Over the centuries clocks have been used as a status symbol by those who wear them. Their precision, elegance and convenience are just some of the attributes that clocks and watches represent. Often they are bought purely for their aesthetic looks. and at other times they are bought because of their technical attributes like being precise to the last second or even millisecond. This is what makes clocks and watches so collectible and in some cases they can command high sums of money.

Whether you collect the new high precision watches or ones that come from a past era, the fact is that over the years this hobby has become a high turnover business. And collecting watches is in a lot of circles regarded as a wise form of investing.

At the start of the last century the clocks that were available for men or women were firstly pocket clocks, and then clocks that held by a pendant attached to the lining of jackets or corsets. The advent of war, industrialization, and the development of the sport activities, brought over new trends which extended to not only the way we dressed, but also how we carried our clocks.

It is said that it was a nanny who invented wrist watches at around the end of the 19th century, who fixed a clock around her wrist by using a silk band. The first watches to be made were in fact smaller models of pocket clocks that were fitted with a leather strap. Once this product hit the market newer designs started to be produced based around this same concept.

It was Louis Cartier who first made the kind of watches we see today when he created a watch for a flying pioneer hero by the name Santos Dumont. By 1911 this same type of watch was on general sale. That same type of watch became the blueprint of what wrist watches look like to this day.

Soon after the design of wrist “clocks” began to diversify away from the classical round shape that had been in vogue up until that time. From the Cartier classical wrist watch other makes of watch started to emerge which were characterized by their shape. Movado is the perfect example of these new designs when it came out with the “Polyplan” shaped watch. Then came the famously and cryptically called “clock reference n. 1593″ by Patek Philippe which was a rectangular shaped watch.

From 1913 onwards more and more watches started to be developed in all shapes and styles. From the “gondola” watch of Patek Phillipe to Louis Cartiers’ “Tank”; named thus because it was inspired by the shape of English armored cars of the time. These are watches which are very much sought after. There were other numerous watch makers like Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin who along with Patek Philippe and Cartier came out with many other designs which added other features to the watches like lunar phases, month and day most of which are found in modern watches now.

Of course we could not mention wrist watches without mentioning the most famous of them all: the Rolex watch. In the 1920s Rolex debuted in the world of wrist watches with the elegant Rolex Prince and its revolutionary “dual time” feature made famous for having the “seconds sector” larger than that of the minutes. At the same time Jaeger Le Coultre produced an even more advanced piece called the “Reverse”, also very revolutionary in that it could be turn 180 degrees within its case, thus protecting the crystal and dial. It became incredibly popular and was only prevented from achieving even greater success by the recession of the 1930s and the advent of world war 2.

These early watches of the 1910s to 1930s are what define all the makes of watches that we see and wear today. This short article has only scratched the surface of what is a very vast subject which has many more watch makers with diverse and revolutionary designs. However it is makers like Rolex, Cartier, Jaeger Le Coultre and the others mentioned that are amongst the most valuable and collectible, and should you ever be so lucky to get one then make sure you hang on to it – preferably to your wrist.

Everything has its beginning. And if you believe that time starts from somewhere, also consider the beginning of time measurements.

Early people have devised a system to tell the exact date. But a device that exactly tells the precise time comes much later. Water clocks, sundials, and candle clocks are the earliest instruments that somehow manage to tell time but accuracy is far from achievable.

In the 13th century, weight-driven clocks were developed. It used gears while hour hand was already used while the minute hand was an indication of luxury and wealth. The weight-driven clocks were publicly displayed on church towers, city halls, and monasteries.

In the 16th century, clocks were produced using spring instead of weight. The portable clocks or the pocket watches were the first timepieces that the public can own. During this time, the only persons who can own them were the rich and owning one signified the status, authority, and wealth of the person. Often, portable watches were placed on the wall of the house. The term “portable” though did not mean it could be carried on your pocket. The term changed its meaning some years later.

