The history of the wristwatch or time within reach
While it's now clear that the wrist is the ideal place to wear a watch, it hasn't always been this way, far from it! We might even forget that the latter spent more time at the bottom of a pocket than at the end of the arm. The history of the wristwatch reminds us that everything is a question of timing. " If it's too soon, no one understands ," said Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine...
The history of the wristwatch
Given the current craze for wristwatches, it's no surprise that its origins are so highly regarded. While it's widely believed that it became widespread during the First World War, the history of the wristwatch first takes us back to Paris at the very beginning of the last century, in the company of the young billionaire Alberto Santos-Dumont. Famous for his aeronautical exploits, the Brazilian adventurer confided to his friend Louis Cartier the difficulties he encountered in reading the time on his pocket watch while flying. With the help of Edmond Jaeger, the jeweler offered him nothing less than a wristwatch, where, for the first time, the lugs that attached the strap were directly integrated into the caseband. It was 1904, and wristwatch design had just reached a decisive milestone. Given the celebrity Alberto Santos-Dumont enjoyed at the time, particularly among the Parisian elite, it was enough for the crowd in 1906 to see him getting out of his airplane and looking at his wrist to see if he had just broken a new record for the wristwatch to immediately become a fashion accessory. However, this is only one of the latest developments in the history of the wristwatch .
One could indeed cite the order placed by Emperor William I with the Girard-Perregaux factory in 1879 for a series of 2,000 watches that "could be worn on the wrist thanks to a bracelet", so that his naval officers would not have to frantically rummage in their pockets if they wanted to know the time.
However, it would be wrong to consider the history of the wristwatch only through the prism of men: it owes just as much to women. For a long time, Patek-Philippe claimed precedence in the birth of the wristwatch, which cited the commission from the Hungarian Countess Koscowicz in 1868.
But history will remember that we owe the first wristwatch to the will of Caroline Murat, younger sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the talent of Abraham-Louis Breguet. On June 8, 1810, she ordered a "repeating wristwatch" which was completed nearly two and a half years later, on December 12, 1812. It was an oblong watch with a silvered guilloché dial, housed in a gold case also guilloché, striking the quarters, also housing a thermometer and equipped with a " relatively simple braided bracelet woven with gold thread ." This watch, now lost, is remembered under the name "Reine de Naples." Long considered by men as fantasies , wristwatches took nearly a century to definitively pass from the wrists of ladies to those of men.
Blaise Pascal, inventor or influencer?
But the story doesn't begin there. Before this famous order, there were pioneers who, for various reasons, found it convenient to have the time on their wrists. Thus, an engraving depicting the Scottish aristocrat William Douglas, then Earl of March, attempting in 1750 to win the bet of covering the distance of 19 miles in a 4-wheeled carriage in less than an hour, indicates that he wore a transformed watch on his wrist for the occasion. These "transformed watches" were in fact simple pocket watches with leather watch straps that allowed them to be attached to the arm. The Almanach du Dauphin of 1772 attests to their trade in a watchmaking company in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
However, we have to go back between 1623 and 1662 to find the first record of a wristwatch being used. And it is to Blaise Pascal that we owe this great first. It must be admitted that the native of Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) is better known for the invention of the first calculating machine, for his work on the mathematics of probability, for his contributions to the world of physics via his work on the principles of vacuum and pressure, and for his philosophical reflections. Nevertheless, several testimonies attest that Blaise Pascal used to attach his pocket watch with a piece of string to his left wrist in order to read the time more easily. To say that he is also responsible for the invention of the wristwatch would be going a bit too far!
However, rumor has it that the first wristwatch in history belonged to Elizabeth I of England. It was given to her by her favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in 1571. Perhaps tomorrow, a document will be unearthed that will push back the date of the first appearance of a watch on a wrist, but for now, knowing that we know absolutely nothing about the appearance or the maker of this supposed watch, Blaise Pascal remains the one who first laid the initial milestone of this incredible adventure.
Pocket watches, those venerable ancestors
Pocket watches take their name from the trouser or waistcoat pocket in which they were placed, both for protection and to keep them handy. It was Charles II of England who started the trend in 1675 by introducing the long waistcoat with a pocket to hold a watch. And it is clear that wearing a waistcoat was still in vogue until the end of the 19th century, thus ensuring the popularity of these watches. Since the switch only really took place at the end of the First World War, pocket watches spent nearly 250 years in the depths of pockets. And while they now convey an outdated image, in contrast to the dynamism conveyed by wristwatches, we should not be too quick to denigrate them.
Indeed, the most complicated watch in the world is indeed a pocket watch: Patek Philippe's Caliber 89, unveiled in 1989 and housing no fewer than 33 complications. Made up of 1,728 components, this incredible timepiece features a tourbillon escapement, sophisticated calendars, and various astronomical indications, as well as a unique calendar displaying the moving Easter date.
Furthermore, it should be remembered that it was common for aviators in the First World War to have lugs welded onto small pocket watches so that they could be worn on the wrist, like the Omega of Sir Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia.
Finally, we should not forget that the wrist of John Glenn, the first American to fly into orbit in February 1962, was equipped with a Heuer pocket chronograph, attached to his wrist by a fabric strap... But those are other stories.
Jewelry watches, because time is precious
In any case, whether kept in a pocket or worn on the wrist, it is because time is precious that the watch that measures it is treated like a jewel. Indeed, throughout time, watches have been adorned with the finest materials, the most beautiful ornaments and the most beautiful decorations. Sometimes synonymous with opulence, these jewelry watches are nonetheless subject to fashion. Thus, the chain that connected the pocket watch to the waistcoat was adorned with trinkets and other charms. Despite its utilitarian and functional origins, the wristwatch gradually became ennobled and finally reached the status of a jewelry watch. This is evidenced in particular by the choice of leathers used to make an interchangeable leather watch strap. And if the finesse of calfskin already reflected a certain penchant for refinement, what can be said about the use of crocodile leather. Considered the king of exotic leathers due to its exquisite feel, it is undoubtedly one of the most precious. In fact, its work is all the more delicate... Thus, with its expertise patiently built up since 1942, Maison Fèvre offers what is undoubtedly the highlight of its exotic range with the men's crocodile watch strap or the genuine crocodile watch strap for women. The skins are chosen with care, particularly according to their homogeneity, echoing the regular flow of time, thus making it possible to convert any timepiece into a jewelry watch... because time is precious.
Cyril LEROY
Watchmaking editor at Maison Fèvre
Enlightened amateur & passionate collector
