The Evolution of Wristwatches

The journey of wristwatches from performing the primary objective of showing time to equipped with a number of features has really shaped the importance and demand for watches. From the early use of portable watches which were specifically made for the purpose of keeping a track of time to, today’s smartwatches are equipped with semiconductor chips and processors. In earlier days, only watch manufacturing companies were affected with the demand of watches but today, the biggest semiconductor companies are also affected by it.

The concept of a portable watches is not new, as it dates back to more than 500 years ago, when the very first wristwatch was made. In this article, we will discuss about the evolution of wristwatches from its original form to today’s innovative design.



The Era of Pocket Watches:

In earlier days, pocket watch was popular. These watches were worn on clothes or kept in the pocket and they came with a protective cover. Though, the design was impractical this was the very first step towards having a proper wristwatch.

The Early Wristwatches:

In early 20th century, watch manufactures started to strap the watches from both the sides. The demand for these wristwatches soared as it was highly demanded by aviators, sailors, government officials and high-class society. In those times, wristwatches were considered as a piece of luxury, rathe than necessity like today.

Improvements in Wristwatches:

As new manufacturing and assembling processes were developed, new, better wristwatches were created. These improved wristwatches were dust, moisture, water proof. Popularity of this kind of watches soared in 1950’s.

Introduction of Electronic Wristwatches:

The introduction of electronic wristwatches which were powered by battery cells got popularized in 1960’s. These wristwatches were far accurate. Quartz was one of the biggest contributors in the field of developing Electronic wristwatches.

The Rise and Fall of Calculator Watches:

Calculator watches preceded today’s smartwatches. They were popular in 1970’s and came with a calculator feature as well as some of them were equipped with mini-games. Timex’s Datalink wristwatch had the ability to communicate wirelessly with a PC, creating quite a stir when it was released in 1994. Steve Mann designed the first Linux wristwatch in 1998, and in 1999, Samsung offered a watch phone with a full 90 minutes of talk time.

Smartwatch: The Golden Era of Wristwatches

In 2000, IBM offered a Linux Smartwatch, and that same year, the company collaborated with Citizen on a “WatchPad” with a touch display, 16MB of flash memory, Bluetooth, and other features. From 2003 forward to 2010, Fossil, Microsoft, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and Hermen van den Burg continued to develop new smartwatches. Apple introduced the Apple Watch in 2014, the same year that Microsoft released its Microsoft Band watch. Today’s smart watches are equipped with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Camera, Games, Music, Heart Monitor, Sensors, and many other features. Smartwatches and Smart bands are not only useful to track time, but to control activity of smartphones, keep the track of walk time, calories burned, etc.

Many industries are looking towards Smartwatch industry as increasing demand for smartwatches will also benefit them. The most benefitted industry from the introduction of smartwatches other than the manufacturing industry is the semiconductor industry. Biggest semiconductor companies such as Intel, Samsung, Qualcomm is providing chips and processors to smartwatch manufacturers in huge numbers.

The Takeaway:

It’s been a hell of a ride for wristwatch industry. The current watch industry has gone through so many stages of evolution, and with each evolution, the product and services got better, innovative, and efficient. The future is bright for wristwatch industry, and only time will reveal that what will be the next evolutionary stage for the wristwatch industry.

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