The world of watches is something magical and interesting. People start to wear watches for ages, and the world’s first wristwatches were for women. Watches for men came only after. But nowadays everyone can buy watches and can afford them. Some of us like smartwatches, which are so popular by the way, and others love expensive luxury watches. But all of them connect some facts that will be interesting to know. So let’s see some of them!
Quartz Watches are More Accurate than Mechanical Watches
In 1657, the Dutch inventor Christian Huygens assembled a mechanical pocket watch for the first time in history. But he received a patent for them only in 1675. The daily clock error did not exceed 10 seconds. But if we talk about accuracy, quartz is confidently ahead of mechanics. The accuracy of a quartz watch is from 5 to 15–20 seconds per month, and a mechanical one is from minus 20 to plus 40 seconds per day. But this fact directly depends on the specific manufacturer and the quality of the mechanism.
The World Produces More than 1 Billion Hours a Year
The leader of the world watch market in Japan: its manufacturers account for 60% of sales. Switzerland is in the premium segment: the products of its firms are the most expensive. The number of watches sold per year reaches a billion. And this suggests that many of us have in our personal collection, not one or two pairs of watches, but much more for all occasions:
- Manual assembly: The wristwatches of Swiss brands are assembled by hand from beginning to end. Sometimes one masterwork on the assembly and configuration. And sometimes a whole team of up to 20 people is involved in the whole process.
- First advertisement: The first commercial advertisement in human history was dedicated to watches. The watch was advertised in the first video ever filmed. True, the advertisement was only in the fact that the clock just ticked for a minute.
- The first pocket watch appeared in the 16th century, during the Renaissance: The master watchmaker simply reduced the table clock. The first pocket watches were egg-shaped, which is why they were called “Nuremberg eggs”.
- The first waterproof watch was produced in 1926: They were made by the Swiss company Rolex. The model had a completely sealed case, which protected the movement from dust and moisture. The watch was called Oyster. To convince the public that the model is really waterproof, the company came up with an interesting marketing ploy: it presented a watch to the English swimmer Mercedes Gleitze. On October 7, 1927, the athlete swam the English Channel in them. The swim lasted 10 hours, and after it, the watch was in perfect working order.
- The era of smartwatches a new stage in the development of watchmaking: Modern watches are not just a mechanism designed to show the time. It is a high-tech device, a small computer that can call, take pictures, play music, and be used as a notebook, etc.