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Please click on the links below to learn more about the History's of these fine thorough breads. |
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Audemars BreitlingBvlgariCartierFranck
MullerTag
Heuer In the Movies JaegerOmegaEbelPatekRolexVacheronZenith |
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A watch is defined as a spring driven timekeeper, small enough to carry on a person. Generally, this group would contain early watches worn on a chain around the neck, pocket watches and then wristwatches.
Exclusion of Clocks. I have not deal with any developments in the clock area that do not affect watches. Therefore, items such as deadbeat escapements and pendulum compensation methods are not covered. However, a section on the marine chronometer is included because of its general interest and the effects it had on current chronometers. Click here for detailed info on EVOLUTION OF WATCH CHRONOLOGY
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Before 1600 the main problem in portable timekeeping was the driving power. Typically, the timepieces of the day were driven by weights, and therefore were impractical to transport on one's person. In 1524, 15 florins were paid to Henlein for a gilt musk-apple with a watch. This was the earliest known date of a watch being produced. Other watches appeared in 1548, and were probably of German or French origin. The Swiss and the English products do not occur till about 1575. In the horological industry, this period was one of great advancement and innovation. The first movements were made of steel, but brass movements appeared shortly thereafter. The first movements were straight verge movements, with no balance springs. These first timepieces were notoriously inaccurate. Most watches had only the hour hand and had to be wound twice a day. It was before the introduction of the gear-cutting engine and steel production was not as precise as it is today. The variations in quality, and the fact that many steel alloys had not even been discovered at this time, meant that timekeeping was not the art it is today. In this period, the first use was made of the spiral-leaf main spring. This was crucial to the production of the first watches, as it allowed horologists to power a movement without the need for the common hanging weights. This however, opened up a whole range of problems for watchmakers. Typically, a spiral spring's tension will not be constant from fully wound to unwound. Thus watchmakers found a significant difference in timing between the short arcs and the long arcs. In an attempt to reduce this spring force error, the watchmakers found that they could increase the accuracy of their timepieces by using only a portion of the mainspring that produced nearly linear tension on the train. This helped, but in the quest for better accuracy, other methods of providing constant torque on the train were tried. The stackfreed was a German invention that had a cam at the end of the barrel arbor. The cam had another spring (leaf) acting on it that attempted to compensate for the variations in spring tension. The English and French solution was to use the fusee. The fusee improved the regulation of spring tension markedly, and was used extensively till the 1900's. The first fusees stopped the clock during winding. In an attempt to prevent over oscillation of the balance wheel, stops were also included as a crude form of regulator. These stops were typically of stiff hog bristle. At that end of this period, astronomical data and dates were already being displayed on watches, but even with all these embellishments, timekeeping was still very poor.
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This period saw little in the way of technical innovation, but watches were becoming more a jewellery piece. The cases were of gilt metal or precious metal, and were engraved, jewelled, pierced and enamelled for decoration. Thus the watch was seen as a piece of jewellery that was more or less ostentatious depending on whether it was exposed (pendant) or not (pocket watch). The shapes of cases went from a tambour cylinder with a lid to being circular, with hinged, domed covers front and back. Decoration included champlevé enamel and relieved cases filled with coloured enamel. To protect the intricate cases the manufacturers supplied a protective outer case that was designed to be worn together with the watch. This was unimaginatively known as a pair-case watch. Glass crystal was fitted to the cases around 1620, but it was usually as an alternative to a metal opaque cover. The glass was translucent only; therefore the owner was still unable to see the time without removing the cover. The owners still had to open the covers to wind and regulate the watches; therefore all parts of the cases needed to be attractive. The main form of internal decoration was piercing to the balance cock and fine work to the pillars, such as tulip design. On German watches, the Arabic '2' was usually shaped like a 'Z'. Dials usually had an outer chapter marked I-XII and an inner chapter marked 13-24. This was to accommodate the 24-hour convention used in Italy, Bohemia and southwest Germany. The inside chapter ring was usually engraved with a star or rose. The hands were always of steel and carefully shaped. In England, unornamented watches became popular around 1625, as a result of the Puritan movement. After 1660, exuberant shapes and adornment were usually confined to women's watches.
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While a spiral spring was first used for the mainspring in around 1500, it was not until 1675 that a spiral balance spring was used. This one step took daily timekeeping accuracy from fractions of an hour to fractions of a minute. There is some dispute as to who first applied the spiral spring to balances. Both Huygens and Hook were working with springs, but Huygens worked with the spiral spring whereas Hook has attributed to working with flat springs. Hook also worked with Tompion, a master craftsman of his time. Tompion also invented an adjustable rack type regulator, with bristle curb springs, for the balance spring. The main hope when the balance spring was introduced was that it would make the balance isochronous, but this hope was dashed when it was found that temperature affected the rate, because of the elasticity of the mainspring. With the increase in accuracy it was also noted that the position of the watch had an effect. The watch would gain or lose time depending on the pendant and face positions. Because accuracy had increase so much, a minute hand and a dial subdivided into minutes was added. The face convention was to have the hours marked in Roman numerals and the minutes in Arabic numbers. A fourth wheel was also added so that the watch could be wound once a day instead of every 12 hours. In 1675, Charles II of England introduced long waistcoats. This became the fashion, and men's watches were then worn in pockets of the waistcoat instead of pendant style from the neck. After 1690 the use of three wheel trains is very unusual, being restricted to old-fashioned watchmakers. The four-wheel train and six-leaf pinion were just about universal. For a short term before and after the century, the makers of low class watches placed the balance immediately under the dial. The balance was visible through the dial, and it was intended to trick the unwary into believing the watch had the supposedly attributed powers of a pendulum, which was fashionable at the time.
