The History of Horology and Chronometry

Around 1450, mainspring and fusee invented (earliest known fusee clock was made by Zech in 1525)

 

Around 1510 (1502?), first pocket watch by Peter Henlein (locksmith in Nürnberg, Germany). It used the verge escapement and was mostly made in Germany and Blois in France. It was generally carried in the hand or worn on a chain around the neck (ornamental and usually only one hand for hours)

 

1554, French goldsmith, Thomas Bayard, becomes first “Orologier” (watchmaker) in Geneva

 

1556, jewelers and goldsmiths in Geneva forced to take on watchmaking as Calvinist leader ban jewelry

 

1577, minute hand created by Jost Bürgi

 

1580, brass used in watches (before, mechanisms of German watches made almost wholly of iron)

 

1632, Jean Toutin (French watchmaker) invents technique of painting enamel for cases and dials

 

1657, Robert Hooke designed watch with balance spring

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1675, Christiaan Huygens first to design watch with spiral balance spring and patents the pocket watch

 

1676, Reverend Edward Barlow invents first repeating clock, used rack and snail striking mechanism

 

1700, Nicolas Fatio de Duiller invents drilling method for jewels applicable to watches

 

1704, first patent covering application of jewels in watches by French watchmaker, de Beaufré (used Fatio’s drilling method)

 

1710, George Graham built watch with pendulum and weights, also had quarter-second hand

 

1730, John Arnold invents bimetallic temperature compensation

 

1741, Antoine Thiout the Elder described principle of minute-repeater watch (made by Thomas Mudge)

 

1747, birth of Swiss watchmaker, Abraham Louis Breguet. He invented the lever escapement, pare-chute shock absorbers, flat balance spring (Breguet coil), Tourbillon, and compensation device for watches. He died in Paris in 1823.

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1755, Parisian watchmaker Caron created ring-watch that was wound by rotating the bezel and set using a key. He created it for Madame de Pompadour.

 

1760

First Swiss watch shop (Beyer, Zurich)

 

Voltaire sets up watchmaking workshop in Ferney

 

1764/65, going barrel invented by Jean-Antoine Lépine (superseded fusee)

 

1765, Pierre Le Roy (son of Julien Le Roy) invented the compensation balance

 

1775, Frenchman Jean-Antoine Lépine invents simplified caliber with bridges called “the Lépine caliber”

 

1776

Jean-Moïse Pouzait (Genevan watchmaker) invents watch with “Second Hands” (precursor of chronograph)

 

John Arnold patents helical (cylindrical) balance spring

 

1790

Genevan watchmakers, Jacquet-Droz and Leschot develop watch attached to strap

 

Abraham Louis Breguet invented first shock protection system

 

1816, Louis Monet invents chronograph for tracking astronomical objects

 

1822, Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec invents first marketed chronograph

 

1830, Antoine Louis Breguet develops keyless winding mechanism

 

1831, Joseph Thaddeus creates split-seconds chronograph

 

1833, E. J. Dent experimented with a glass balance spring

 

1839, Georges-Auguste Léschot of Vacheron & Constantin (Geneva) developed a full set of tools and machines to manufacture watches (Frédéric Ingold was another contributor). They were able to pioneer the field of interchangeability with the help of their invention of the pantograph. This became the precursor to mass production of watches.

 

1842, Adrien Philippe invented “keyless winding mechanism” (patented 1845)

 

1844, Swiss watchmaker, Adolphe Nicole files patent for system that returned chronograph hand to zero

 

1846, Swiss watch industry produces over ½ world watch production

 

1847, Antoine LeCoultre also developed keyless winding system

 

1851, Aaron Lufkin Dennison starts factory in Massachusetts that uses interchangeable parts

 

1860, The Observatoire de Neuchâtel issued the first rating certificates for watches.

 

1861, Birth of Charles-Edouard Guillaume. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1920

 

1862, First chronograph with a reset function was developed.

 

1876, The International Centennial Exposition (first official World’s Fair) in Philadelphia, first international watch precision contest took place and the winning watches were mass produced, Swiss watchmakers stepped up the pace of mechanization to tackle American competition

 

1877, Genevan watchmaker Charles-Auguste Paillard invented the palladium balance-spring

 

1880, Genevan François Borgel created the first water-resistant (screwed) watch case

 

1888, Watch manufacturer La Champagne introduced the collection of wristwatches

 

1889, Patent for a wristwatch was filed in Bern

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1895, Charles-Edouard Guillaume develops invar

 

1897, Integral/Guillaume Balance was developed by Charles-Edouard Guillaume

 

1900, Leroy introduces “Leroy 01”, one of the most complicated watches in the world

 

1904, Wens Wilsdorf started the mass production of the women’s wristwatch

 

1907, LeCoultre created ultrathin pocket watch movement at 1.38 mm (world’s thinnest watch of the time)

 

1909-1910, Patents for wrist-chronographs were filed in Berne

 

1913, Metallurgist Harry Brearley developed Stainless Steel. An alloy of iron, chromium and nickel is widely used in the watches

 

1914, Eterna developed the first wristwatch with alarm

 

1916

Swiss trade fair MUBA held in Basel (first time in the history of wristwatches)

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Heuer filed two patents: 1) for the ‘Micrograph’ to 1/100th of a second;2) for the ‘Semi- micrograph’ to 1/50th of a second

 

1917, Louis Cartier created the Tank watch

 

1919, Charles-Edouard Guillaume develops elinvar which was produced by Imphy steelworks

 

1921, An hour-angle watch was developed for pilots. Watch manufacturers including Jaeger LeCoultre, Longines, Lange & Söhne, IWC and Vacheron

Constantin offered different wristwatch models that could be used in aeronautics. The hour-angle watches were used to determine longitude.

 

1923, English watchmaker John Harwood filed a patent for the watches with higher water-resistance which he developed by doing away with the crown and stem

 

1924, Watchmaker John Harwood developed a self-winding wristwatch with a central oscillating weight. He filed the first Swiss patent for the same

 

1925, A pendant watch movement was used to create a perpetual calendar wristwatch. This was the first known wristwatch with a perpetual calendar

 

1926, Series production of self-winding wristwatches started. These wristwatches used an oscillating weight mechanism

 

1926, Rolex created the Oyster wristwatch with water-resistant case and crown

 

1927

Mercedes Gleitze wore the Rolex Oyster when she swam the Channel

 

Patek Philippe produced Packard, the world’s most complicated watch of that time. Packard was named after the automobile magnate James Packard

 

1929

LeCoultre created the world’s smallest movement, the 101 calibre. It weighed less than one gram. The movement comprised 74 parts and measured 14 x 4.85 x 3.4 mm

 

Jean-Louis Reutter, engineer at LeCoultre (later Jaeger LeCoultre) invented perpetual motion Atmos

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Eterna launched the first eight-day alarm wristwatch

 

1930, Tourbillon wristwatch launched for the first time in the known history of watches. By this time ‘wristwatches’ and ‘pocket watches’ had an equal market share

 

1931

Emile Borer created the Rolex Perpetual, the first self-winding wristwatch with the unidirectional rotor which swung in a complete circle

 

Louis Cottier created a watch showing time of 29 world cities

 

1933

Breitling filed patents for a chronograph with two push-buttons

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Patek Philippe created the Calatrava

 

1937, Dubois-Depraz removed the column wheel to devise a new system for chronographs

 

1942, Breitling developed the Chronomat

 

1948, Eterna-matic created the first self-winding watch with a rotor on ball bearings

 

1952, Breitling created the Navitimer

 

1955

Vacheron Constantin created the Extraplate

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The Memovox, the first self-winding watch with alarm created by Jaeger LeCoultre

 

1961, An aquatic version of the Cricket watch was made. This watch, with its especially loud alarm, was

created by Vulcain in 1947 to a project by Robert Ditisheim

 

1963, Favre-Leuba created the Bivouac altimeter/barometer watch

 

1969

Heuer, Breitling, Bürer and El Primero by Zenith launched the first self-winding wrist chronographs

 

Tag Heuer created the Monaco

 

1970, Seiko is the world’s largest watch company

 

1972, Audemars Piguet created the Royal Oak

 

1974, Hamilton is sold to watch division of the Swiss

 

1978, Ebel created the ‘Sport Classique watch’

 

1979, launched of the world’s thinnest watch, Delirium. This watch measured 1.98mm

 

1980, Corum launched the Golden Bridge, a miniature baguette movement

 

1982, The first Swatch watches were launched in the United States

 

1983

Official launch of the Swatch watch, in Zürich Switzerland

 

The first books on the history and technology of the wristwatch were published

 

Jean-Claude Biver and Jacques Piguet re-launched the Blancpain brand

 

Swiss watch industry goes from 30% to 10% of world market

 

1985, IWC launched the Da Vinci chronograph with perpetual calendar

 

1985, Creation of the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei astronomical watch by Ludwig Oechslin

 

1986, Creation of the first series-production self-winding Tourbillon wristwatch by Maurice Grimm and André Beyner for Audemars Piguet

 

1989

Creation of the Planetarium Copernicus (Ulysse Nardin)

 

Genevan Patek Philippe introduced “Calibre 89”, one of the most complicated watches in world

 

1992, Creation of the Tellurium (Ulysse Nardin)

 

1994, Lange 1 is created by Lange & Söhne

 

1996, Philippe Dufour invented the Duality, a wristwatch with a double regulator, a complication that is considered to be even more complex than the Tourbillon

 

2000

First results of research into silicon as a material for wristwatch escapements

 

François-Paul Journe unveiled the first resonance watch

 

Richemont bought Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC and A. Lange & Söhne for CHF 2.8 billion.

 

2004, A flurry of multiple Tourbillons: GyroTourbillon by Jaeger-LeCoultre, Tourbillon Révolution by Franck Muller, Double-Tourbillon 30° by Greubel-Forsey and Thomas Prescher’s triple Tourbillon.

 

2005

Creation of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie.

 

Swiss watch exports exceeded the CHF 12 billion mark for the first time in the history of watches.

 

2006, The U.S. watch and clock industry reached $622 million.

 

2007, The U.S. watch and clock industry reached $661 million.

 

2008, The U.S. watch and clock industry reached $713 million.

 

2009, Global economic crisis caused the caused U.S. clock and watch industry collapse. Exports reached all time low at $318 million.

 

2012, Swiss watch exports reached $23 billion. Exports to China reached US$1.8 billion