The First Wrist Watches (Part 4 of 5)

As with many fashion [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW4CQdg8PGU inside bauerfeind] trends in times gone by, the wrist watch was first made fashionable by royalty -- specifically Queen Elizabeth I who was given one in the late 1500s. It was an adaptation of the pocket watch made more feminine and worn as an item. 

The very first widely worn wristwatches were designed exclusively for women and called wristlets. Men of the late 19th century and early 20th century still kept track of time using a pocket watch. They considered a trend to the wristlet that would, like all others, come and go; and the wristwatch would at that time never be considered by men as anything but a feminine bobble for women. 

The wristwatch as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW4CQdg8PGU inside bauerfeind] a useful way to conveniently keep time for men actually started out as a wartime necessity. The British army in their fight against South Africa in the Boar War in the early 1900s strapped pocket watches to their wrist so that they could hold their weapons and still synchronize maneuvers with other troops. The first wristwatches for men were promoted to the military for men going into active service. Many of these influential men found the convenience of not fishing in a pocket for their watch indispensable even after returning from the area. 

Changes in watchbands also put into the reputation of the wristwatch for both women and men. The versatile group items that attached to the watch made it easy to attach a strap, which held the watch firmly, attached to the wrist. Today wristwatches were common military concern for the allied troops of World War I. 

In 1915, The Rolex Watch Company, previously referred to as Davis & Wilsdorf, was launched. Hans Wilsdorf liked the thought of a wrist watch for both women and men and worked to enhance the reliability. Rolex was thought to be a leader in this study and received the very first wristwatch Chronometer award provided by the College of Horology in Bienne. 

In the mid-1920s, following war, men started initially to associate wristwatches with the brave people who fought and no further considered them as just for women. Rolex seized upon this new picture and continued through the 1950s to promote watches specifically to men. Skilled, masculine-style watches were created to be worn by men in a variety of areas of work. 

The growth of new technology capable of following time and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW4CQdg8PGU inside bauerfeind] doing another features of a mobile phone or advisor might lead to a time once the watch will soon be less of an essential way to keep time and more of fashion accessory or status symbol. But, allows encounter it, if the time is known by you if anybody ever asks you, your first impulse would be to raise your wrist, whether you remembered to put up your watch!