Watch History

A Brief History of Time


B.C. 742 First recorded mention of the sundial.
A.D. 330 Sand glasses known to be in use.
1000 The first escapement.
1368 Clock making began in England.
1500 Mainspring invented by Peter Henlein, a locksmith of Nurenberg.
1511 The first portable clock (by Peter Henlein).
1581 Galileo discovered the properties of the pendulum.
1675 Royal Observatory at Greenwich founded.
1730 The first cuckoo clock was constructed in Germany.
1780 The hair spring was invented by Breguet, in Paris.
1875 The first alarm clock appeared in Germany.
1900 First wrist watches appeared.
1916 Summer Time first introduced.
1926 First waterproof watch invented by Rolex.
1931 First perpetual self-winding watch invented by Rolex.
1932 Luigi Altobelli repairs first watch in new Chicago location.
1937 Quartz crystal clocks introduced at the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
1948 Luigi Altobelli begins to repair watches in new North Hollywood location.
1953 First pressure proof watch invented by Rolex.
1954 First watch with Helium escape valve for deep sea diving by Rolex.
1955 Atomic clock invented in England.
1957 The first electric wrist watches marketed by Hamilton Watch Co., USA
1967 Quartz crystal watch module developed in Switzerland and Japan.
1973 First LCD quartz watch with six-digit digital display made by Seiko.
1988 Analogue quartz watch using kinetic energy source, marketed by Seiko.
1990 Junghans introduced the first radio controlled analogue watch.