The wristwatch went from a lady's bracelet to every soldier's tool in about 20 years, and then to the Moon. This history follows it decade by decade, from the first wristwatches of the 1800s to the quartz crisis of the 1970s and the mechanical revival that followed. Each era comes with a real watch from our shop, so you can see what the period looked like on the wrist.
Wristwatches became common after the First World War. Soldiers needed to read the time with both hands busy, and they kept the habit when they came home. By 1930, Switzerland exported as many wristwatches as pocket watches, and by 1934 wristwatch exports nearly doubled pocket watch exports.
The big turning points came after that: automatic winding in the 1930s, chronometers and dive watches in the 1950s and the Moon landing in 1969. The quartz watch arrived in December 1969 and shook the Swiss industry through the 1970s and 1980s.
Handle watches from every decade and you can date them before you open the caseback. A 1930s tank, a 1950s gold chronometer and a 1970s LED watch each carry the mood of their years in the case, the dial and the hands.
When Did Wristwatches Become Popular?
Wristwatches became popular between 1914 and the 1920s. Officers had worn wrist-mounted watches in the Boer Wars, but the First World War turned them into standard kit. A soldier signaling an attack couldn't dig a watch out of his pocket, and by 1918 the wristwatch had lost its image as a woman's piece of jewelry.
The figures show how fast the change came. According to Wikipedia's history of the watch, Switzerland exported as many wristwatches as pocket watches by 1930. By 1934, wristwatch exports were nearly double. The pocket watch stayed in waistcoats until the 1950s, but the wristwatch had won.
Wristwatch History Timeline
These are the dates that shaped the wristwatch, from the first examples to the quartz era.
Before 1900: Pocket Watches and the First Wristwatches
Through the 19th century, a man carried a pocket watch on a chain. Wristwatches existed, but jewelers made them for women as bracelets with a small watch set in. Breguet made one for the Queen of Naples in 1810, and Patek Philippe made the first Swiss wristwatch in 1868 for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary.
Pocket watches reached their peak of precision on the American railroads. After the 1891 Kipton train wreck, railroads set strict rules for their crews' watches: open face, crown at 12, 17 jewels or more and accuracy within 30 seconds a week. Our guide to vintage pocket watches covers that era and the brands that defined it.
1900s–1910s: Aviators and Trench Watches
In 1904, Louis Cartier built a wristwatch for his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, a pilot who needed both hands on the controls. The Santos became one of the first wristwatches designed for a man.
The First World War did the rest. Watchmakers soldered wire lugs onto small pocket watch cases and called them trench watches. They added luminous radium numerals for night use and metal grilles to protect the crystal. When the soldiers came home in 1918, the wristwatch came home with them.
1920s: The Wristwatch Takes Over
The 1920s brought the first wristwatches designed as wristwatches from the start. Rectangular and square cases suited the Art Deco style, and the Cartier Tank, designed in 1917 and sold from 1919, set the fashion. Rolex introduced the Oyster in 1926, a screw-down case that kept out water and dust.
Our oldest wristwatch, an Omega tank in a solid gold case from about 1924, ran on the hand-wound caliber 19.4S and sold for $5,412. Our guide to rectangular and square watches follows the tank shape through the decades.
1930s: Art Deco and Automatic Winding
The 1930s were the decade of Art Deco watches: stepped cases, sector dials and blued hands. Watchmakers designed form movements to fill narrow cases, and Omega's caliber T17 of 1934 is a good example. In 1931, Rolex patented the Perpetual rotor, a weight that winds the watch as the wrist moves, and automatic winding began its long rise.
1940s: War, Military Watches and Bigger Cases
The Second World War brought the wristwatch back to the front line. Armies ordered robust steel watches with black dials, luminous hands and small seconds. In 1945, the British Ministry of Defence received watches from twelve Swiss makers, later called the "Dirty Dozen." Our article on the history of military watches covers these and the pilot's watches of the period.
Civilian watches grew too. Cases moved from about 30mm toward 35mm, and Omega's caliber 30T2, introduced in 1939, powered a generation of reliable dress watches.
1950s: Chronometers, Divers and Bright Dials
After the war, dials turned light and bright, and gold came back into fashion. Omega launched the Constellation in 1952 as a certified chronometer, and the first professional dive watches appeared in 1953. Automatic movements became the norm in better watches.