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In 1704, English watchmakers Facio de Duillier and P. and J. Debaufre developed methods for using jewels as bearings. By 1715, this practice was still rare. After about 1725 it was common to find a fairly large diamond end stone mounted in the cock. However, even at the end of the period, only the upper bearing of the balance shaft, i.e. in the cock, were likely to have jewels. For nearly a century the art of jewelling remained exclusive to the English. After the turn of the century, makers paid greater attention to lubrication. In about 1715 Sully discovered that forming a small sink around each hole would retain the oil, due to its surface tension. This was not usually found in watches before 1750. The commonest watches of the period had pair cases in gold or silver, both of which were plain. The case maker's initial is found on plain gold and silver cases. Where a watch does not have the same initials on the inner and outer case, the outer is non-original. In good class watches, the watch number is repeated on the cases. The gold cases of the period are 22 carat and silver-gilt, brass-gilt and Pinchbeck are all found. Silver cases were rarely hallmarked before 1740, although gold hallmarks are fairly common. Dust caps were fitted to provide better accuracy. The size of the English watch was 1.75 inches, down from 2 inches, and about one inch thick. Dials were mainly champlevé, but were slowly replaced by white enamel dials with block numbers. The earliest enamel dials were somewhat dull and pitted, but after 1725 they are smooth and polished. The markings on the face included bold Arabic numerals for the hours. Most of the minute markings had disappeared or made very small, and at 15-minute intervals. However, by the end of the century the markings on the faces became much lighter and more elegant. The maker's name never appeared on the dials before 1750. By 1775, champlevé was rare. In English watches the hands were usually of the beetle and poker style, although the hour hand sometimes had a tulip pattern. The hands were usually made of black steel, although better class watches had blued hands. In single-handed French watches, it was common for the winding square to be in the centre of the dial, protruding through the boss on which the hand is mounted. After the initial flurry of technical development, decoration then took over as a method of differentiation. From 1715 onwards, repouse and adornment of outer cases was the vogue. After 1750 it declined and was rarely found after 1775. Pendants became more elegant, and glasses were snapped in from early in the century. Movement decoration still occurred even though they were covered by dust covers. Balance cocks were very large and were decorated and pierced. On the Continent, the balance cock had no foot. It was a circular bridge screwed at either end. From 1750 on, the foot ceased to be pierced, and extra decoration was uncommon from then to this day. Pillars became progressively simple, from tulip to round and then square. Up to 1700 there had been little change to the verge escapement. In 1726 Graham refined the horizontal, or cylinder escapement. This was more accurate than the verge, but also more fragile. Early cylinders were made of steel, and the escape wheel of brass. This promoted excessive wear on the cylinder, but this was corrected later. The cylinder, as an escapement, had a run of about 200 years. Early balance springs were soft and untempered, and very easily distorted. The earliest springs had only 1.5 to 2 turns, but by 1750 4 to 5 turns were more usual. In 1740 Frenchman Le Roy introduced a screw adjusted sliding plates containing pivot holes, so the escape wheel could be positioned very accurately. Lepine departed from the then usual practice of having the movement between two parallel plates and the balance wheel outside the top plate. He discarded the top plate altogether and used individual cocks mounted on a single plate, including the balance. This formed the model for manufacture of all watches to the present day. The use of cocks made assembly and repair of the watches much easier, and more importantly, made them much thinner. Lepine also dispensed with the fusee and used a going barrel to drive the train directly. This improvement was facilitated by using the cylinder escapement and better springs. In England, however, the verge and fusee were still used and, at the end of the period it was generally acknowledged that English watchmakers were producing the best watches. English watches had the hour and minute hand, whereas the continental watches of the same period tended to only have the hour hand. In the evolution to a detached escapement, non-detached escapements other than the verge were also tried. The duplex escapement was invented by Dutertre in 1720, and modified to be more usable by 1750. The rack lever was invented by Abbe'de Hautefeuille in about 1720 and improved by Litherland in England in 1791. Around 1750-1760 Mudge designed the detached lever escapement. However, it was left to others to refine the escapement to its present form. The main problem with the first lever escapements is that the escape wheel teeth had no draw. It was introduced much later by the Swiss, Leschot. The first forms of the lever were with the lever arm at a tangent to the escape wheel. English watchmakers preferred the right angle arrangement, while the European watchmakers preferred the straight-line lever. The English right-angle layout was persisted with until the first quarter of the twentieth century.
