History is complicated, and scholars love to argue and debate over the facts of the past. That includes the records surrounding the origin and evolution of the wristwatch.
One of the world’s oldest and most prestigious makers of time pieces is Breguet, a luxury wristwatch and clock brand founded in Paris in 1775. The company’s website states that is has documentary evidence that “proves beyond a reasonable doubt” that Breguet invented the first wristwatch in on June 10, 1810.
The item created at the behest of the Queen of Naples.
However, a search for historical facts about the origins of the wristwatch quickly casts doubt on this claim. For example, it is known that Queen Elizabeth I of England received an “arm watch” made for her in the 16th Century.
There is no doubt from the historic records that Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester, presented the “arm watch” (really a wristwatch) to the Queen in 1571.
This would have been more than 200 years before the bold claim by Breguet for having “indisputable proof” of inventing the wristwatch in 1810.
Even so, it would take a very long time indeed before the wristwatch became more than a one-off specialty piece of artistic jewelry for a super elite client. As of 1868, debate was still raging over who had actually invented the wristwatch.
It can be said with certainty that the wristwatch became an item of popular use among the public starting in about the 1880s. Among the first groups to wear them were British Army officers. This was more about practicality than prestige. The British officers needed a way to synchronize their war tactics. A handy wristwatch proved to be an invaluable tool.
Even so, decades would pass before the wristwatch achieved wide distribution among the common people. A milestone came in 1923 when John Harwood invented the self-winding watch. At the time, millions of people already carried pocket watches. But with Harwood’s invention, there was a widescale switch to the wristwatch, a process that was completed in the 1930s.
From that point on, the evolution of the wristwatch was all about new technologies. For example, the spring-driven watch soon faced competition from time pieces that used quartz crystals –- and let’s not forget electronic watches that use batteries.
Today we have smartwatches that are virtual computers with myriad functions strapped to our wrists.
What would have the Queen of Naples thought about that?