| Telling time has been a part of our lives for what seems to be all the way back to the beginning of time and watches were an early part of it although a long way from the designer watches of today. It’s hard to imagine but the first version is thought to have been invented in the 1500’s.
Telling time has been a part of our lives for what seems to be all the way back to the beginning of time and watches were an early part of it although a long way from the designer watches of today. It’s hard to imagine but the first version is thought to have been invented in the 1500’s. How to power them was an early problem with the only solution being a series of weights that certainly made for a cumbersome timepiece. But as man progressed so did the technology.
Watches in the early days were nowhere near close to being accurate. In those days it simply provided a best guess to the correct time. The introduction of a spring in the watch was a big step forward although it took many years and literally hundreds of attempts to get the mechanisms to work accurately time after time. But designer watches were still a century away.
Watches took a major leap in the 1600’s where someone realized they could be more than just a way to tell the time. Fashion stepped forward and the watches of that time period began to show off all kinds of additions. They suddenly became a piece of jewelry for ladies, at least those that could afford such a luxury and concept of designer watches was born. And even more interesting is that since they had to be opened to be wound, manufacturers felt that how a watch looked on the inside was just as important as how it appeared on the outside. Each small mechanism was made to shine and sparkle as much as possible.
Finally a watch that keeps accurate time! That was the big news as 1700 rolled around. With the invention of the balance spring there was a big leap forward in time keeping. Whereas before most makers hoped to be within one hour of the actual time, the balance spring now made accuracy possible down to the second. And this breakthrough introduced another part of the watch that is so common today, the minute hand. Up until this point, models usually just had one hand and that was to mark the hour. For instance you might know it was about 1pm, but there had been no second hand to tell you how many minutes past or before the hour you might be. The balance spring changed that and the look of designer watches began to take the familiar shape that we know today. |