The first transportable watches or pocket watches was used also in the 16th century. This time, clocks no longer had to stay at one place. Pocket watches can already be worn around the neck or carried on a pocket. The same era also brought revolution to the development of pocket watches. Mechanisms were introduced to bring time-telling precision. Some packet watches even had an alarm.

The entry of the 17th century made pocket watched even more desirable. The box-like image was removed and was replaced by more rounded and slimmer cases. Clockmakers also became instant artists as they infuse designs and craftsmanship to every pocket watch the made.

When Christian Huygens discovered the law of pendulum, which for your information was different from Galileo’s, clock had yet again moved one step further. The law proved to be very helpful in the development of pocket watches.

In the 18th century, pocket watches continued to evolve. This time, jewels were used as bearings. Diamonds became part of some pocket watches that boosted the price of a single pocket watch to the ceiling. Oil was also became part of pocket watches during this period. This was to lubricate and smoothen the movement of the watch’s hands. In the second half of the 18th century, pocket watches were produced with three hands. Contrary to the inclusion of the minute hand during the 16th century, second hand made sense since accuracy in telling time was far better.

In the 19th century came the glory days of the packet watches. This era brought the several watchmakers into the picture. Names such as LeCoultre & Cie, Ulysse Nardin, Minerva, Heuer, IWC, and many others were established in this period. The quality of pocket watches became better than ever.

By the turn of the 20th century, certificates were issued to those watchmakers that created precise watches. Unlike the previous years, issuance of certificate became more of a requirement than luxury.

And as the years gone by, the popularity of pocket watches diminished as wristwatches became more popular.

Although pocket watches are not so much used today, it has served as one of the important instruments for several centuries.

There are now many different types of watches for women. If you’re a woman looking for a new watch or anyone wanting to get a gift watch for a woman you know, then you need to know how to shop for watches for women.

From luxury watches to sport watches, there is a variety of choices for women of all ages and types and from all different backgrounds. There are modern watches, sporty watches, luxury watches and everything in between. With so many different types to choose from today, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

However, you don’t have to let the many choices overwhelm you. There are some things you can do to make your decision making process a bit easier.

When shopping for a watch for a woman, think about these things:

● What kind of woman is she?
● What style does she prefer?
● Where will she wear this watch?
● Who are you to her (relative, spouse, etc)?
● What type of skin tone does she have?
● Are you purchasing a name brand or designer watch?
● Are you going with digital or analog?

These are just a few things you can think about that will help you in your decision making process. A watch is a personal accessory so keep this in mind when buying one as a gift. Is she a sporty type woman or does she prefer something more feminine? Are her wrists thin and delicate or thicker?

You want something that will complement her style and her body type and you also want something that will go with her average routine or daily activities, unless of course you are buying a watch just for use in special or specific occasions.

There are specialty watches made for things like deep sea diving or high altitude mountain climbing. There are also women’s watches made to mimic popular men’s watches with many functions on them. With so many choices, there is something for every woman.

Watches can make a great gift for the woman on your shopping list as well but keep in mind that certain types of watches as gifts can send a specific type of message. For example, a designer, expensive luxury watch is considered a romantic gift so you might not want to choose this for a co-worker when you’re both married.

Think about the meaning with your gift of a watch when you go to give it as well. Watches are a great choice overall because it’s something that everyone can use. It’s functional and it’s also fashionable so what woman wouldn’t appreciate that?

There are many different types of watches for men. If you’re a man looking for a watch for yourself or anyone looking to purchase a watch for a man, it helps to know what different options are out there for you.

For example, do you know that there are more than just wristwatches? There are also handheld time pieces, pocket watches and more. Even looking at wristwatches, there are a wide variety of types, styles, shapes and sizes.

We now have more multi-function watches than ever before. You can find watches to do a variety of things for you such as check your pulse or calories burned. There are sports watches that can do a number of things and then there are fancy watches that tell you the time in many different countries and time zones. There are also watches with compasses and more in them.

