Luxury Watches and Technology Through the Years

In many ways, the mechanical watch business at the moment is in a strange place. 

For decades now, various emerging technologies have forced the industry to pivot away from its original stance of providing the last word in accurate timekeeping, and focus more or less entirely on its fond history and tradition. However, rather than that causing stagnation in terms of innovation, luxury mechanical watches today are at the forefront of material and engineering science. 

Horology has long been among the main drivers of technology, existing in a state of perpetual, incremental improvement. It makes sense, with the measurement of time among the most vital of human endeavors.

For this post, we thought we’d take a look at just when and how these advancements took place, and try and see where they might be headed in the future.

Back at the Beginning

If you want to go right back to the start, ancient Egyptians were the first to quantify the passing of time when they invented the sundial 5,000 years ago (next week).

Obviously only of use during the day, and a sunny one at that, the sundial’s round shape and demarcation scale did nevertheless help influence the design of modern watches.

The first device not dependent on sunlight occurred around 1400BCE and is believed to be another Egyptian invention; the water clock. 

Candle clocks, originating in China in 520AD or thereabouts, were another relatively accurate system. A candle of known weight and thickness would be marked off in one inch sections, with each portion taking 20-minutes to burn. These actually stayed in use right up until the 18^th century and as well as giving an approximation of the time could also serve as alarm clocks. Users would stick a needle into the candle at their desired interval and when the wax around it melted, the needle would fall into the candle’s metal holder and produce a loud noise.

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The hour glass, while probably yet another ancient Egyptian discovery, is these days attributed to a French monk at the cathedral in Chartres by the name of Luitprand. Dating from the eighth century AD, they were used widely throughout Western Europe until about 1500. 

As for true mechanical clocks, they are thought to have come into being in Northern Italy and southern Germany during the Renaissance, roughly around 1270 to 1300. These tower clocks, as they were known, were without dials or hands and presented the time by striking bells. 

The First Great Steps

Perhaps it was the early 15^th century invention of the mainspring which can be called the first great step towards where we are today. That, and the accompanying need for what we would now regard as an escapement mechanism, were able to be used in place of the long pendulums of previous clocks and allowed for them to be built far smaller than before.

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The German clockmaker, Peter Henlein built what is believed to be the earliest ever example of a watch in 1524 but it was the subsequent creation of the balance spring in 1675 by Christiaan Huygens which made these timepieces precise enough to be of any practical use, improving deviations from around half an hour a day to just a few minutes. By the 1690s, seconds hands were starting to be added to clocks and pocket watches. 

The Arrival of the Wristwatch

We covered the birth of the first wristwatch in a recent article, the title contested between Patek Philippe, who created a piece for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary in 1868, and Breguet, who built theirs for Napoleon Bonaparte’s youngest sister, Caroline Murat about 60-years before (don’t worry, I explain the obvious discrepancy in that post).

It would really take until the outbreak of WWI before wristwatches for men became an accepted accessory. However, once their efficacy had been well and truly proven in the heat of battle, the speed at which development took place has been barely rivalled in modern industrial history.

The earliest major advances concentrated on adapting their design enough to be practical everyday objects instead of fragile items of jewelry. So Rolex introduced the Oyster case in 1926, the first water and dustproof cases to make it into serial production. After that, the matter of convenience could be addressed and Rolex stepped in again in 1931 with their Perpetual movement, the first mass-produced self-winding calibers. It is worth noting though that the brand did not actually invent either innovation, merely improved on previous designs and then commercialized them. An American by the name of A. L. Dennison patented a waterproof watch case featuring a screw-on stem, crown and bezel in 1871, very similar to Rolex’s Oyster system of 50+ years later. Similarly, the first automatic movement was registered to the Englishman John Harwood in 1923. Harwood even managed to put his own watches into production but fell afoul of the Great Depression. However, nothing can be taken away from Rolex and their two developments have arguably done more for advancing the progress of the wristwatch than any other. It could be said, in fact, that every mechanical watch produced by any brand is basically underpinned by one or both of Rolex’s creations.  

But what about non-mechanical?

Batteries Rear Their Ugly Head

We sometimes think of quartz or electronic watches as being the product of the 1960s or ‘70s. But the very first example of the technology arrived all the way back in 1815, when an English scientist named Francis Ronalds built an electric clock powered by dry pile batteries. 

Although far removed, The Hamilton Electric Wristwatch debuted in 1957. While the hands were still moved by a mechanical gear train, the balance wheel was regulated by an electromagnet and battery.

As for quartz crystals, their intriguing piezoelectric quality (their ability to produce an electrical charge) was actually discovered by Pierre and Jacques Curie, husband and brother-in-law of Marie, in 1880. The first fully functioning quartz clock dates back to 1927. 

