Wrist watch

History

On July 9, 1916, The New York Times puzzled over a fashion trend: Europeans were starting to wear bracelets with clocks on them. Time had migrated to the human wrist, and the development required some explaining.

Alexis McCrossen, a history professor at Southern Methodist University and the author of Marking Modern Times: A History of Clocks, Watches, and Other Timekeepers in American Life, traces the story of the wristwatch back to the spread of “portable clocks,” or large pocket watches, in the 1700s, when “people want to start carrying the time around with them; they’re not content just to look at the public clocks in whatever village or town they might end up in.” These watches were made progressively smaller and better-secured with features like chains or straps, and were often seen primarily not as a timepiece but as a reliable vehicle for investing personal savings.

Innovations in the mid- to late-19th century—including the machine manufacturing of watches, the advent of the railroad, factories, and electricity, and the standardization of time zones in Europe and the United States— increased demand around the world for watches and the “imperatives to own and control time” rather than obey it. [1]

From the beginning, wristwatches were almost exclusively worn by women, while men used pocket watches up until the early 20th century. The concept of the wristwatch goes back to the production of the very earliest watches in the 16th century. Some people say the world's first wristwatch was created by Abraham-Louis Breguet for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810. However, Elizabeth I of England received a wristwatch from Robert Dudley in 1571, described as an arm watch, 229 years earlier than the 1810 Abraham-Louis Breguet. By the mid nineteenth century, most watchmakers produced a range of wristwatches, often marketed as bracelets, for women.[2]

The New York Times breathlessly reported from Paris in 1912. “It is worn over here by women who have to work as well as those who play.” Not only that, but “it is the most useful piece of jewelry that has been invented for many decades.

Wristwatches were first worn by military men towards the end of the nineteenth century, when the importance of synchronizing maneuvers during war without potentially revealing the plan to the enemy through signaling was increasingly recognized. It was clear that using pocket watches while in the heat of battle or while mounted on a horse was impractical, so officers began to strap the watches to their wrist. [3]

In 2013, McCrossen wrote that, with the introduction of smartwatches, the “pocket-to-wrist cycle may repeat itself.” In recent years, she argued, the adoption of smartphones has made wristwatches less popular, particularly for young people who use their smartphones as, among other things, modern-day pocket watches. (Thus far, sales of wristwatches, especially luxury wristwatches, have actually remained strong during the smartphone era, though today they may be more associated with fashion than timekeeping.)

original from National museum collection

Hans Hilfiker (15 September 1901 – 2 March 1993) was a Swiss engineer and designer. In 1944, working for the Swiss Federal Railways, he designed the Swiss railway clock, which became an international icon.[4] The SBB clock was not the only contribution by Hilfiker to modern living. He developed the concept of the fitted kitchen and was responsible for the standard Swiss dimensions for kitchen components (55/60/90 cm).The design, which became a model for many other stations around the world, was the future so that travelers could easily read the clock from afar. The look of the dial was functionalistically designed with only dashes and without numbers and a red second hand with a round disc at the end that would remind of the stins' red shovel when he raises it to show "stop" for the train.

The SBB clock was not the only contribution by Hilfiker to modern living. He developed the concept of the fitted kitchen and was responsible for the standard Swiss dimensions for kitchen components (55/60/90 cm).[5]

The wrist watch from the museums collection has a clear relation to the classical railway clock. It has a minimal display case, that does not have any number, instead the hourly marks on the watch face are represented by thicker stripes and the second marks a represented by thinner lines. This gives the watch a minimal expression

 re-designed WRIST WATCH

RE-DESIGN

The watch has gone from the public buildings to our chest and writs into our pockets with the help of smartphones. The watch is now once again made its way back to our wrist with the rise in popularity of the smart watch.

Todays (2021) smartwatches needs program updates several times a year and they might be considered outdated after a couple of years. I wanted to create a wrist band that add value to today’s smart watches. I have chosen to work with the classical shape of a curb chain.

Curb chain resembles cable chain that has been twisted and flattened, so that all the links lie flat. Curb chain’s flattened loops are typically oval and all the same size. In some chains, the links in the chain may be made round, and then fed through a rolling mill for greater flatness.

The curbed link chain has been designed in a CAD program and it has later been 3d-printed in silver. The silver surface has been sand blasted giving it a the matt surface that one can find on a  macbook. 

process picture

3d-model of redesign

Footnotes

[1] Marking Modern Times: A History of Clocks, Watches, and Other Timekeepers in American Life

[2] "THe Evolution of the Wristwatch". Archived from the original on 2013-12-08. Retrieved 2013-12-07.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches#Wristwatchmiddle class, not just the very rich.

[4] Köbi Gantenbein, ed. (2013). Die Bahnhofsuhr – Ein Mythos des Designs aus der Schweiz (in German). Zurich, Switzerland: Edition Hochparterre. Archived from the original on 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2014-10-19.

[5] “Remarkable clocks and watches: the Swiss railway clock". swissworld.org. Berne, Switzerland: Presence Switzerland, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA. Retrieved 2014-12-11. 

This project was made possible with the support of