The type of watch you choose will depend on the man you are shopping for. You also want to think about the type of wrist he has- thick or thin? Maybe you’ve never really thought about that before but it can have an impact on how you choose the right watch for your needs (or for the man you are shopping for).

Before you start shopping for watches for men, you need to have an idea of who you’re buying for and what their style is. If you get something that isn’t fitting to them, either he won’t want to wear it at all, or he’ll wear it and look out of place.

You will want to think about more than just style as well. You want to consider the skin tone of the man you’re buying for as this can affect your choice of band. You also want to think about where he will be wearing this and what he will wear it with.

This is where careful planning comes into play. A watch can be an excellent gift for that special man on your list but not when you make a bad choice. If you’re unsure of what to get, go with a safe choice. Buy something that most anyone can use and something that can work for either business or leisure. A safe choice is always better than something ostentatious he won’t wear.

Don’t pick something elaborate, too large, too flashy or with too many gadgets and buttons. Keep it simple and something that will go with most any style and you can bet you’ll probably have a winning choice.

Have you ever needed to time someone or something? If you didn’t have a stop watch you’d be out of luck. This was the thought process of people who wanted to be able to record time but didn’t want two separate devices. Chronograph watches were invented with the purpose of being able to accurately record time like a stop watch but on a wrist watch.

Chronograph watches often get mistaken for chronometer. Chronometer watches are tested to meet specific standards. This can also refer to a Marine chronometer that’s used for celestial navigation. Chronograph watches and chronometer watches are two different watches.

Chronograph watches were first introduced to the public around 1910. These watches were amazingly innovative for the time period and could be found in both pocket watches and wrist watches. This made life much easier for those who had a need for a watch and a stop watch. Spectators at sporting events could time their favorite athletes. Swimmers and runners could also time their own speed without the need of someone to help them. The military found a whole lot of work for these time pieces. Soldiers could now have their own timepiece and navigation system.

These watches are not found all over the world. Many different people use a chronograph watch even if they don’t know it. There are two types of chronograph watches you can buy today:

● Digital
● Analog

Almost all digital watches are chronograph watches. Not all of them have the built in technology but most all do. Chronograph watches that are analogue are much less common but still have the ability to take the technology. Many of the chronograph watches that are analogue also have built in compasses and a calendar.

Even though military personnel, athletes and active people will get more use out of chronograph watches, this doesn’t mean the average person shouldn’t own one. You never know when you’re going to need one of the features these watches have to offer. Many of them come with more than just a stop watch. As mentioned before, many of them have navigation devices built into them.

A standard compass and stop watch aren’t the only things you’ll find on these watches. Chronograph watches can have features such as GPS, Internet, Video/Audio recording and vital signs monitor. These watches can benefit older people who need to keep track of their blood pressure or heart rate.

With the advances of technology these watches might one day be more than just a convenient timepiece. The watch is slowly becoming more about the features and less about the actually time itself. Who knows what the future holds for us when it comes to watches.

Watches have only been around for a few hundred years now. Timepieces have existed for thousands of years. Man has always been fascinated with keeping track of time. The first sun dials date back to around 5000 B.C. It was believed that if you could track the sun by the shadow it cast on an object, you’d know what time of day it was. This is how the first sundials were born.

Sundials were used for thousands of years before the Egyptians invented the water clock. As the name suggests, it was a device that had two chambers for water. One of these water containers was higher than the other and as the time passed water would travel down until the other container was filled. The containers had marks that showed the water level in increments. These marks would tell what time it was, depending on the water level.

The first pendulum clock wasn’t invented until the 1500’s. This was thousands of years after the water clock and the sundial. The first pendulum clocks were not all that effective and only had an hour hand. These types of clocks didn’t start to develop more hands until around the 1600’s.

