From pocket watch to a fashion accessory. What was once, in the earliest years of portable watches, considered to be unsuitable for men and only for women, has grown nowadays into a fashion utensil that everybody has. Meanwhile, the wrist watch is no longer only a instrument to tell the time. It is a designer piece and can indicate much more than the time.

A great deal of mechanics in a small housing

The first verifiable portable timepiece was developed in 1500. This was not a wrist watch, but more of a pocket watch. Through technical progress, which made it possible for people to house mechanics in an progressively smaller space, the needed parts of the clockworks were able to be brought into a manageable form. In this way, the first pocket watch was born, which at the time was still the size of an egg.

The computerized wristwatch from Japan

A totally new wrist watch came onto the market in the 1970’s from Japan, which had developed its own watch industry. The new wrist watch from Japan was no longer set on a mechanical basis, but on a computerized control. This wrist watch extended its range of capacity rapidly. The wrist watch no more just showed the time. The little timepiece on the wrist now also knew the date, the day of the week and even knew whether a leap year was involved.

The wristwatch as jewelry

Now, the wrist watch is much more than a watch. The wristwatch has turn into a fashion accessory. Wristwatches come in all colours and shapes conceivable. One can also get harmonious watches from all fashion collection. The current watches are dominated by the correct fashion trends. Despite these different trends, there is something for every taste. The tiny watches, which require spectacles to tell the time, and the extraordinary giant watches, which make it hard to walk upright. In any case, one thing is certain: science is still likely to make so much advance – that the wrist watch will be seen on the wrists of people for a long time, to respond to the question as to what time it is.