⏳ Men: What Were the First Watches Ever? (2026)

The very first timepieces men wore were not wristwatches at all, but heavy, drum-shaped “Nuremberg Eggs” suspended from necklaces in the 150s, which only migrated to the wrist a full 40 years later due to the brutal necessities of World War I. When exploring Men what were the first watches ever, you must look past the sleek Cartier Santos of 1904 and back to the inaccurate, hour-only clocks that defined the Renaissance.

Imagine a 16th-century nobleman fumbling with a brass drum the size of a fist, losing hours of time every single day, all while wearing it around his neck like a pendant. It sounds absurd to our modern sensibilities, where a $20 digital watch is more accurate than a $50,0 Patek Philippe, yet this was the pinnacle of technology for centuries.

The transition from neck to wrist wasn’t a fashion statement; it was a survival tactic. Soldiers in the trenches of the Great War realized that checking a pocket watch meant exposing themselves to enemy fire, so they strapped their timepieces to their wrists with leather “wristlets,” forever changing how men interacted with time.

Key Takeaways

  • The First “Watches” Were Necklaces: The earliest portable timepieces for men were the Nuremberg Eggs (c. 1505), which were worn as pendants, not wristwatches.
  • Wristwatches Were Initially “Femine”: For nearly 20 years, wearing a watch on the wrist was considered effeminate until WWI forced a cultural shift.
  • Accuracy Was Non-Existent: Early timepieces could lose several hours per day, making them status symbols rather than precision tools.
  • War Changed Everything: The trenches of WWI popularized the wristwatch, transforming it from a lady’s accessory into a man’s essential tool.
  • The First Purpose-Built Men’s Wristwatch: While debated, the Cartier Santos (1904) is widely recognized as the first mass-produced men’s wristwatch designed for aviation.

Table of Contents

⚡️ Quick Tips and Facts

Before we dive headfirst into the murky, oil-stained waters of horological history, let’s hit the rewind button with a few hard truths that might shatter your mental image of the “first watch.”

  • The “Nuremberg Egg” wasn’t an egg: Despite the name, these 16th-century timepieces were actually drum-shaped brass boxes. They were heavy, inaccurate, and more of a status symbol than a tool.
  • Men didn’t wear wristwatches initially: If you saw a man with a watch on his wrist in 1850, you’d probably think he was a woman or a sailor. Wristwatches were strictly femine jewelry until the trenches of World War I forced a massive cultural shift.
  • Accuracy was a joke: The first portable timepieces could lose hours per day. If your watch said it was noon, it might actually be 2:0 PM.
  • The “First” is a debate: Was it Peter Henlein in 150s Germany? Or was it Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1810 for a Queen? We’ll settle this score later.
  • Synchronization saved lives: The reason men started wearing watches on their wrists wasn’t fashion; it was to coordinate artillery fire in WWI. One second off could mean friendly fire.

For a deeper dive into the specific models that started it all, check out our dedicated breakdown on What were the first watches ever?.

🕰️ The Dawn of Time: How the First Watches Were Born


Video: The World’s First Wristwatch: How The Cartier Santos Made History.








You might picture a sleek, silver timepiece ticking away in a velvet box, but the story of the first watches ever begins with something that looked more like a heavy, iron drum than a piece of jewelry.

The Nuremberg Egg: The Grandfather of the Wristwatch

In the early 16th century, the German cities of Nuremberg and Augsburg were the Silicon Valley of clockmaking. Enter Peter Henlein (1485–1542), a locksmith and clockmaker often credited as the father of the watch. While historians argue whether he was the sole inventor (it was likely a collective effort of the guild), Henlein’s name stuck.

These early devices, known as “clock-watches” or “Nuremberg eggs,” were marvels of engineering for their time, but let’s be honest: they were clunky.

  • Shape: Cylindrical, drum-like brass cases.
  • Hands: Just an hour hand. No minute hand existed yet.
  • Power: A mainspring (invented in the early 15th century) allowed them to be portable, unlike the massive tower clocks of the era.
  • Accuracy: Terible. They could drift by several hours a day.