In the Soviet Union, the Pobeda of 1945 became the best-known Soviet wristwatch of its day, and factories in Moscow, Petrodvorets and Chistopol grew fast through the 1950s. Our guide Are Soviet Watches Good? covers the brands that came out of them.
1960s: Chronographs and the Moon
The 1960s wanted function. Chronographs, dive watches and calendars sold well, and case shapes went in every direction. NASA qualified the Omega Speedmaster in 1965, and Buzz Aldrin wore one on the Moon in July 1969. The Soviet Vostok Amphibia of 1967 answered the Swiss divers with a case that sealed tighter under pressure.
1970s: The Quartz Crisis and Digital Watches
On December 25, 1969, Seiko put the Astron on sale, the first quartz wristwatch. Quartz watches kept better time and soon cost far less to make. The Swiss industry, which held about half the world market before the 1970s, took the blow. According to Wikipedia's account of the quartz crisis, Swiss watch employment fell from 90,000 in 1970 to 28,000 in 1988.
Digital watches followed. Hamilton sold the first Pulsar LED watch in April 1972 in an 18K gold case for $2,100. The Soviet Union answered with the Elektronika 1, its first LED quartz watch, nicknamed "The Terminator" for its red digits.
1980s–1990s: The Mechanical Revival
The Swiss fought back in two ways. Swatch launched in 1983 with a cheap plastic quartz watch, and sold more than 2.5 million in under two years. At the top of the market, brands leaned on what quartz couldn't copy: hand-finished movements, complications and heritage. By the 1990s, a mechanical watch had become a luxury choice instead of a necessity.
Quartz also made slim, elegant dress watches easy to build. Our 1982 Omega De Ville Tank in 14K gold is only 5mm thin, with the quartz caliber 1377.
Mechanical, Automatic, Quartz and Digital
Four kinds of movement shaped 20th-century watches. The table shows when each arrived and how it works. Our guide to vintage watch movements explains each one in more depth.
| Movement | Took Off | How It Works | Example From Our Shop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand-wound mechanical | From the start | You wind the mainspring with the crown | Omega T17 tank, 1935 |
| Automatic | 1930s, common from the 1950s | A rotor winds the spring as your wrist moves | Omega Constellation, 1958 |
| Quartz analog | 1969 onward | A battery makes a quartz crystal vibrate | Omega De Ville Tank, 1982 |
| Digital | 1972 onward | Quartz timekeeping with an LED or LCD display | Elektronika 1, USSR |
- Hand-finished movements that quartz can't match
- Complications such as chronographs and moonphases
- A watch you can repair and pass on
- Heritage that buyers will pay for
- Accuracy to seconds a month
- Low price and mass production
- Slim cases and new shapes
- No winding and rare servicing
What 592 Watches Tell Us About Each Decade
We've listed 592 wristwatches with a known decade. The chart shows how many came from each one. The 1940s and 1950s lead our list, with 238 watches between them.
Prices tell a second story. The median price of our watches from the 1940s to the 1960s sits at about $1,900, while our 1970s watches have a median of $1,229. The quartz era brought cheaper watches, and the market still prices them that way.
| Decade | Watches Listed | Median Price | What Defines It |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 51 | $1,680 | Art Deco tanks, form movements |
| 1940s | 114 | $1,906 | Military watches, 30T2 dress watches |
| 1950s | 124 | $1,906 | Automatics, chronometers, gold |
| 1960s | 70 | $1,901 | Chronographs, divers, slim dress watches |
| 1970s | 93 | $1,229 | Quartz, LED digital, bold Soviet designs |
| 1980s | 106 | $1,483 | Slim quartz dress watches |
| 1990s | 27 | $1,455 | Heritage reissues, the mechanical revival |
The 1940s and 1950s give a first-time buyer the most choice. They bring a mechanical movement, a case of about 33 to 36mm and a price around $1,900 in our shop.
Watches from the 1970s surprise people. A Soviet LED watch or a bold quartz design costs far less than a 1950s Swiss automatic, and it tells the story of the quartz age better than any book.
For the history of timekeeping before the wristwatch, from sundials to pendulum clocks, read our guide to the history of clocks and watches.
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