History of Watches

Watches have a long and colorful history, but we'll give you a very brief overview of how watches came to be what they are.

Beginnings

The 1500s - The watchmaking industry centered on Switzerland because of church persecution. Many of the big names in Swiss luxury watches are French because these were the originally Protestant and Huguenot watchmakers who fled Roman Catholic France.

The Huguenots, followers of prominent Reformationist John Calvin, settled in Geneva, where Calvin lived. Many of these were jewelry craftsmen who abided by Calvin's belief that adornment was a vice. Thus, these French lovers of beauty turned to watchmaking.

1601 - By the end of the 15th century, Genevan watches were reputed far and wide, and in 1601, the Watchmakers' Guild of Geneva was established. About a century later, many of the original horological geniuses left crowded Geneva for the mountains.

Early 1700s - Daniel JeanRichard (1665-1741) introduces division of labor in watchmaking.

1770 - Abraham-Louis Perrelet creates the first "perpetual" watch.

1801 - Abraham Louis Breguet patents the tourbillon regulator.

1868 - Antoine Patek and Jean Adrien Philippe make the world's first wrist watch.

1888 - Louis Cartier creates a ladies wristwatch with a diamond and gold bracelet.

Early 1900s - Mass production of watches begins, thanks to new technologies of watchmakers like Frédéric Ingold and Georges Léchot. They focused on pocket watches.

1917 - The end of World War I aids the leap forward in affordability and popularity of wristwatches.

1923 - The automatic wristwatch is invented by John Hardwood.

1960s - The integration of electronics and Girard-Perregaux's development of the first high frequency mechanical watch, also called Swiss Quartz Movement.

The 1970s to the present have seen the great recession in mechanical watches due to the quartz revolution, spearheaded also by cheaper materials and the advent of disposable consumer goods. In the 1990's, mechanical watches made a comeback in appreciation.