The History of Watches

We may never seem to have enough time, but at least a watch can help us manage the 24 hours we do have. While the history of keeping time dates back to sundials in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the first watch is believed to have been created in Italy around 1524.

Originally powered by weights, timekeepers didn’t become portable until the 1600s when a spiral balance spring was devised. Watches before this invention were highly inaccurate and required winding at least twice a day. The creation of the spring allowed for winding only once a day.

As greater technology became available, especially in the production of steel, watch gears and springs kept better time. Jewels were even used to make bearings that kept watches accurate for longer periods of time.

The first decades of the 20th century saw a major shift from pocket watches to wristwatches. Although pocket watches continued to be manufactured until World War II, their production after that was minimal. Battery watches were the next major advancement, appearing in 1952.

By the 1970s, electronic watches were all the rage. But nostalgia revived the mechanical watch in the 1990s, appealing to the upscale markets. In fact, 30 percent of most Swiss watches produced today are still mechanical, not electronic.

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Gold was first discovered thousands of years ago in its natural state, in streams, which lead to mining all over the world. Its brilliance, natural beauty, great malleability and resistance to tarnish made it enjoyable to work with. Gold gave rise to the concept of money itself. Today gold is used for jewelry fabrication, industrial application, and medical uses, by governments and central banks and by private investors.