“Peter Hele, still a young man, fashions works which even the most learned mathematicians admire. He shapes many-wheled clocks out of small bits of iron, which run and chime the hours without weights forty hours, whether carried at the breast or in a handbag.” — Johann Cochläus (151)

These weren’t tools for precision; they were novelties for the nobility. If you owned one, you were showing off your wealth, not your punctuality.

The Transition to the Pocket Watch

Fast forward to the 17th century, and the design began to evolve. The cylindrical shape gave way to the round, flat case we recognize today. Why? Because Charles II of England introduced the waistcoat (vest) in 1675. Suddenly, men had pockets!

Watches migrated from being pendants around the neck to sitting snugly in a pocket. This era saw the introduction of the minute hand (around 1680 in Britain) and the glass crystal (replacing the brass grillwork).

Key Evolution Milestones:

Era Device Name Primary Wear Location Accuracy Key Feature
150s Nuremberg Egg Neck (Pendant) Hours/day Mainspring, Hour Hand only
160s Pocket Watch Waistcoat Pocket Minutes/day Minute Hand, Glass Crystal
170s Pocket Watch Pocket Seconds/day Balance Spring, Escapement

If you’re curious about how these early mechanisms worked, we highly recommend exploring the history of the balance spring in our Guide to Buying Watches, where we break down the mechanics that made timekeeping possible.

🎒 From Neck to Wrist: The Evolution of the First Men’s Watches


Video: Story of Pocket/Wrist Watches | From Pocket Watches to Smartwatches: A Journey Through History.








Here is where the plot thickens. You might assume that once the pocket watch was invented, the wristwatch was just a few decades away. Wrong. For nearly 20 years, the wristwatch was considered effeminate.

The “Wristlet” Era: A Woman’s Accessory

In the 180s, if a man wore a watch on his wrist, he was likely a woman. Wristwatches were marketed as delicate jewelry for ladies, often featuring intricate enamel work and gemstones. Men, on the other hand, clung to their pocket watches with the tenacity of a bulldog. The pocket watch was seen as masculine, traditional, and practical.

But the seeds of change were being sown in the military.

The Military Catalyst: From Pockets to Wrists

The first men’s wristwatches weren’t born in a luxury boutique; they were born in the mud of colonial wars.

  • 180s: British Army officers in the Anglo-Burma War and the Second Anglo-Afghan War began strapping small pocket watches to their wrists using leather “wristlets.”
  • Why? In the heat of battle, fumbling for a pocket watch was a death sentence. You needed your hands free, and you needed to check the time instantly.

The First Purpose-Made Men’s Wristwatch:
While many sources cite the Cartier Santos (1904) as the first, the truth is a bit more nuanced.

  • H. Williamson Ltd. (UK): In 1901, they registered a design for a wristwatch with a leather strap attached directly to the case via lugs. Their managing director, W. E. Tucker, noted that an officer in the Boer War asked them to convert a pocket watch into a wristlet.
  • Dimier Frères & Cie: In 1903, they patented the standard wire lug design that we still use today. They even threatened legal action against copycats!

“It didn’t require the mind of a genius to come up with this design.” — A common sentiment among early 20th-century watchmakers regarding the simple act of soldering wire lugs to a case.

The Aviation Influence: Cartier Santos

No story of the first men’s wristwatches is complete without Alberto Santos-Dumont. The Brazilian aviator was frustrated with fumbling for his pocket watch while flying. He asked his friend Louis Cartier to create a watch he could wear on his wrist. The result? The Cartier Santos in 1904. It was the first mass-produced men’s wristwatch designed specifically for aviation, featuring a square case and visible screws.

Did you know? The first men’s wristwatches often had the crown on the left side (9 o’clock) to prevent it from getting knocked off during combat or flying. This was a practical design choice that eventually faded as lugs became more robust.

For those looking to own a piece of this history, check out our Luxury Watch Brands category, where we feature modern interpretations of these classic designs.

