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Part II, Early 20th Century Developments in Watches
The first known design for a man's wristwatch was produced by French jewel house, Cartier. Cartier had been making women's wristwatches since the 1880's and Louis Cartier was approached by aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont to create a watch where he could have both hands free for his flying exploits. Cartier presented him with a watch that was to become the blueprint for watches from that day forward; designed for the left wrist, stem to the right, horns for attaching the strap to the watch and a clasp. Because of Santos-Dumont's international popularity, the trend for men's wristwatches was taking root.
During World War I, radium dials and hands that could be seen at night were developed and hardened mesh covers that helped prevent cracking during military activities. Waterbury Clock (later Timex) turned out hundreds of thousands of watches by war's end. Moisture, magnetism, dirt and spring fatigue were still problems that effected durability, but the wrist watch as a general purpose possession for men was established by the war veterans that continued to wear and demand them.
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Part I, Early Development
Curiously, the modern wristwatch is a little more than one hundred years old. Although personal, portable time pieces had been around since the 1400s, they were crafted one at a time and were luxury items produced for the nobility and wealthy. The first known wristwatch was crafted in the 1830s and for the next 70 years, wristwatches were not produced in large quantity. They were thought of as bracelets with a watch attached, the watch being a portion of the adornment and usually not very good at keeping time.
The 19th century was a period of furious innovation and clock making was caught up in all the changes that were occurring world-wide. The pace of life for many people no longer followed the slower pace of seasonal change and sun-up, sun-down reckoning. A case in point was a railway collision which killed many dozens because a passenger train was four minutes late; it collided with a freight train head on because it was already supposed to have cleared that section of track. For railway workers, watches were a very serious necessity.
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GQ has a wonderful article on how to buy a watch. It goes into much more detail than just buying a watch such as a section on classic watches, vintage watches, caring for your watch, etc.. Ever wonder what makes an heirloom watch or why some metal watches can be more expensive than gold or platinum? I thought this article was very informative, check it out!
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It all depends on the type of diver that you are. Diving watches will differ in how deep they can go. You can find them from a 50 meters water resistance to over 600 hundred meters. Do you deep sea dive or scuba dive in more shallow waters? The depth of your dives determines the depth in meters you should look for in a dive watch. For instance, if you are diving in shallow water (8 ft or so) then a 100 meter watch will suffice. The deeper you go, the higher the depth in meters you should look for.
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