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In 1761 John Harrison made a clock that was sufficiently accurate to be used to measure Longitude during a sea voyage. In spite of this feat, Harrison's clock did not contribute significantly to horology as the timepiece was too complicated. It was left to other horologists to produce a practical marine chronometer and pocket chronometer. The basics of the designs included a balance completely detached from the train, a helical balance spring instead of a spiral spring and maintaining power whilst being wound. All designs had some form of temperature compensation. A fusee was still in use. By 1800, the pocket chronometer was a readily available accurate watch. With the newer, more accurate escapements, other changes occurred to timepieces. A second hand was added to the watches. Jewelling was more extensively used, with some extremely large jewels being placed on the visible plate. A ratchet and pawl mechanism was used under the dial, instead of the usual worm and wheel. Plates were arranged to consider servicing and repair. Pillars and cocks had little decoration. Tompion's style of rack adjustment for the regulator was dispensed with and the current lever with curb pins was introduced. Bimetallic balances were still rare, and decoration was minimal. However, the watch was finally accurate enough to be used as a timekeeper, not just jewellery. Verge watches were still in use in this period, and many of the improvements were also applied to them. Bridges were added for ease of assembly. This also required the repositioning of the verge's contrate wheel to the other side of the train. Regulation was also upgraded to the newer, simpler style. The watch diameter increased substantially, but the thickness was not reduced. By 1830, pair cases were rare, except on a verge watch. Where pair cases did exist, they were usually of silver or gold, with various shaped pendants and stirrup shaped bows. The watches were wound by opening a hinged back to reveal a second fixed bottom pierced with a winding hole. The pendant was a spherical knob often pierced by a push piece. Dials were usually of white enamel. Roman and Arabic numbers were both used, but Roman numerals were more common. Dials with second hands were flat and hands became simpler. Materials used for the hands were either blued steel or gold. The counter sinking of subsidiary dials was unusual in English watches before 1860. After 1800 dials in four-colour gold became popular. This type of watch usually had lustrous gold hands. Around this period, the table roller lever escapement, which was first used in 1823, was becoming established. In Europe, the going barrel was replacing the fusee. Cocks were small pierced bridges and the silvered regulator dial continued. Some watches had a Chinese duplex escapement and this produced a watch where the second hand moved only once per second. While escapements such as the virgule and Pouzait gained some favour, the lever was gaining strength of numbers all the time. The great Breguet started his own production in 1780. In 1787, he produced lever watches in France, but it is not known if Julien Le Roy preceded Mudge's development of the lever in England. Breguet produced straight-line lever layouts with a cut compensating balance. Other Breguet innovations included a ruby cylinder watch, the over coil on balance springs, the 'parachute' balance staff suspension, a self winding watch, or 'perpetuelle', the 'tipsy' key that prevented reverse winding and the tourbillion. A Swiss called Perrelet conceived self-winding watches in 1770. Breguet produced them from 1780. Even though the self-winding watch was invented then, not even Breguet's magnificent workmanship could make one that would work reliably for a long period. He therefore gave up making the 'perpetuelle' around 1800. Another difference between the English and European watches was in the escape wheel. The English used a wheel with pointed teeth and the Europeans used a wheel with clubfoot teeth. The clubfoot teeth, as well as the pallets, provided lift to the balance, whereas in the English version the wheel provided all the lift. Pair cases began to go out of fashion by 1775, when the French started to make thinner watches. As a historical note, Breguet died in 1823.
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By 1850, in England, the lever watch reigned supreme. By 1860 the design of the lever had changed from a straight-sided design to a curved one. The fusee continued till the last decades of the century. Watches were thinning by using a three-quarter or half plate movement. In the three-quarter movement, the balance, lever and escape wheel were placed with separate cocks in a space obtained by cutting away a section of the plate. In the half plate, the fourth wheel also had a separate cock. Winding With keyless wind and pendant hand setting, the cases had no need to be opened all the time. A snap on bezel was introduced, and the hinged back was snapped firmly shut, with a small lifting ear to assist opening. The dust cap changed to a small hinged cover fitted inside the back, and the movement was screwed in place instead of being hinged. England was still using fusees at this stage, and the keyless wind and handset were designed to work only with a going barrel. It was not until the 1890's that the English changed from the fusee to a going barrel, but they still continued to use key wind systems. The watches still used full plate movements, and extravagant Liverpool jewelling was replaced with smaller jewels. As the Victorian era progressed, cases and dials became heavier to the eye and hands became slimmer. With the introduction of the second hand, some makers provided for the hand to be stopped like a chronometer. However, in these early watches, stopping the second hand also stopped the whole watch. The dials were divided to show fifths of a second and the number of beats was raised to increase accuracy. The first true chronograph, as we now know it, was designed in 1844 by Nicole. It was not until 1862 that the contemporary three pusher system was used. Nearing the end of this period, watchmakers had devised mechanisms for all the grand complications such as repeaters, moonwork, alarm, striking, musical, automata, jaquemarts, multi-dial, day, date, month and stopwatch. A large proportion of the watches with complications were Swiss with lever or cylinder escapements. An English refinement was the karrusel, patented in 1892 by Bonniksen of Coventry. It should be remembered that up to 1840, watches were all hand-finished, so that parts were not interchangeable. The Swiss however, believed there was a market for cheaper, machine made watches with interchangeable parts. The designer of the first production machine was Leschot . The main change was that holes were drilled using a panotgraph, thus making the hole placement repeatable. Parts therefore became interchangeable. It was Frederic-Jalpy (1749-1812), however, that devised machine tools that laid the foundation for mass production. The Americans were the first to begin volume production, probably around the 1850's. Companies involved in watch production had mixed fortunes, but the main ones were Waltham (1850-1950), Elgin (1864-on) and Hamilton (1892-on). A different concept was followed by the Waterbury Watch Company, founded in 1878. They made a cheap machine made watch with only 54 parts. It had a mainspring coiled behind the watch and the whole movement turned once an hour. This was in effect a tourbillion type watch, but the company failed with too cheap an image for their product. The Swiss kept an ever watchful eye on the Americans and started volume production of both cylinder and lever watches around 1880. Towards the end of the century, Roscopf introduced a cheap pin pallet escapement, and this type of watch set the seen for many years to come. Markets like Turkey and particularly China imported watches from England and later Switzerland. The movements in the Chinese watches were particularly ornate, with each part intricately engraved. Steel parts were blued or polished. The enamel dials nearly always had centre-second hands, which moved but once a second.
