I shamelessly clipped this from "The Art of Manliness". The article was talking about watches and how they came to be. I wear an older fossil watch that I bought a long time ago and still wear it, I refuse to change to a newer one....I kinda like the "old schoolness" of the watch. I figured about taking a break from all the political stuff for a day or 2 before diving back into the morass known as D.C. on the Potamac.
When I first got my smart phone, I put the watch up but after a while I realized that I was using the battery too fast with my whipping out the phone all the time so I started wearing a watch again. I like it, it is something timeless, and I don't know...maybe I am a throwback to an earlier age where men dressed with class and had pride in their appearance unlike what is seen today....
Like I said, I shamelessly clipped this article from
Here. The site is worth the look.
No element of men’s style combines fashion and function quite like
the wristwatch. Nor does any other male accessory inspire such devotion
and interest.
Nevertheless, in recent times there have been those who believed the
watch had finally met its demise in the smartphone, and would fade away
with other sartorial anachronisms like monocles and sock garters.
And yet the popularity of the wristwatch persists. To understand why,
we need to understand the history of this timepiece, how its past
continues to inform its present, and why a man might consider wearing a
watch in the 21st
century.
History of Wristwatches
While the wristwatch has become a men’s style staple around the
world, up until the late 19th century it was considered a piece of
jewelry exclusively for women. Men preferred the pocket watch. This
wasn’t some arbitrary fashion decision based on taste or gender; there
was actually a practical reason for men’s preference for one over the
other.
Before the 20th century, watches were extremely susceptible to the
elements. Moisture, cold, heat, and dust could easily bungle the
intricate gears and springs within a watch, causing it to lose its
accuracy. As men were more likely to face these elements, and held
positions in the military, business, and government that made accurate
timekeeping more of a paramount concern for them than for women, care
had to be taken to protect their timepieces and keep themselves on
schedule. Function superseded fashion, so into the pocket men’s watches
went, only to be taken out when needed.
As with most things in men’s style, it would take a war for patterns
to change and for the watch to leave a man’s pocket and be placed on his
wrist.
Pocket watches required a free hand to use — you had to reach into
your pocket and hold it while you checked the time. In the tumult of
battle, a man needed all the hands he could get. So soldiers began
improvising wristwatches by strapping their pocket watches on their arm
with leather.
Soldiers wearing a wristlet — a pocket watch secured to a leather strap.
The first instances of the use of these improvised wristwatches are
said to have occurred among British soldiers fighting in the Burma and
Boer Wars in the late 19th century. Called “wristlets,” these leather
straps had a cup to hold their pocket watch. By the 1890s, a few
companies started manufacturing leather wristlets for soldiers and even
made improvements to them, like adding a compass on the strap for
navigation. They were often marketed as “Campaign” or “Service” watches.
Just as GIs returning from WWII continued to wear their government issued
tees and
khakis
as civilians, veterans of the Burma and Boer Wars likely continued
using their leather wristlets when they returned home. Male civilians,
seeing these rough and tumble war vets sporting what was once considered
a lady’s accouterment, began following suit.
Jack London, author and war correspondent, sporting a pocket watch wristlet on his California ranch.
Seeing that men — particularly soldiers — were wearing their pocket
watches on their wrists, several companies in the late 19th century
began creating watches specifically designed for that purpose.
Girard-Perregaux was the first company to mass-produce wristwatches
specifically for men — particularly for sailors in the German Imperial
Navy. The Waterbury Clock Company — now known as Timex — also began
selling a men’s wristwatch at around the same time. In 1907, jeweler
Louis Cartier designed a wristwatch for his Brazilian aviator friend,
Alberto Santos-Dumont, which he called the Santos.
While these manufactures were pioneering a new segment of timepieces,
sales weren’t that great. The majority of men still preferred the
pocket watch, or the leather pocket watch wristlet.
It would take another war for the watches to find a permanent place on men’s wrists.
