and Cuban Missile Crisis. Falloure is an Eagle Scout with Bronze, Gold, and Silver Palms. His interests are history, military strategy, and lacrosse.
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