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The main changes to horology in this period came not from mechanisms but mostly from the advances in metallurgy. With the introduction of the balance spring on the first verge watch, horologists discovered the non-isochronous behaviour of the balance was due to both temperature and position. In an attempt to cure the balance problem, self-compensating balances were made with bimetallic properties, cut ends and other compensations. However, they were usually able to compensate for high temperature and low temperature but not for middle temperature errors. In 1900, Guillaume produced an alloy such that when used with brass in a cut, compensated balance virtually eliminated middle temperature error. He further experimented and in 1919 it was possible to make a mono-metallic balance of Invar controlled by an Elinvar balance spring. The other main change in this period was the form factor change that allowed the move from pocket watches to wristwatches. By 1930, the ratio of wristwatches to pocket watches was about 50:1. Winding was by button and hand adjustment by rocking bar or shifting sleeve. In early designs or pocket watch conversions, the strap lugs were simple wire loops added to what appeared to be very small pocket watch cases. Hinged or snap bezels and backs were used. Dials were white enamel or metal without decoration but the numbers were sometimes made luminous. Watch glasses started to be made from transparent plastic material which was less fragile, but tended to scratch and yellow with age. The pocket watch continued till the end of the Second World War (1945) but after that production was minimal. English production tapered off till it effectively finished in 1930. After the war however, production with new tooling began again. The Swiss watch captured a large percentage of the world's consumption. In the new watch making regime, two escapements won through. The lever was used for expensive jewelled or partly jewelled watches whereas the pin pallet was used in cheaper watches. The cylinder escapement, after two hundred years of life, was finally a casualty of a crowded marketplace. In 1945 quality wristwatches began to get complications that had been available in pocket watches. The main complication was the Perrelet method of automatic winding. The chronograph became available, often with datework, alarmwork and moonwork etc. Watches were also made more robust, with mechanisms to make them waterproof, shockproof, and able to function in extremes of pressure, vacuum and gravity. With so much standardisation it was now not possible to distinguish a brand's national identity. The battery-powered watch was available in 1952 as an alternative to the automatic. The electronic watch, which replaced the escapement with electronic vibrations of a tuning fork, was a completely new concept. This changed the beat of the watch from about 2.5 beats per second for a mechanical watch to nearly 2.5 million beats per second for an electronic watch. This new technology was embraced and enhanced by the Asian watch industry, Japan in particular. This system allowed cheap and very accurate watches to be mass-produced in the millions. By 1970's, these electronic watches were so successful that the mechanical watch was nearly lost forever. The resurgence in the mechanical watch was brought about mainly by the nostalgia of the Italians. Now the market for mechanical watches is flourishing again, mainly in the upper sections of the marketplace. Thirty percent of most Swiss watchmakers production is mechanical, with over 6 million movements and ebauches produced in 1995. Manufacturers like Blancpain, Rolex, Patek Phillipe, Audemars Piguet, Jaegar LeCoultre, Lange & Sohne and Vacheron Constantin all make high quality mechanical watches.