World War I ushered in modern, mechanistic warfare, and the
wristwatch played a vital role in this process. Before WWI, the
coordination and execution of orders relied primarily on visual cues —
soldiers would often use semaphore signals to communicate with one
another. But because battlefronts were so large during WWI and because
soldiers fought in trenches, this visual mode of coordination became
increasingly unviable. So clocks began to be used to coordinate attacks:
officers would sync watches together at a meeting, return to their
respective troops, and initiate the offensive at the agreed upon time.
Soldiers syncing their watches during WWII.
To do this, many British officers continued to use the improvised
wristwatch — their pocket watch tethered to a leather strap. But some
began wearing a bona fide wristwatch designed to withstand the rigors of
warfare, while maintaining a classy, aristocratic look. Watch companies
in England immediately began capitalizing on this new need by making
and marketing wristwatches specifically for officers serving in the
trenches. They called it, unsurprisingly, the “trench watch.” (The
trenches of WWI is also where the
“trench coat” was developed.)
The trench watch wasn’t a government-issued piece of equipment (the
pocket watch was still the officially sanctioned timepiece), so if an
officer wanted one, he was expected to supply his own. Because there
wasn’t a single watch company providing watches to the military, this
opened up a vibrant and robust market with several competing companies
making trench watches for officers. Consequently, you can still find a
wide variety of trench watches from this era
on eBay and various other auction sites as well as antique stores.
This wartime competition spurred innovation in the men’s wristwatch.
Watch hands and numerals donned luminous paint to make time reading
easier in darkened conditions (like at night or in the trenches), and
unbreakable crystal glass replaced the glass covering the watch’s face.
Lugs for attaching the leather strap to the watch started to be built
right into the watch, which gave it a more finished look. Porcelain
dials to set the time, which were common on pocket watches, were
replaced with metal. Finally, the watch casings were made much tighter
to keep water and dust out of the watch’s sensitive mechanisms.
Like the veterans of the Burma and Boer wars who returned home to
civilian life burnishing their leather wristlets, British vets of WWI
came back home wearing their trench watches, thus setting a standard for
civilian men to follow. By 1930, more wristwatches than pocket watches
were being sold in the U.K.
The adoption of male wristwatches took hold a little more slowly in
the U.S., though. Many American doughboys wore the wristwatch while in
the trenches, but went back to the pocket watch after returning home
because of the wristwatch’s lingering reputation as a “lady’s
timepiece.” The only way an American man could get away with wearing a
wristwatch as a civilian was if he was taking part in rugged activity
that required chronological precision like flying or racing. It wasn’t
until the mid-1920s that wristwatch sales among men began to gain
ground, and much later than that that they finally overtook pocket
watches.
After WWI solidified the masculine bona fides of the wristwatch,
manufacturers began creating timepieces to be worn on all sorts of
occasions. Yes, there were fancy dress watches, but most wristwatch
innovation was driven by specific needs of men serving in the military
and taking part in risky and dangerous activities like car racing and
aerial barnstorming.
Why Wear a Watch?
Few men these days need to time the start of a battlefield attack,
and technology has come a long way since the Battle of the Somme.
We’ve now entered an age where a man can check the time by pressing a
button on his smartphone, which begs an obvious question: “Are there
still any reasons to wear a watch?”
It’s a fair question, and wristwatch sales did in fact start
declining in the early 00s, thanks in part to the increased use of
smartphones. But after reaching an all-time low in 2009, wristwatch
sales have been increasing at a steady clip year in and year out and
will likely continue that upward trend.
What’s going on there? Every man has his own reasons for sporting a
wristwatch, but here are a few as to why you might consider joining
their ranks:
Wristwatches are functional and convenient. When I
got my first smartphone, I was one of those people who dumped their
wristwatch. Why carry an extra piece of equipment, I figured, when
there’s a clock built right into my phone?
But after a year, I found myself getting annoyed at having to pull my
smartphone out of my pocket whenever I wanted to know the time. I had
unwittingly traveled back over a hundred years, burdening myself with
the same inconvenience soldiers had discovered during the Burma War; in
everything else my smartphone was light years ahead of anything from the
early 1900s, but as a timepiece, it was essentially an old fashioned
pocket watch.
With a wristwatch, on the other hand, telling the time just requires a
glance at your arm, and both of your hands remain completely free and
ready for action.
