Watches are well-known daily necessities. It has been 200 years since the first wristwatch was produced. The original creator of the watch was neither a Swiss watchmaker nor a watch dealer. According to research, the original creator was actually the French Emperor Napoleon who could not be beaten with eight sticks. In 1806, in order to please Queen Josephine, Napoleon ordered craftsmen to make a small "clock" that could be worn on the wrist like a bracelet. This was the world's first watch. For a period of time thereafter, pocket watches were still a symbol of men's status, while watches were regarded as women's accessories

When did humans begin to have the concept of "time"?

The distant ancestors of mankind were the first to know the passage of time from dawn to dusk. About six thousand years ago, the "clock" first appeared on the stage of human history: the sundial was born in the Kingdom of Babylon. The ancients used sundials to keep track of time based on the length and direction of the sun's shadow. Four thousand years ago, the engraved clock was invented, allowing people to know the time day and night. The appearance of clocks only occurred after the middle of the thirteenth century.

The early mechanical clocks that appeared in northern Italy and southern Germany around 1270 were powered by scales and sounded the attached bell every hour to automatically tell the time. In 1336, the first public clock was installed in a church in Milan. In the next half century, clocks spread to various European countries, and bell towers were built in churches in France, Germany, and Italy.

Soon, clockwork technology was invented, and the size of the clock was greatly reduced. In 1510, a German locksmith produced a pocket watch for the first time. At that time, the production of clocks seemed to be limited to the side job of locksmiths. It was not until later that the requirements for clock accuracy became higher and higher, and the watchmaking skills became increasingly complex, and professional watchmakers appeared.

In 1806, Napoleon's wife and Queen J. Jopien made a watch specially for the princess. It is the earliest known record of a watch. This is a decorative, bracelet-shaped watch. At that time, pocket watches were popular in the men's world as a symbol of identity and status, and watches were regarded as women's accessories.

In 1885, the German Navy ordered a large number of watches from Swiss watchmakers. The practicality of watches was recognized by the world and gradually became popular.

At the beginning of this century. WILSDORF & DAVIS, the predecessor of ROLEX, launched silver gentlemen's watches and ladies' watches, which was a great success, leading various watch manufacturers to compete in the development of watches. Switzerland, which was world-famous for its pocket watch skills, also took the lead in watch production. In 1926, ROLEX developed the completely waterproof watch "ROLEX OYSTER". In 1931, it took the lead in introducing self-winding watches. The watch "OYSTER PERPETUAL" is launched on the market. LONGINES was not to be outdone. The precision aviation clock it developed flew across the Atlantic with the American aviator Lindbergh and became famous. In 1929, the watch "CHRONOGRAPH" with a stopwatch function was launched. The following year, the "CHRONOMETER", a precision watch for aviation, was developed based on this.

In the late 1960s, a new page opened in the history of mechanical watches: In 1969, Japan's Seiko Watch Company developed the world's first quartz electronic watch, with the daily error reduced to zero points. Within two seconds. In 1972, the American Hamilton Company invented the digital display watch, and the motor and gears disappeared from the watch.

New technologies in the watch manufacturing industry are emerging one after another, but mechanical watches are not dead. Although the output has been greatly reduced, the manufacturing skills have been preserved. In particular, Swiss watch manufacturers, even though quartz watches dominate today, still have a special liking for mechanical watches. They insist on producing high-end mechanical watches and continuously export them to all over the world.

/383207213/blog/item/bb99123444c6463a5ab5f576.html