🔧 The Mechanics of History: Key Innovations That Changed Everything

a close up of a gears

The transition from a heavy drum to a precise wrist companion wasn’t magic; it was a series of engineering breakthroughs. Let’s break down the four pillars that made the first reliable watches possible.

1. The Invention of the Mainspring and Portable Timekeeping

Before the mainspring, clocks were powered by weights. You couldn’t carry a 50-pound weight in your pocket. The invention of the coiled steel spring in the 15th century allowed timepieces to be small and portable.

  • Benefit: Portability.
  • Drawback: As the spring unwound, the watch slowed down (isochronism error).

2. The Balance Spring: Turning Clocks into Wrist Companions

In 1657, Christiaan Huygens (and possibly Robert Hooke) invented the balance spring (hairspring). This tiny spiral spring attached to the balance wheel turned it into a harmonic oscillator.

  • Impact: Accuracy improved from hours of error per day to minutes of error per day.
  • Result: This allowed for the addition of the minute hand, making the watch a useful tool rather than just a toy.

3. The Lever Escapement: Precision for the Modern Man

Invented by Thomas Mudge in 1754, the lever escapement is the heart of almost every mechanical watch made today. It separated the escape wheel from the balance wheel, allowing for better control and less friction.

  • Benefit: Increased durability and accuracy.
  • Legacy: This is why your grandfather’s watch still ticks today.

4. Temperature Compensation and the Birth of the Chronometer

Metal expands and contracts with temperature, throwing off the balance spring. Pierre Le Roy and Thomas Earnshaw developed temperature compensation using bimetalic strips.

  • Impact: Reduced errors to a few seconds per day.
  • Result: The birth of the chronometer, a watch certified for extreme precision.

Comparison of Accuracy Over Time:

Innovation Era Error Rate Impact
Mainspring 15th Century Several hours/day Portability
Balance Spring 1657 ~10 minutes/day Minute Hand added
Lever Escapement 1754 ~1 minute/day Reliability
Temp Compensation 1765 ~5 seconds/day Chronometer Status

⚔️ War and Wear: How the Trenches Popularized the Wristwatch


Video: Timeless Evolution: The Watch’s Story.








If the balance spring was the engine, World War I was the fuel that launched the wristwatch into the mainstream.

The Trench Warfare Reality

Before 1914, the wristwatch was a niche item for women, sailors, and pilots. But the trenches changed everything.

  • The Problem: Soldiers needed to coordinate artillery barrages with infantry advances. The tactic, known as the “creping barrage,” required artillery to fire just ahead of the advancing troops at a precise speed (roughly 50 meters per minute).
  • The Consequence: If a soldier’s watch was off by even a few seconds, he could walk into his own artillery fire.
  • The Solution: “Synchronize your watches!” became the most important phrase on the battlefield. Pocket watches were too slow to access. Wristwatches were essential.

The “Trench Watch”

Brands like Rolex, Omega, Longines, Waltham, and Elgin rushed to produce “trench watches.”

  • Features: Large enamel dials, bold numerals, metal protective covers (to prevent shrapnel damage), and luminous radium paint for night visibility.
  • Design: The wire lugs were reinforced, and the cases were made of steel or silver.

“One soldier in every four wears a wristlet watch, and the other three mean to get one as soon as they can.” — H. Williamson (1916)

By the end of the war, the stigma was gone. The wristwatch was no longer “femine”; it was a tool of heroes. When soldiers returned home, they kept wearing them, and the pocket watch began its slow decline into obsolescence.

Did you know? The phrase “synchronize your watches” wasn’t just a movie cliché; it was a literal life-or-death command on the battlefield.

⚡️ The Electric Spark: When Batteries Joined the Party


Video: A Brief History of Timekeeping | How Humans Began Telling Time | EXPLORE MODE.








After the mechanical dominance of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the mid-20th century brought a new player: electricity.

The First Electric Watches

In the 1950s, brands like Hamilton and Bulova introduced electric watches. These weren’t quartz yet; they used a battery to power an electromagnetic coil that kept the balance wheel moving.