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1480 - 1511: The beginnings of portable time keeping. In Nürnberg, Germany, Peter Henlein creates the first pocket watch. It is made of gilded brass and has only one hand giving the approximate time. It is ball shaped, yet oddly named a "Nürnberg Egg". Henlein's invention would soon be imitated and other Nürnberg Eggs followed. 1485: Leonardo da Vinci sketches a fusee for a clock. This system would later be used in watches. 1535: Religion has had a strong influence on the watch industry, and it had a major impact at this time. Martin Luther's Protestant reformation took over Geneva. In 1535, Geneva had no watch making industry to speak of and was mostly known for its jewellery. 1541: Jean Calvin now moved to Geneva and turned it into the centre of the reformation. As word of this spread, Protestants from Paris and other watch making centres fled to Geneva. Calvin had imposed many strict laws banning theatre, dancing, and other forms of art and entertainment. This included a ban on wearing elaborate clothing and jewellery. Initially this seemed like doom for Geneva's many fine jewellers, but one loophole in Calvin's laws gave them opportunity. Calvin considered watches an item of practical use, therefore allowed in his new strict Protestant Geneva. Geneva's jewellers then collaborated with the watchmakers who had recently fled there to make watches with jewels, enamels, and engravings. This collaboration spawned the beginning of Geneva's luxury watch industry. 1575: Watches are now getting more drum shaped and until 1600 also get more oval shaped. Early 1600s: Form watches are now starting to become popular. The cases are shaped like animals and objects. Religious themes are very popular, like skulls (for death) and crucifixes. Mid 1600s: By now watches were coming with pair cases. These had an outer case to protect the inner case of the watch. 1635: This was around the time that the fusee was adapted from clocks to watches. This helped get equal power to the mainspring regardless of whether the watch was fully wound or nearly out of reserve power. 1659-1675: Christian Huygens in Holland invents the "Remontoire". This keeps a more constant force on the escapement. Also during this time the spiral hairspring for the balance wheel was invented. There are claims that either Robert Hooke invented this in 1664 or Christian Huygens in 1675. There is also a claim that Thomas Thompion did in the same year. Regardless of who invented it, it made great stride in terms of accuracy. Now watches were accurate to within a few minutes, adding the use for a minute hand on watch dials. 1687: Daniel Quare patents the repeating mechanism that uses bells to sound quarter hours and the hours. 1700: The horizontal cylinder escapement is invented by either Thompion or George Graham. 1704: Peter and Jacob Debaufre, along with Nicolas Facio, are the first to use rubies in watch movements. This greatly reduces friction, which improves accuracy and increases longevity of parts. 1715: George Graham invents the dead-beat escapement. 1725: George Graham invents the cylinder escapement, which makes watches much slimmer. 1750: Around this time, watchmakers began using enamel on watch dials to make them easier to read. Today, making a genuine enamel dial is very labour intensive, therefore expensive. 1755: Jean Marc Vacheron begins making his own watches. He would later join with Francois Constantin to form Vacheron Constantin. 1759: Thomas Mudge invents the English lever escapement. The key advantage of this movement being that the watch can be wound without stopping or losing time. 1761-1762: John Harrison's marine chronometer is the first timepiece to successfully determine longitude at sea. At the time, there was a large monetary award for who ever could be the first to accurately determine longitude at sea. Before then, many sailors perished on ships lost at sea that eventually ran aground and found themselves in the wrong spot or at the wrong time. Astronomers claimed to have the solution by using the stars for longitude, while watch and clock makers raced to solve the problem with timing. Both factions raced to earn the prize. Harrison had many competitors and some tried to stop him, but after many years and four different chronometers, he succeeded in spite of the heavy composition. 1770: Watch cases were now getting more elaborate. Machine turned cases, cases made of tortoiseshell, and enamel painted cases were all making the pocket watch more decorative. 1773: John Harrison collects his prize for his marine chronometer. At last. 1775: Abraham Louis Breguet sets up his own watch making shop in Paris, France. 1780: Abraham Louis Perrelet, one of Breguet's early instructors, invents the self-winding movement. Breguet would later improve this feature. 1783: Abraham Louis Breguet invents the gong spring for repeaters. He also designs his own style hands and numbers, which are still named after him today. The gong spring helped make repeaters much smaller. 1783: Breguet begins work on his famous "Queen Marie Antoinette" watch. The watch features: self-winding, minute repeating, perpetual calendar, independent seconds, equation of time, thermometer, and power reserve. It also had a rock crystal dial to show off the amazing movement. Unfortunately the watch took so long to complete that the Queen never got to see the final product. In 1983 it was stolen from a museum in Jerusalem and to this day the watch has not been recovered. 1786: Breguet is the first to use guilloche on watch dials, which not only made them more attractive but also more legible. 1790: Breguet invents the parachute anti lock device to protect the balance wheel. 1791: J.F. Bautte founded the watch company that would eventually become Girard-Perregaux. 1795: Breguet invents the Tourbillon. One of his greatest achievements, this device compensates for positional errors in the escapement caused by gravity. It remains one of the most difficult mechanisms to manufacture today. 1795: Breguet invents the Breguet over coil balance spring. This greatly improves accuracy and is still used in high quality mechanical watches. 