But it would take until 1969 before Seiko set in motion the near death knell of the Swiss watch industry when they released the Astron, the world’s first quartz wristwatch. 

In the same vein, mechanical pocket watches with digital displays appeared at the end of the 19^th century, with wristwatches following in the 1920s. But the first electronic digital wristwatch with LEDs as we would recognize them today, the Pulsar, previewed its prototype in 1970. Developed by the Hamilton Watch Company and Electro-Data and inspired by the futuristic clocks from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (also made by Hamilton) the commercial version went on sale in 1972 in an 18k gold case. Crushingly expensive at $2,100, it led to Pulsar losing millions, not helped by Texas Instruments mass-producing LED watches in plastic cases and selling them for $10 a pop in 1975. Pulsar was subsequently sold to Seiko the following year.

Seiko were also at the forefront of the successor to LED technology. They unveiled the first LCD watch with a six-digit display, the 06LC, in 1973. A decade later they brought out the Seiko TV Watch, with its built-in television screen. 

Of course, all of these earlier interpretations have led us to the era of the Smartwatch. Basically high powered computers for the wrist, these pack in so many features that their ability to actually tell you the time seems almost an afterthought. When they emerged in the 2010s, many believed it would trigger another Quartz Crisis-type event, except with every possibility that this time the traditional industry would be wiped out completely. Fortunately, not only has this not happened, but luxury mechanical watches have rarely been more popular. 

Now and the Future

As we said, the underlying foundations of mechanical wristwatches have hardly altered for about 100-years now. But was has changed, and massively, are the materials used by high end brands. 

While conventional horology’s overriding USP since the 1980s has been its heritage and artistic legacy, that hasn’t stopped manufactures investing millions into either developing their own alloys or else repurposing them from those sectors which have commonly been at the vanguard of materials science, namely the aviation and automobile industries. 

Today, things like silicon, carbon fiber and high performance ceramics are almost commonplace but would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. Even some truly unbelievable innovations such as graphene and carbon nanotubes are starting to be introduced, all in the name of making the studiedly traditional technology as close to perfect as it is possible to get. But what about the future? Where does it go from here?

Many mechanical watchmaking brands have seemingly learned lessons from the Quartz Crisis and, rather than pushing back against the encroachment of the Smartwatch, have instead decided to fuse with it. TAG Heuer’s Connected, Montblanc’s Summit and Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Horizon collections all offer a modern, best of both worlds solution, with classic designs housing the latest connectivity tech. 

Ressence, one of the most exciting disruptors to have hit the industry in the last few years, goes further still. Their innovative models feature standard mechanical movements powered by both kinetic and solar energy, but connect via Bluetooth to an app which sets the watch automatically for whichever time zone the wearer is in. 

The Emergence of AI in the Watch Industry

It is seemingly impossible to avoid the implications of AI on just about every industry, and watchmaking is no different. 

Some brands are, or have been rumored to, be using this transformative technology for a number of responsibilities. It can be used to analyze the manufacturing process to eliminate defects or assembly errors leading to improved quality, and even drive authentication systems which scrutinize the smallest details on a luxury watch to identify possible counterfeits. 

But away from the physical product, AI and machine learning is being employed to evaluate trends and customer preferences in order for manufactures to tailor their products more closely to their clients’ wants and recommend those most suited to their individual personality. 

Blockchain 

Blockchain technology, which is something we all understand perfectly, is currently being hyped as the next big thing in watch ownership. 

Essentially a digital ledger, Blockchain gives the ability to store data in an encrypted index which is impossible to modify or remove. 

What that means for watch owners is giving each piece its own digital identity, or block, which cannot be tampered with. During the lifecycle of the watch, further blocks can be added to signify things such as servicing information or whether it has been stolen. This ‘watch passport’ then acts as an unimpeachable source of authenticity and ownership.

The digitalized passports are created through NFTs (non-fungible tokens), unique cryptological symbols which can’t be replicated. The whole ‘Tokenizing’ process is said to make the business of buying and selling watches, and in particular, preowned models, risk-free and more efficient. 

Models such as the Octo Finissimo Ultra from Bulgari already features a QR code engraved on its visible mainspring barrel which, when scanned, gives access to its passport. But whether it will be adopted across the industry waits to be seen.

Watchmaking technology, as with anything, is a means to an end. Obviously, from a purely operative point of view, mechanical watches now are the best they have ever been. The reason we love them though has always been less about what they can do and more about how they reflect who we are. That is why the vintage scene is still so strong; putting aside the space-age materials and the latest software update, the role of a watch is to be an extension of our individual character and personal style.