  • Benefit: No winding required.
  • Drawback: Still mechanical in nature, prone to similar errors as mechanical watches.

The Pulsar Revolution

In 1970, Pulsar (a brand owned by Hamilton) released the first digital electronic watch with an LED display.

  • Inovation: It used a battery to light up red LEDs to show the time.
  • Impact: It was a futuristic marvel, but the LEDs drained the battery in seconds, requiring you to press a button to see the time.

This era marked the beginning of the end for the purely mechanical watch as the standard for timekeeping, paving the way for the Quartz Revolution.

🔮 The Quartz Revolution: Why the First Watches Paled in Comparison


Video: A Rookies Guide to Watches.








If the first watches were a clunky drum, the Quartz Revolution was a laser beam.

The Seiko Astron

On December 25, 1969, Seiko released the 35 SQ Astron, the world’s first quartz wristwatch.

  • How it worked: It used a quartz crystal that vibrated at 8,192 Hz when an electric current was applied.
  • Accuracy: It was accurate to within ±5 seconds per month. Compare that to the hours of error of the Nuremberg Egg!
  • Impact: This single invention shattered the Swiss mechanical watch industry, leading to the “Quartz Crisis” of the 1970s and 80s.

The Rise of Digital and Smart

Following the Astron, Casio brought us the G-Shock (indestructible) and the Calculator Watch. Then came the smartwatch era.

  • 1980s: Steve Mann developed the Linux Watch.
  • 2015: The Apple Watch introduced EKG capabilities and seamless smartphone integration.

Why the First Watches Paled:
The first watches were about novelty and status. The quartz watch was about precision and utility. The gap in accuracy was so vast that mechanical watches almost died out, only to be saved by their status as luxury art pieces.

📡 Radio, Atomic, and Smart: The Future of Time on Your Wrist


Video: What are the Oldest Watches in the World.







We’ve come a long way from the Nuremberg Egg. Today, your watch can do more than just tell time; it can tell your heart rate, navigate you to the nearest coffee shop, and sync with the atomic clock.

Radio-Controled and Atomic Watches

  • 191: Junghans released the MEGA 1, the first radio-controlled analog wristwatch. It receives time signals from atomic clocks and adjusts itself automatically.
  • 2013: Bathys Hawaii introduced the Cesium 13 Atomic Watch, the first with an internal atomic clock (cesium chip), accurate to 1 second in 1,0 years.
  • 2019: Citizen released the Caliber 010, accurate to ±1 second per year.

The Smartwatch Era

The Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch, and Garmin have turned the wristwatch into a computer.

  • Features: GPS, health monitoring, contactless payments, and voice assistants.
  • Debate: Are these still “watches”? Purists say no; they are gadgets. But for the average user, they are the modern evolution of the timepiece.

The Future:
As we move forward, the line between mechanical art and digital utility continues to blur. Some brands are even creating hybrid watches that look traditional but have smart features hidden inside.

💡 Quick Tips and Facts for the Aspiring Horologist

Before we wrap up the history lesson, here are a few pro tips for anyone fascinated by the evolution of time:

  • Don’t trust the “First” story: History is messy. The “first” wristwatch is often debated between Breguet, Patek Philippe, and the military.
  • Lug width matters: If you’re restoring an old watch, the lug width (distance between the lugs) determines the strap size. Early watches had non-standard widths.
  • Radium is dangerous: If you own a vintage watch with radium paint (glowing green/yellow), do not open the case or sand the dial. It’s radioactive.
  • Service intervals: Mechanical watches need servicing every 3-5 years. Quartz watches can go 5-10 years on a battery, but the movement still needs cleaning.
  • Water resistance: Early watches had zero water resistance. Modern watches are tested to various depths, but never assume a vintage piece is waterproof.

For more tips on maintaining your collection, visit our Affordable Watches section, where we discuss budget-friendly maintenance.