1798: Breguet invents the "Sympathique". This is a clock and watch set. When the watch is not in use, it sets into a recess in the clock. The clock would then adjust and reset the watch. Later versions also rewound the watch. In 1991 this system was adapted to a wristwatch / clock set. 1799: Breguet invents the "Tact" watch, also known as the "watch for the blind". With this watch, the wearer could feel the exposed pointer on the case to determine the time. Late 1700s: With all of the latest technical innovations, movements are now much smaller, and form watches remerge in even more styles than before. Early 1800s: Thanks to Breguet's invention of the gong spring, repeaters are much more compact and repeaters are now getting very popular. 1801: Breguet gets the patent for the Tourbillon. 1807: Thomas Young invents the recording chronograph. 1809: Luther Goddard of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts is the first watch manufacturer in America. He has produced only approximately 600 watches in total. 1810: Breguet makes the first wristwatch for the Queen of Naples. There are many other claims to the first wristwatch title, but Breguet's is documented. 1820: Thomas Prest registers a patent for the self-winding watch. 1821: Rieussec gets a patent the chronograph. There are also claims that Breguet invented this. 1827: The Breguet "Marie Antoinette" watch is finally completed four years after Abraham Louis Breguet's death. The major part of the work was executed by Michael Weber, one of the firm's best watchmakers. 1830: Seven years after Breguet's death, the Breguet company introduces a watch that can be wound or set using only one crown. Breguet, along with many other companies, would claim to be the first to have invented this. 1833: Antoine LeCoultre starts his own watch making business. It would later become Jaeger-LeCoultre. 1837: The first Tiffany store opens. 1838: The Swiss watch firm Audemars claims to have developed the first watch that can be wound or set through the crown. 1843: Adrien Philippe, of Patek Philippe fame, develops a watch with winding and setting through the crown. 1844: The start, stop, and reset chronograph is invented by Adolph Nicole; he works on this development until 1862. 1844: Antoine LeCoultre invents the millionometre. This precise system helps make movements much smaller. 1845: Adolphe Lange begins watch making in Glashütte, Germany. 1845: Adrien Philippe joins Patek & Cie to form Patek Philippe & Cie. 1846: Ulysse Nardin is established. 1847: Antoine LeCoultre develops a watch with winding and setting through the crown. 1848: Louis Brandt opens his own workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds; this eventually became the Omega Watch Company. Mid 1800s: Swiss watches now dominate the world market. Ladies jewelled watches are very popular. Thanks to numerous advances in technology, watches are now more mass produced and more affordable. They are also much more accurate. Perpetual calendars. retrograde displays, jumping hours and split second chronographs, were getting popular as well. The Swiss lever escapement is now used more than the English lever because it functions with less wear to the escape wheel and with better accuracy. 1850s: The going barrel replaces the fusee, making watches much more compact. 1851: The "Warren Manufacturing Company" is founded. It would later become the "Waltham Watch Company", one of the most significant watch companies in American history. 1853: Tissot makes the first dual time zone watch. 1856: Eterna is founded. It was originally called U. Schild and adopted the name Eterna only in 1906. 1858: Minerva is founded. 1860: Heuer is founded. They would become known for their chronographs. 1860: Chopard opens. 1865: Zenith founded. 1868: An American from Boston named Florentine Jones moves to Shaffhausen, Switzerland to start International Watch Company, (IWC). 1869: The Illinois Watch Company is founded. 1875: Audemars Piguet & Cie is established. 1880: Girard-Perregaux is the first company to mass-produce wristwatches, primarily for military use. 1881: Movado founded. 1884: Breitling starts. 1884: Greenwich, England is officially named the zero meridian and used as the world wide recognized basis of time zones. 1886: Geneva Seal established. 1891: April 19th --Two trains collide in Kipton, Ohio, killing 11 people. This for those days impressive accident occurred because a conductor's watch had stopped, thereby the trains schedule in disarray. After this tragedy, a commission was formed to regulate the standards of railroad watches. With many trains moving so fast on the same tracks, accurate timing had become imperative. These railroad watches had to be durable, accurate, and easy to read in a quick glance. The regulations stated that an official railroad watch could not run fast or slow by 30 seconds or more in a period of 7 to 14 days watches. In these days American watches were by far the most accurate and names like Howard and Waltham ruled the day. 1892: Aarne Bonniksen of Coventry, England invents the "Karrusel". It is similar to the tourbillon, but larger, slower, and less complicated to manufacture. 1892: The Hamilton Watch Company is founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. To day it owned by the Swiss "Swatch Group". 1892: Ingersoll introduces the "Dollar" watch. This inexpensive model brought watches to the masses. By 1916 Ingersoll was making 16,000 watches per day. Their slogan was "The Watch That Made The Dollar Famous". Late 1800s: The wristwatch was now growing in popularity, especially with the military. Many of these were pocket watches with wire lugs attached to accommodate a strap. 1894: Universal Geneve established. 1904: Cartier makes a watch for Alberto Santos Dumont. The watch is sold commercially in 1911 and is still one of Cartier's most popular models and much imitated. 1905: Hans Wilsdorf starts the Rolex Watch Company together with his brother in law. The company was originally amed Wilsdorf & Davis. The Rolex name was not officially registered until 1908. 1906: Omega introduces the first minute repeater wristwatch. The movement was made by Audemars Piguet. 1912: Movado introduces the "Polyplan", the first wristwatch with a curved movement and case. There were other watches with curved cases, but a curved movement was a new technical achievement. 1914: Eterna introduces the first wristwatch with an alarm. 1914: The first radio time signal was transmitted from the Eiffel Tower in Paris and in Nordeich, Germany. 