How the ‘Wristwatch’ Became a Product of 40 Million Casualties, World War & Bombings

Welcome to the 233rd insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode, we turn back the clock to grimmer days, discovering the critical relationship between wristwatches, infantry and bombings.

It is not true that wristwatches were explicitly invented for World War One, but their claim to fame can be accredited almost entirely to their use by soldiers and women. Despite having been created over a century before their popularization, pocket watches were more commonly seen in the possession of a man’s wardrobe than a time-telling bracelet. Originally marketed towards the female gaze due to a lack of watch-storing pockets on dresses and gowns, as well as the male’s concern for bothersome accessories during physical work, the wristwatch simply hadn’t found its place in the fashion world.

That is until the 1900s rolled around. Towards the end of the 1880s, Girard-Perregaux, a Swiss watch manufacturer, began mass-producing rugged iterations of the era’s delicate timepiece counterparts for German Naval Officers. Interjecting this newfound accessory into menswear fittings, other designers like Mappin and Webb would begin creating utility-focused silhouettes like the famed ‘Campaign Watch’ in anticipation of The Boer War (1899-1902).

With a quiet stir amongst watch manufacturers, it was World War I that ignited the time-centric boom. The war prompted new military tactics like the “creeping barrage,” which required precise timing to allow foot soldiers to advance behind a curtain of systematic explosive fire. Demanding each deployed infantryman to be fit with a watch, the accessory became an essential component of the ‘Officers Kit,’ which soldiers had to purchase themselves.

As a result, ‘trench watches’ were created, their only requirements being hands-free, luminous and crafted from unbreakable crystal. Proving to be incredibly useful in coordinating attacks and maintaining synchronization, the wristwatch would, in turn, become a hot commodity as the roaring 20s approached.