Around this time period watches were quite awkward to wear. They were normally worn around the neck or attached to clothing in some way. Their size made them incredibly heavy and uncomfortable. Their shape and design also made it look less like a watch and more like a drum. It wasn’t until around the mid to late 1600’s that pocket watches really started to take over as the personal timepiece.

Charles the II of England introduced waistcoats that pocket watches could fit in. Naturally their design was altered to fit into these pockets much easier. They were flat and had circular in size. The class covering was added to pocket watches early in the 1600’s.

Men were the ones that normally wore pocket watches, since dresses didn’t come with pockets. It was considered more proper for a woman to wear a wrist watch. Pocket watches were the timepiece of men for hundreds of years until they were no longer a convenience but a problem.

With World War II underway the need to keep your hands on your rifle was very important. Pulling out your pocket watch to check the time was becoming more of a problem. Trench watches were worn by military personnel to avoid problems in the field. It wasn’t until around the 1950’s that man really started to wear wrist watches over pocket watches.

Since then watches have come a very long way with the advancement of technology. Watches do so much more than just tell time now. You can buy watches that act as a video recorder, cell phone and blood pressure monitor. It’s becoming increasingly more popular to fit as many of our useful gadgets into a watch. As more time passes, watches will continue to evolve into much more than just time pieces.

Watches were first made in the 1500’s by Peter Henlein and it was a pocket watch. Pocket watches now are more of a luxury than anything else. Most people simply collect them and never actually wear them. Pocket watches are generally only worn now with a nice suit or other formal dress attire. Pocket watches were not generally worn by women mainly because most dresses didn’t have pockets.

Pocket watches were an amazing invention when they were first created. Clocks originally used weights to keep the gears moving. This made a small sized watch next to impossible to make. Instead of weights, pocket watches have springs that keep gears moving smoothly. This was such an amazing device that only the rich could afford to actually own one.

Not only did this watch signify your wealth but also your status. You were seen as someone important enough that they had to keep the time on them at all times. The busier the person, the more they needed to know the time. As the years went on the general public could afford to buy pocket watches. Just about anyone could now tell you what time it was and made life much easier for the common man.

These watches were mainly for men only. Woman had their own watches that were made for the wrist. It was considered “unmanly” to wear a wrist watch. This of course changed during World War I when men needed to wear wrist watches because their hands were busy holding their rifles. Men continued to wear wrist watches for many years and it wasn’t really until the 1950’s that men started to wear wrist watches more than pocket watches.

Most pocket watches now are found in antique stores and collectors cases. Children born after the 1980’s don’t know anything other than wrist watches. Taking a bit of time to teach children about the history of pocket watches and clocks will really help them appreciate the convenience of having a modern wrist watch.

If you like pocket watches because you think they’re interesting or you just want to have a piece of history, then you’re one of the few who can truly appreciate one of these time pieces. Some commonly made pocket watches can still be found for cheap but most are quite expensive now. Regardless of your desire to have one you can still learn to appreciate the history behind these great timepieces.

Technology has advanced a lot over the years and watches have also seen their fair share of changes. Each year new watches come out with more and more options to them. Not long ago just having a watch that was water resistant was an amazing thing. Now many watches come with added features that almost come right out of a James Bond movie.

Many of the new features you’ll find on watches don’t have much to do with time but are more for a convenience. Active people like runners, swimmers, hikers and divers find that having a wristwatch that has more than the ability to tell time is very handy. The luxury of having such a small device with many different features attached to your wrist is very nice.

You’ll find that as technology increases the options you have for your watch will become more than you can imagine. Some of the current features that you can find on wrist watches that really show how far we’ve come are:

• GPS
• Cell Phone/E-mail
• Video/Audio recording
• Blood Pressure Monitor
• Heart Beat Monitor
• Pedometer

Many of these features were built specifically for the active person. Many watches come with the ability to track how many steps you’ve taken and calories burned. These watches usually come with heart beat monitors to calculate how well your body is responding to the exercise your doing. Wrist watches like these are more designed for runners or swimmers. If you are a swimmer make sure that you get one that is water resistant.

