Five eras, 18 histories, 819 connections
The history of watchmaking, as one connected story.
Told through the companies, people, places, technologies, objects and events it is made of, from the first spring-driven clocks to quartz and after. Every fact is cited.
The histories
Each history walks from the whole story into the companies, people, technologies, objects and events it is made of.
Era I, 1500 to 1675
Time in the pocket
How the watch came out of the clock.
The verge escapement, The mainspring and fusee, Nuremberg, Peter Henlein
Era II, 1675 to 1800
The balance spring and the age of precision
How a spiral spring on the balance made the watch a timekeeper.
Christiaan Huygens, Robert Hooke, The balance spring, Thomas Tompion
Era II, 1714 to 1900
Longitude and the marine chronometer
How a clock solved the problem of finding a ship’s position at sea.
The Longitude Act, John Harrison, Harrison’s H4, The marine chronometer
Era II, 1750 to 1850
France and the science of horology
How Paris made watchmaking a science and then lost the industry to the east.
Paris, Ferdinand Berthoud, The marine chronometer, Jean-Antoine Lépine
Era III, 1600 to 1930
Switzerland’s network of specialists
How Swiss watchmaking grew as a network of specialists.
Era III, 1850 to 1930
America industrializes the watch
How the United States turned watchmaking into machine production.
Aaron Lufkin Dennison, The American Watch Company prototype, Interchangeable parts, Waltham
Era III, 1750 to 1980
Britain’s watch industry
How Britain made watches by hand and lost the trade to the factory.
Era III, 1845 to today
German watchmaking
How Germany came to make clocks and watches for the world.
Era III, 1880 to 1930
From the pocket to the wrist
How the wristwatch went from a woman’s bracelet to the ordinary watch between the 1880s and the 1930s.
The wristwatch, The First World War, The trench watch, Jaeger-LeCoultre
Era IV, 1880 to 1960
Watches go to war
How war moved the watch from the pocket to the wrist and set the rules it is still built to.
The First World War, The trench watch, The Second World War, The B-Uhr
Era IV, 1873 to today
Japan builds a watch industry
How Japan built a watch industry after it gave up its temporal hours in 1873.
Wadokei: Japanese clocks, Japan adopts equal hours, Tokyo, Kintarō Hattori
Era IV, 1930 to 1991
The Soviet watch industry
How the Soviet Union built a watch industry from nothing after 1930.
Moscow, Tochmekh (State Trust of Precision Mechanics), America industrializes the watch, Poljot (First Moscow Watch Factory)
Era IV, 1950 to today
China builds a watch industry
How China, which had bought its watches and whose emperors had collected English and Swiss ones, came to make them.
Switzerland’s network of specialists, Tianjin, Sea-Gull (Tianjin), Shanghai
Era IV, 1961 to today
India builds a watch industry
How India, which had bought Swiss watches for a century, came to make its own.
Era V, 1952 to 1990
The electric and quartz revolution
How the watch stopped being purely mechanical.
The electric watch, The Hamilton Electric 500, The Bulova Accutron, Hamilton
Era V, 1970 to 2005
Crisis, consolidation and the groups
How the Swiss watch industry lost more than half its jobs after 1975 and was rebuilt as a few groups.
The quartz crisis, ASUAG, SSIH, The Swiss watch cartel and statute
Era V, 1980 to today
The mechanical revival and the independents
How the mechanical watch came back after quartz as craft, heritage and luxury.
The quartz crisis, Blancpain, Günter Blümlein, Glashütte after reunification
Era V, 1990 to today
Making watches today
How watches are made now, from the 1990s to today.
Origin labels, Chronometry and certification, ETA, The ETA supply dispute
Five eras, 18 chapters
The whole story in order. Every chapter on one time line.
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Era I
Portable time
1500 to 1675
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Era II
The age of precision
1675 to 1850
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Era III
The industrial watch
1850 to 1930
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Era IV
War and new industries
1914 to 1990
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Era V
The electronic age and after
1952 to today
Browse everything
Histories18, Companies41, People21, Places34, Technologies27, Objects17, Groups12, Events13