By In this post, we tell you about the importance of wristwatches and we will tell you a little more about the history of this element.
What Is The Origin Of The Wristwatch?
As you recognize it now, this is a device attached to your wrist thanks to the pressure of a hypoallergenic leather or plastic strap (that is, it avoids allergies), however, it was not always like that: the wristwatch is an evolution of the first hourglasses, called Clepsydras. But in the introduction to the market, they ran into a situation at least curious: men’s watches were not well seen because it was thought that the bracelet was a female addition.
Its origin dates back to the early nineteenth century and were designed as watches for women because it was thought to be a way to maintain elegance, with a certain touch of modesty to allow the lady to give the time to men in the meeting rooms of the Europe of this century.
Of Swiss origin, they soon invaded the continent, at the same time that the watch industry designed pocket watches, which men hung from their frock coats or hats. As a curious fact, jeans have a space for wristwatches: it is the buttonhole that is on the right side of the pants where the device of the time was kept.
More for a matter of change of customs, which prompted fashion to take careful note of the times, wrist watches were accepted by men at the time of the Second World War. It was the soldiers from the United States of America who drove the change for a pragmatic need: there was much time wasted consulting the classic pocket watches, with the consequent risk to their lives.
If photographs of the time are reviewed, it is seen that the soldiers tied their watches with leftover straps of tires or their combat pouches. The original watch houses paid attention to detail and, after the war, began designing the first pieces with leather straps. The figures of the time, Elvis Presley and James Dean, used this type of add-ons in their films, which contributed to their gaining some notoriety.
A Tradition With A Future
However, it was not until the insertion of the quartz and electronic elements that the wristwatch did not become a mass phenomenon. This is because the Japanese manufacturers saw the possibility of returning the implement as a popular device. From that moment, between the sixties and the seventies, thanks to CASIO, YAMAHA and other Japanese houses, the wristwatch reached all strata and can be found in all parts of the world, making the classic pocket watch a relic or a luxury item, which was not at the beginning of the last century.