One of the newer features added to wrist watches Global Positioning System (GPS). The watch bounces your location off a satellite in space to tell you where exactly you are. This is great for hikers and divers. If you get lost your watch will be able to tell you all sorts of interesting things. Most of these watches also come with a built in compass which helps you find your direction that much easier.

Wrist watches have come a long way in the last hundred years. If you watched the early James Bond films and wondered when we would get the watch that would transmit video form one place to another, you have that answer now. Active people have really been able to take the common wrist watch and make it in to a device they can easily use. If you’re an active person you should look into getting one of these amazing watches.

A very common problem in the past was getting your watch wet. Watches that got water on or in them would stop working. The internal parts of the watch would stop working or rust over and eventually stop altogether. This problem occurred a lot more often than you think. Removing your watch to shower, wash your hands, do laundry and go swimming were just a few of the incontinences of having a non-waterproof watch.

Leave it to the amazing watch makers Rolex to come up with the first ever waterproof watch. In the past people thought it was impossible to submerge a watch and have it continue to work. Rolex made their claims and backed them up with the “Oyster” that they displayed submerged in an aquarium. After that just about every watch shop had an aquarium they could submerge the watch in. This gave birth to the now almost standard waterproof watch we see today.

Almost all watches today are waterproof to some degree. Many of them even have a depth of 50 feet or more. Many of the watches you’ll find today that are waterproof were made with the purpose of solving the everyday problem of getting watch wet. Most watches can now be put in the dishwater, laundry cycle, worn while showering and while washing your hands. These big problems were easily resolved with a little innovation.

Perhaps those that will benefit from these watches the most would be divers and swimmers. If you need to know how much time you have left in an underwater dive you’ll need a watch. This is great since you can either buy specialty watches or a standard watch. Waterproof watches undergo a great series of tests before they’re considered ready to use. These tests involve placing the watch in a dry tank and testing how much pressure it can hold. The same test is done but this time the water is added to the tanks. These tests help to ensure quality when you buy your wrist watch.

Waterproof watches have come a long way since they were first invented. Almost every watch now has waterproofing of some sort. If you’re just someone that needs a regular watch with added resistance or a diver that needs the protection you’ll be glad to know that waterproof watches come in all designs. This small piece of technology added to wrist watches has truly changed the way we see the world.

Do you know someone who is retiring or graduating? Are they interested in watches or luxury items? Gift watches are the thing to give someone who can appreciate value as well as the significance of the watch. The next time you have an occasion to give a gift, you might want to consider giving out a watch. Watches are more than just timepieces; they are a reflection of the person you give them to.

Watches tell a story of time and the person that owns them. When you consider picking up a watch for someone as a gift, you have to consider more than simply what looks nice. You need to account for many factors about the person you’re buying it for and what you want to say with the watch you buy them. Let’s take a look at some of the things you will want to do when you go to buy a watch as a gift.

Quite often buying a watch is all about the look. Either the person will wear the watch daily, on special occasions or it will put up in a display case somewhere. This is one of the things you need to consider when you go to purchase a watch as a gift. A watch that someone will wear is going to be harder to pick than one that goes on display. You have to make sure that the person will look good in the design you buy. Buying a watch for a display doesn’t require as much time and effort especially if you buy the display for it.

Buying a watch for someone that you intend for them to wear is a very personal statement. Engagement rings come in many different cuts and the cut you buy says a lot to the person you’re buying it for. The same can be said about a watch you buy as a gift for someone else. You need to consider the color, design, maker, type and price. Giving a watch as a gift for a birthday or anniversary is much different than one you’d give for a lifetime achievement such as retirement.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you need to go shopping for gift watches. You will decrease the stress it puts on you when trying to pick the right watch and you’ll be sending the right message with the gift you give. The most important thing to remember is what the person you’re buying it for would want. When you know what that is you’ll be set to buying the perfect watch.