For other uses, see Watch (disambiguation).

A modern wristwatch featuring solar charging

and Bluetooth capabilities
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is
designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the
person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached
by a watch strap or other type of bracelet, including metal bands, leather straps, or
any other kind of bracelet. A pocket watch is designed for a person to carry in
a pocket, often attached to a chain.
Watches appeared in the 16th century. During most of its history, the watch was a
mechanical device, driven by clockwork, powered by winding a mainspring, and
keeping time with an oscillating balance wheel. These are called mechanical
watches.[1][2] In the 1960s the electronic quartz watch was invented, which was
powered by a battery and kept time with a vibrating quartz crystal. By the 1980s
the quartz watch had taken over most of the market from the mechanical watch.
Historically, this is called the quartz revolution (also known as the quartz crisis
in Switzerland).[3][4] Developments in the 2010s include smart watches, which are
elaborate computer-like electronic devices designed to be worn on a wrist. They
generally incorporate timekeeping functions, but these are only a small subset of
the smartwatch's facilities.

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 A 1983 Casio watch with touchscreen
In general, modern watches often display the day, date, month, and year. For
mechanical watches, various extra features called "complications", such as moon-
phase displays and the different types of tourbillon, are sometimes included. Most
electronic quartz watches, on the other hand, include time-related features such
as timers, chronographs, and alarm functions. Furthermore, some modern watches
(like smart watches) even incorporate calculators, GPS[5] and Bluetooth technology
or have heart-rate monitoring capabilities, and some of them use radio
clock technology to regularly correct the time.
Most watches that are used mainly for timekeeping have quartz movements.
However, expensive collectible watches, valued more for their elaborate
craftsmanship, aesthetic appeal, and glamorous design than for simple
timekeeping, often have traditional mechanical movements, despite being less
accurate and more expensive than their electronic counterparts. [3][4][6] As of 2018,
the most expensive watch ever sold at auction was the Patek Philippe Henry Graves
Supercomplication, the world's most complicated mechanical watch until 1989,
fetching US$24 million (CHF 23,237,000) in Geneva on 11 November 2014.[7][8][9][10]
[11]
As of December 2019, the most expensive watch ever sold at auction (and
wristwatch) was the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A-010, fetching
US$31.19 million (CHF 31,000,000) in Geneva on 9 November 2019. [12]
History
[edit]
Main article: History of watches
See also: History of timekeeping devices

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 A pomander watch from 1530, which once belonged
to Philip Melanchthon and is now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
Origins
[edit]
Watches evolved from portable spring-driven clocks, which first appeared in 15th-
century Europe.[citation needed] The first timepieces to be worn, made in the 16th century
beginning in the German cities of Nuremberg and Augsburg, were transitional in size
between clocks and watches.[13] Nuremberg clockmaker Peter Henlein (or Henle or
Hele) (1485–1542) is often credited as the inventor of the watch. [14][15] However,
other German clockmakers were creating miniature timepieces during this period,
and there is no evidence Henlein was the first. [15][16]
Watches were not widely worn in pockets until the 17th century. One account
suggests that the word "watch" came from the Old English word woecce – which
meant "watchman" – because town watchmen used the technology to keep track of
their shifts at work.[17] Another says that the term came from 17th-century sailors,
who used the new mechanisms to time the length of their shipboard watches (duty
shifts).[18]
Development
[edit]
A rise in accuracy occurred in 1657 with the addition of the balance spring to the
balance wheel, an invention disputed both at the time and ever since
between Robert Hooke and Christiaan Huygens. This innovation increased watches'
accuracy enormously, reducing error from perhaps several hours per day [19] to
perhaps 10 minutes per day,[20] resulting in the addition of the minute hand to the
face from around 1680 in Britain and around 1700 in France. [21]
The increased accuracy of the balance wheel focused attention on errors caused by
other parts of the movement, igniting a two-century wave of watchmaking
innovation. The first thing to be improved was the escapement. The verge
escapement was replaced in quality watches by the cylinder escapement, invented
by Thomas Tompion in 1695 and further developed by George Graham in the 1720s.
Improvements in manufacturing – such as the tooth-cutting machine devised
by Robert Hooke – allowed some increase in the volume of watch production,
although finishing and assembling was still done by hand until well into the 19th
century.

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 Founded in 1735, Blancpain is the oldest registered
watch brand in the world.
A major cause of error in balance-wheel timepieces, caused by changes
in elasticity of the balance spring from temperature changes, was solved by the
bimetallic temperature-compensated balance wheel invented in 1765 by Pierre Le
Roy and improved by Thomas Earnshaw (1749–1829). The lever escapement, the
single most important technological breakthrough, though invented by Thomas
Mudge in 1754[22] and improved by Josiah Emery in 1785,[23] only gradually came
into use from about 1800 onwards, chiefly in Britain. [24]

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