1917: Cartier introduces the "Tank" watch, which still enjoys continued success until today. 1918: In Japan, the Shakosha Watch Company opened. This would become Citizen in 1931. 1920: Charles Edouard Guillaume wins the Nobel prize for inventing Invar and Elinvar. The composition of these metals causes them to be almost unaffected by temperature variations. The metals would be used for balance springs, thus greatly improving accuracy. 1920s-1930s: Art Deco styles become popular as wristwatches gain in popularity and pocket watch sales decline. 1923: John Harwood is the first to mass-produce a self-winding wristwatch. The watch was set by rotating the bezel and had no crown. 1924: In Tokyo, the Seiko brand name is launched by Kinttaro Hattori. It was formerly named "Timekeeper" and watch making was started in 1881. 1925: The first year to use Daylight Savings Time. 1926: Rolex introduces the first waterproof case called the "Oyster". It features a "Twinlock" crown that screws down to keep out moisture. 1927: Mercedes Gleitze swims across the English Channel wearing a Rolex. This was the first great publicity coup for Rolex. There would be many more as Rolex became the most recognized luxury watch brand in history. 1928: Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces the "Atmos", an amazing clock that runs on changes in temperature. A temperature change of just one degree suffices to keep the clock running for up to two days. 1929: The quartz crystal clock is invented by W.A. Marrison. 1929: Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces the world's tiniest watch movement. It measures 14mm x 4.8mm x 3.4mm and weighs 1 gram. 1929: First anti magnetic watch created by Tissot. 1931: Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces the "Reverso". Developed for polo players, the case flips over to expose the back and protect the crystal. One of the world's first sports watches. Today the Reverso is a whole collection of watches including a tourbillion, minute repeater, a double watch, jewellery style and others. 1931: Rolex introduces a self-winding model called the "Perpetual". 1932: Patek Philippe introduces their first "Calatrava" model. 1933: Advances in metallurgy make Nivarox the metal of choice for hairsprings. It is harder than Elinvar, anti magnetic, and non-rusting. These hairsprings come in various grades, with Nivarox 1 being the best. Nivarox is still used in many good watches to day. 1933: Ingersoll introduces the "Mickey Mouse" watch. This is not the first comic character watch, but definitely the most popular. Its great success inspired many other watch companies to offer their own character watches and they are very collectible today. 1935: Gruen introduces the "Curvex". The great success of this model helps fuel the explosion of curved watches that will go into the 1940s. 1936:Universal Geneve introduces the "Compax" chronograph. This was the first chronograph with an hour counter and its style helped launch the popularity of all chronographs. 1937: Edmond Jaeger joins Antoine LeCoultre to form the Jaeger-LeCoultre company in the famous Vallée de Joux in the Jura mountains north-west of Geneva 1942: Breitling introduces the "Chronomat". 1945: Rolex introduces their first "Datejust". 1948: Omega introduces their first "Seamaster". 1948: Eterna is the first to mount the self-winding rotor on tiny ball bearings to reduce friction. 1952: Breitling introduces the "Navitimer" which becomes the quintessential pilot's watch. 1953: The "Submariner" introduced by Rolex. 1954: Rolex launches the "GMT Master". 1955: Rene Bannwart, designer for Omega, leaves the company to start up his own watch brand and Company named Corum. 1955: Louis Essen and JVL Perry develop the first Atomic Clock. 1956: Rolex introduces their first model that displays the day and date. 1957: Hamilton introduces the world's first battery driven watch. The watch had its share of problems but marked the beginning of a very serious crisis in the Swiss mechanical watch industry, almost leading to its complete demise. 1957: Buren makes the first self-winding watch with a micro rotor. 1959: Piaget introduces the 12P, the thinnest self-winding watch in the world at 2.33 mm thick. 1960: Bulova introduces its very successful "Accutron" model. This battery-operated watch replaced the balance wheel with a tuning fork. The system was much more accurate than previous battery operated watches. 1961: Movado introduces the "Museum" watch, a model remaining popular till to day. The dial had been designed 14 years earlier by Nathan George Horwitt. 1962: Rado produces the world's first scratchproof watch called the "Diastar 1", a classic still popular in some markets to day. 1962: ETA of Switzerland develops the first quartz battery operated watch called the "Beta 21". This is by far the most accurate and dependable system to date. Instead of starting to produce quartz watches for the general public, they did not use this new, by them invented, technology and continued to produce mechanical movements. 1966:Girard-Perregaux produces the world's first high frequency mechanical movement, (36,000 vibrations per hour). Most mechanical watches have a rate of 18,800 or 28,800 vibrations per hour. 1969: Seiko introduces the "Astron", the first quartz watch available to the general consumer. Not many Astrons were made, but this marked the beginning of the Japanese quartz watch domination. 1969: Man lands on the moon and NASA cho0ses the Omega Speedmaster as the watch to go to the moon with them. The Omega Speedmaster remains the first watch worn on the moon. 1969: In a race to develop the first self-winding chronograph, Zenith and Movado collaborate to introduce the "El Primero". 1970: Hamilton releases the "Pulsar", the first electronic digital watch. At the push of a button, the light emitting diode (LED) would light up the red numbers. This was easy to read, but exhausted batteries quickly. 1972: Longines and Seiko introduce a new type of digital display with the LCD, (Liquid Crystal Display). It displays the time continuously, in contrast with the LED's push button method. 1972: Audemars Piguet introduces the "Royal Oak", the first stainless steel luxury sports watch. What seemed risky back then, is the leading trend today. 1974: Paul Picot founded. 