Vintage Watches and Wristwatches

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No one really needs a wristwatch anymore. With smartphones in our pockets and purses—increasingly, they are also strapped to our wrists—it’s easier than ever to answer the question, “Hey! Anybody got the time?” But it wasn’t all that long ago...
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No one really needs a wristwatch anymore. With smartphones in our pockets and purses—increasingly, they are also strapped to our wrists—it’s easier than ever to answer the question, “Hey! Anybody got the time?” But it wasn’t all that long ago when time was not on everyone’s side, and the need to know if one was early or late for a very important date spurred an industry to manufacture what are essentially portable clocks. Pocket watches were the obvious first solution, but in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these handheld horological devices were replaced by even smaller timepieces that could be worn on the wrist, which made them as fashionable as a bracelet, with the added benefit of freeing the hands. Women got the first wristwatch in 1868, when Patek Philippe mounted a small watch with a white enamel face onto a rectangular slab of gold, which was accented with rose-cut diamonds and secured to a gold, grooved bracelet. The response was not exactly a stampede of customers; it wasn’t until 1876 that Patek Philippe sold that first wristwatch to Countess Koscowicz of Hungary. Men had to wait until the beginning of the 20th century for their wristwatch. According to the creation myth surrounding the invention of a wristwatch for men, it was in 1904 that a Brazilian aviator named Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier about how difficult it was to fumble around with his pocket watch during his short test flights. In response, Cartier made his friend a square wristwatch with a flat face, and called it the Santos. That wristwatch led to the acceptance of the devices in France and then elsewhere, and by World War I, wristwatches were pressed into service by the military, whose troops found them easier to use than pocket watches. With the wristwatch’s place on male and female wrists secure, the years between the world wars were devoted to improving the accuracy and features of these timepieces. By 1923, Patek Philippe had created...
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