What’s more, with a traditional wristwatch you don’t have to worry
about the power going out on your timepiece or recharging it regularly. A
quartz watch can go months without a new battery, automatic watches
almost never lose power, and a mechanical watch only needs to be wound
to keep it ticking — no power plug needed. The power factor is a big
reason I dumped the smartwatch (they also don’t look very good) after a
few months of use. I had to charge the thing all the time. Ain’t nobody
got time for that!
Bottom line: nothing beats a classic wristwatch when it comes to convenient, hands-free, at-the-ready timekeeping.
Wristwatches look good. Wristwatches, while functional, are also designed with looks in mind. They’re one of the few pieces of
male jewelry that can easily be worn every day.
When matched correctly, a stylish, well-designed watch can add a bit
of polish, panache, and visual interest to any outfit. It’s a subtle
detail, but people notice it. When I’ve got a solid get-up on and I’m
rocking a watch that goes with it, I usually get more compliments on the
watch than my clothes.
And the beauty of watches is that because they come in so many
varieties, you can develop a collection that you can draw from to put
the finishing touch on any ensemble, no matter the occasion. Business
formal? Rock your simple, but elegant dress watch. Casual first date? A
dive or field watch will look handsome.
Wristwatches signal status/personality. As we discussed in
our series on status,
one of the key developments in human development was the adaptation of
social signaling. Instead of relying solely on embodied characteristics,
like height and physique, to determine status, our human ancestors
started using things like clothing and jewelry to size each other up.
When pocket watches came on the scene a few hundred years ago, they
quickly catapulted into one of the West’s most powerful social signals.
Early watches were expensive, so only the very rich could afford them.
Owning one signaled to folks that you had indeed arrived. When pocket
watches transformed to wristwatches during the late 19th
and
early 20th centuries, it was typically high-born British officers
wearing them. Even as mass production drove the price of wristwatches
down, quality pieces continued to maintain their status signal cache.
Now, the easiest way to signal status with a wristwatch is, of
course, to procure the high-end luxury variety. Nothing announces “I’ve
made it big” like sporting a $30,000 vintage Rolex.
Yet even if such displays of conspicuous consumption understandably
rub you the wrong way, and you opt for something in the far less
expensive range, a wristwatch still represents a potent clue to your
personality and interests. Fancy yourself a sporty guy? A racing or
diving watch can showcase that. Pride yourself on plain practicality? A
rugged field watch can convey that.
Yes, watches are about timekeeping, but thanks to their powerful
social cache, they can be used to express your values, tastes, and likes
to others. Choose wisely.
Wristwatches are timeless. While the wristwatch as
we know it has only been around for a century, it’s gained a timeless
distinction in the world of style. A well-designed classic wristwatch is
like a well-designed suit — it will still look good decades from now.
There’s a reason 60-year-old Rolexes are still selling for tens of
thousands of dollars. Even if a watch costs you a lot, it’s an
investment that will continue paying dividends in enjoyed use for years
to come.
The timelessness of the wristwatch also makes it a fantastic
heirloom. If you’re lucky enough to inherit a watch from your father or
grandfather, every time you wear it, you’ll have a tangible reminder of
the men who made your life possible. If you don’t have a family heirloom
watch, begin the tradition in your own life by acquiring a nice
timepiece that you can someday pass on to your son or grandson.
Wristwatches feel good. Wristwatches not only look
good, but they feel good too. Because of their historic associations
with war and adventurous pursuits like racing, flying, and diving, no
male accessory is quite as romantic and evocative as the watch. Not only
do these associations signal things to others, but they signal things
to yourself as well, about who you’d like to be and what you’d like to
be doing. If the watch is an heirloom, it may remind you to carry
yourself in a way that would make your forebearers proud.
It may sound silly to think a physical object like a wristwatch could
alter your mindset a little, but it’s no different than the totems and
talismans our primitive ancestors outfitted themselves with for luck,
protection, and courage.
Man has always tried to master the elements, one of the primary ones
being time. A watch gives you the sense of being in control of your
precious hours and minutes; strap one on and you feel ready for your
appointment with destiny. Or at least a meeting or date, which, hey,
could very well change the course of your life.
