SAVOIR FAIRE A Wristed Development: What stopped the pocket watch?

Another important origin for the, er, ‘soaring’ popularity of the wrist-watch was the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. Around the turn of the 20th century, Santos-Dumont was in search of a watch that would allow him to keep both hands on the controls while timing flights; with the help of his friend Louis Cartier and watchmaker Edmond Jaeger, the Santos wristwatch was born. Other aviators soon adopted the style, as it was far more practical and safe to use while airborne; military pilots made it even more popular and widespread.

Always synonymous with practical, hard-wearing designs perfectly suited to their purpose, at the turn of the 20th century Heuer had already garnered a reputation for accuracy and durability. Renowned as a purveyor of sporting chronographs, dashboard timekeepers, and easy-to-use stopwatches, for Heuer the transition to wrist watches was in many ways a logical step forward for the maison. With the demand growing for resilient watches in the trenches, Heuer quickly adapted the chronograph movement from the pocket watch, introducing their first wrist chronograph in 1914.

Cleverly rotating the movement and shifting the counters to 9 and 3 instead of 12 and 6 meant that the crown was far less vulnerable to the threat offing damaged.  The lugs migrated to 12 and 6, to enable easy reading.  While Heuer stopwatches had often been crafted in elegant gold cases, the precious metal was too soft and easily damaged for treacherous wartime conditions; ever pragmatic, Heuer showed a preference for making hard, weatherproof steel cases suited not only to active duty but day-to-day wear for civilian life.  Lugs evolved from welded attachments that made the dial vulnerable to breaking and cracking, via hinged lugs, to eventually being soldered into position. Luminous hands were essential for night-time legibility, and bold numerals to make time reading as easy as possible were also a consistent feature.