History of Watches

1485 : Leonardo da Vinci sketches a fusee for a clock.

Early 1600s : Form watches becoming popular. Cases are shaped like animals and objects. Religious themes are popular.

1635 : Around this time that the fusee was adapted from clocks to watches.

1659 - 1675 : Christian Huygens invents the "Remontoire".

1687 : Daniel Quare patents the repeating mechanism that uses bells to sound quarter hours and the hours.

1704 : Peter and Jacob Debaufre, Nicolas Facio, are the first to use rubies in watch movements.

1750 : Watch makers began using enamel on watch dials.

1759 : Thomas Mudge invents the English lever escapement.

1775 : Abraham Louis Breguet sets up his own watch making shop in Paris, France.

1780 : Abraham Louis Perrelet invents the self winding movement.

1786 : Breguet is the first to use guilloche on watch dials.

1791 : J.F. Bautte founded the watch company that would eventually become Girard-Perregaux.

1807 : Thomas Young invents the recording chronograph.

1809 : Luther Goddard of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts is the first watch manufacturer in America.

1820 : Thomas Prest registers a patent for the self winding watch.

1833 : Antoine LeCoultre starts his own watchmaking business which later become Jaeger-LeCoultre.

1837 : First Tiffany store opens.

1843: Adrien Philippe develops a watch with winding and setting through the crown.

1844 : The start, stop, and reset chronograph is invented by Adolph Nicole.

1844 : Antoine LeCoultre invents the millionometre.

1848 : Louis Brandt opens his own workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds which eventually became the Omega Watch Company.

1853 : Tissot makes the first dual time zone watch.

1858 : Minerva is founded.

1860 : Heuer is founded.

1865 : Zenith founded.

1881 : Movado founded.

1884 : Greenwich, England is officially named the zero meridian and used as the world wide recognized basis of time zones.

1886 : Geneva Seal established.

1894 : Universal Geneve established.

1905 : Hans Wilsdorf starts the Rolex Watch Company.

1914 : Eterna introduces the first wristwatch with an alarm.

1918 : Japan : Shakosha Watch Company opened. This would become Citizen in 1931.

1923 : John Harwood is the first to mass produce a self winding wristwatch.

1924 : Tokyo : Seiko brand name is launched by Kinttaro Hattori.

1926 : Rolex introduces the first waterproof case called the "Oyster".

1929 : First anti magnetic watch created by Tissot.

1933 : Ingersoll introduces the "Mickey Mouse" watch.

1956 : Rolex introduces their first model that displays the day and date.

1957 : Hamilton introduces the world's first battery driven watch.

1962 : Rado produces the world's first scratch proof watch called the "Diastar 1".

1962 : ETA of Switzerland develops the first quartz battery operated watch.

1970 : Hamilton releases the "Pulsar", the first electronic digital watch.

1972 : Longines and Seiko introduce the LCD, (Liquid Crystal Display).

1980 : Hublot founded.

1983 : SMH of Switzerland launches the Swatch brand.

1985 : Swiss Heuer Company merges with TAG to form TAG Heuer.

1986 : Audemars Piguet introduces the first self winding tourbillon.

1991 : Franck Muller founded.

1999 : Casio innovates with the first wristwatch with a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS).