Wrist Watches

The First Wrist Watches

The wrist watch became popular during the 19th century when soldiers in combat recognized the inconvenience of having a bulky and clumsy pocket watch with them. Before this time, they were called "wristlets" and were made only for women. Men looked to them as a passing feminine fad, and did not pay them notice until the soldiers began to adopt them as useful and effective for timekeeping while in battle.

In fact, soldiers are basically solely responsible for the crossover of wrist watches from women to unisex. They gave them a "hero" feel rather than a girl one, and people began to embrace them as commonplace, convenient, and most importantly, - fashionable.

The World's Most Expensive Watch

The most expensive watch in the world was sold in December of 1999 for $11 million dollars. The story, as told by Forbes.com, "In December 1999, one of the most complicated watches ever made became the most expensive watch ever sold when it was hammered down for $11 million at Sotheby's."

The gold pocket watch, which featured 24 complications, was the result of a long-standing competition between two magnates of America's Gilded Age. New York financier Henry Graves Jr. and Ohio automobile engineer James Ward Packard vied with one another to own a timepiece with the greatest possible number of complications. (Complications are mechanical functions of the watch other than the hours, minutes and seconds.) Packard commissioned 13 complicated watches from Patek Philippe between 1900 and 1927. They included a perpetual calendar with phases and age of the moon, indication of sunrise and sunset, and a celestial chart depicting the constellations of stars in the sky over Packard's home in Ohio.

Not to be outdone, Henry Graves Jr. also commissioned a series of complicated watches from Patek Philippe, culminating in a timepiece that took three years to design and five years to produce. When completed in 1933, the watch had a different horological function for each hour of the day and included a chart of the nighttime sky over Graves' home in New York.

Graves died in 1953, and his heirs sold the watch to the Time Museum in Rockford, Ill., in 1968. When the museum closed, the watch was among 80 other pieces from the collection that were deaccessioned and sold at Sotheby's (nyse: BID - news - people ) in 1999. Altogether, they brought $28 million. The Graves watch had a presale estimate of $3 million to $5 million, and sold for $11,003,500 to an anonymous collector. "

But what is the world's most expensive WRIST watch? While not documented, you can get wrist watches on eBay currently with starting bids as high as $15,000. That's a pretty high price to pay just to make sure that you aren't late for work in the morning!

Novelty Watches

The wrist watch has found a high level of popularity in the novelty world. You can buy a souvenir wrist watch pretty much anywhere that you travel to these days. The highest caliber of amusement parks, such as Disneyland, employ talented artists who can sketch original artwork onto a wrist watch face for you while you wait. Other organizations from NASA to the Susan G. Komen Foundation have specialty watches that you can purchase to help out good causes or to take home a special token of remembrance.

Popularity Continues

Through custom, designer, jewel-encrusted, sporty, and child appropriate designs (to name only a few!), wrist watches continue to function as a fantastic part of our culture and current fashion sense. If you have yet to purchase a wrist watch for yourself, then I would guess that you are either chronically late, or haven't yet discovered the fun of this long standing fashion fad suitable for everyone. Go look for the perfect wrist watch for you today!

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