Why I love
A shortened
history of the
Pocket
Watch
Wristlets, as they were called,
were reserved for women, and
considered more of a passing fad
than a serious timepiece.
In fact, they were held in such disdain that
many a gentlemen were actually quoted
to say they “would sooner wear a skirt as
wear a wristwatch”.
This all started to change in the nineteenth
century, when soldiers discovered their
usefulness during wartime. Pocket watches
were clumsy to carry and thus difficult
to operate while in combat. Therefore,
soldiers fitted them into primitive `cupped`
leather straps so they could be worn on the
wrist, freeing up their hands during battle.
Girard-Perregaux is believed to have
equipped the German Imperial Naval
(Navy?) with similar pieces as early as
the 1880s, which they wore on their
wrists while synchronizing naval attacks
and firing artillery.
Decades later, several technological
advents were credited with the British
victory in the Anglo-Boer War (South
Africa 1899-1902), including smokeless
gunpowder, the magazine-fed rifle and
even the automatic or machine gun.
However, some would argue that it was a
not-so-lethal device that helped turn the
tide in Britain’s favour: the wristwatch.
While the British troops were superiorly
trained and equipped, they were slightly
outnumbered and at a disadvantage while
attacking the Boer’s heavily entrenched
positions. Thanks to these recently
74
Worthing
designed weapons, a new age of war had
emerged, which, now more than ever,
required tactical p &V6