1976: Patek Philippe introduces the "Nautilus". 1976: Citizen makes the first light powered watch. 1979: Vacheron Constantin introduces the "Kallista", the world's most expensive watch. With 130 carats of diamonds, it is worth approximately 9 million dollars. 1979: Concord releases the "Delirium", the world's thinnest watch, (1.98mm). As the battle for the thinnest watches continues, the Delirium IV is released at an amazing .98 mm thick. Thin, but not very practical, as the case would bend on the wearer's wrist. 1980: Hublot founded. 1983: Despite the popularity of quartz watches, Gerd Lang starts his own mechanical watch company named Chronoswiss. 1983: SMH of Switzerland launches the Swatch brand. It immediately takes off and gives the inexpensive Japanese quartz watch brands a run for their money. The many different and sometimes crazy styles were an instant success, and at about $35, people bought not just one but many. Several limited edition Swatches have fetched hundreds, even thousands, of Swiss Francs in the collectors' market. 1984: The Texas-based Fossil watch brand is launched. With its retro styling and packaging, Fossil limited editions are an instant success with collectors. Mid 1980s: The mechanical watch starts to make a comeback. Digital "fatigue" and appreciation for the true values of genuine mechanical masterpieces made in a centuries old tradition resurge. 1985:The Swiss Heuer Company merges with TAG to form TAG Heuer. 1985: IWC releases the "Da Vinci", a self-winding, perpetual calendar that enjoys continued success today. 1985: Citizen introduces the "Aqualand", the first diver's watch with a depth sensor. 1985: Ulysse Nardin introduces the "Astrolabium Galileo Galilei" which makes it into the Guiness Book of Records. This watch indicates the position of the sun, moon, and stars. It also shows sunrise, sunset, dawn, dusk, moon phases, moon rise and moon set, eclipses of the sun and moon, the month and the day. It was developed by Ulysse Nardin's in house genius Ludwig Öchslin and he would later develop two other complicated watches to form a trilogy set. 1986: Patek Philippe introduces the secular calendar, which factors out the adjustment in the gregorian calendar every 400 years. 1986: Audemars Piguet introduces the first self-winding Tourbillion. 1987: Alain Silberstein of Besançon, France opens his own watch company. His designs remain truly unique and instantly recognizable. 1988: Chronoswiss makes the first regulator wristwatch 1988: Ulysse Nardin's Ludwig Öchslin develops the "Planetarium Copernicus", a watch that displays the position of the planets in relation to the Sun and Earth. It also shows the moon rotating around the Earth and has a perpetual calendar indicating the month and signs of the zodiac. 1988: Jean d'Eve and Seiko release watches that are automatic / quartz hybrids. The rotor inside charges the watch, so battery replacement is not necessary. Though this system had its problems, this technology would be improved and reintroduced later by Seiko. 1989: The world's most complicated watch, the Patek Philippe Caliber 89 is sold for 3.2 million dollars (including commissions etc.). It has 33 different functions and took nine years to complete. 1990: Daniel Roth, who was instrumental in the rebirth of the Breguet brand, launches his own brand of watches bearing his name. 1991: Junghans unveils the "Mega 1", the first watch capable of receiving a radio signal to synchronize the watch with an atomic clock. 1991: Franck Muller founded. 1991: At the height of the Swatch craze, the "Kiki Picasso" Swatch sells for 62,000 Swiss Francs. 1992: Timex unveils "Indiglo", a back lit display that illuminates the entire dial equally. This is by far the easiest watch to read in the dark. Today this same system can be found on many watches, ranging from Timex to Omega. 1992: Ulysse Nardin completes their trilogy set with the "Tellurium Johannes Kepler". This piece shows the rotation of the Earth as seen from the North Pole. It also shows which part of the Earth is exposed to the sun, and indicates sunrise and sunset. Lastly it shows the moon rotating around the Earth and eclipses of the sun and the moon. 1994: Seiko unveils the "Kinetic", a greatly improved automatic / quartz hybrid compared to the one they made in 1988. Now there are similar movements in Swiss watches. 1994: The A. Lange & Söhne brand is revived in Germany and quickly earns a position on top of the horological world along with the most prestigious Swiss brands. 1994: After years of planning, Roland Murphy introduces his own watch brand, (RGM). 1995: Symbolic of our lives becoming more dependent on computers, Timex unveils the "Data-Link". The watch "reads" information off of a computer screen to remember schedules, telephone numbers, etc. 1995: Citizen releases a line of "Eco-Drive" solar powered watches. Much better looking (not as obviously solar) than previous solar powered watches (designed by the famous Swiss designer Jörg Hysek), they last an amazing 500 days on a full charge. 1996: Philippe Dufour unveils the "Duality". The movement feature two escapements, which average against each other to improve accuracy. This system was developed to rival the tourbillion. 1996: Parmigiani brand launched. 1996: Rado unveils the "Vision 1", a watch that features a crushed diamond crystal. Until now sapphire crystals were the hardest. The Vision 1 remains an experimental model not being produced for the public at large as of yet. 1997: Patek Philippe unveils their "Annual Calendar" which runs without being adjusted for one full year. 1999: Watches that run on the difference in temperature between the air and the wearer's wrist are launched by Seiko (the "Thermic") and Citizen. 1999: Omega unveils the "Co-Axial". This movement was developed by George Daniels and has a new escapement that has less friction, which results in higher accuracy and requires less service. 1999: Casio innovates with the first wristwatch with a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS). 1999: IWC introduces the "Deep One", the first mechanical watch with a depth gauge.
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With
respect to mechanical improvements, the main milestones of watch
evolution can be stated as 
Prior
to 1600 - The Earliest Watches 
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