Conclusion: The Legacy of the First Watches

Close-up of an antique pocket watch with chain

So, what were the first watches ever? They were Nuremberg Eggs—clunky, inaccurate, and heavy. But they sparked a revolution that would change how humanity perceives time forever.

From the balance spring that added the minute hand, to the trenches of WWI that forced men to wear watches on their wrists, to the quartz revolution that made precision accessible to everyone, the journey of the watch is a testament to human ingenuity.

The Verdict:

  • Positives: The evolution from the Nuremberg Egg to the modern smartwatch represents an incredible leap in accuracy, durability, and utility. The wristwatch transformed from a piece of jewelry into a lifeline in war and a tool in peace.
  • Negatives: The quest for precision sometimes came at the cost of artistry (the Quartz Crisis), and the digital age has made us less patient with the “ticking” of time.

Our Recommendation:
Whether you prefer the mechanical soul of a vintage Omega or the digital precision of an Apple Watch, the legacy of the first watches lives on. If you’re looking to start a collection, don’t just buy for the brand; buy for the story. A watch is a piece of history on your wrist.

For those interested in unique, handcrafted timepieces that blend modern materials with traditional aesthetics, we highly recommend checking out Original Grain. Their handcrafted wood and steel watches offer a fresh take on the classic design, proving that the evolution of the watch is far from over.

👉 Shop Original Grain on:

❓ FAQ: Your Burning Questions About Early Timepieces

black pocket watch

What were early watches called?

Early portable timepieces from the 16th century were called “clock-watches” or “Nuremberg eggs” due to their drum-like shape. Later, as they became flatter and rounder, they were simply known as pocket watches.

Read more about “⏳ When Did Peter Henlein Invent the Watch? The 1505 Truth Revealed”

What is the oldest watch known to man?

The oldest known portable timepiece is often attributed to Peter Henlein from Nuremberg, Germany, created around 1505. However, the oldest surviving watch is the Bergama Watch, dated to the early 16th century.

Read more about “🏆 25 Best Men’s Watch Brands Ranked: Who Really Wins in 2026?”

Which is the oldest watch brand?

Vacheron Constantin is widely considered the oldest watch brand still in continuous operation, founded in 175. Breguet (175) and Jaeger-LeCoultre (183) are also among the oldest.

Read more about “🏆 What Is the Best Brand of Watch? Top 15 Picks for 2026”

When did people start wearing watches?

People started wearing pocket watches in the 17th century (around 1675) after the introduction of the waistcoat. Wristwatches for men became common only after World War I (1914–1918).

Read more about “⏳ Did People Have Watches in the 180s? (Yes, But Not on Wrists!)”

What was the first wristwatch for men?

The first purpose-made men’s wristwatch is often credited to H. Williamson Ltd. in 1901 or Dimier Frères & Cie in 1903. However, the Cartier Santos (1904) was the first mass-produced men’s wristwatch designed for aviation.

Read more about “⏳ The Evolution of Watches: From Sundials to Smartwatches (2026)”

What was the very first wristwatch ever made for men?

There is no single “first.” Some sources cite Abraham-Louis Breguet creating a wristwatch in 1810 for the Queen of Naples, but this was for a woman. The first for men were likely military conversions of pocket watches in the 180s.

Read more about “👑 10 Top Luxury Watch Brands for Women (2026)”

Who invented the first men’s pocket watch?

Peter Henlein is credited with inventing the first portable timepieces (Nuremberg Eggs) in the early 16th century, which evolved into the pocket watch.

Read more about “🕰️ What Was the First Ever Best Watch? (2026)”

When did men start wearing wristwatches instead of pocket watches?

Men started wearing wristwatches in significant numbers during World War I (1914–1918). By 1930, the ratio of wristwatches to pocket watches was 50 to 1.

Read more about “⏳ When Were Pocket Watches Invented? The 1510 Truth Revealed”

What are the oldest watch brands still in operation today?

  • Vacheron Constantin (175)
  • Breguet (175)
  • Jaeger-LeCoultre (183)
  • Patek Philippe (1839)
  • IWC Schaffhausen (1868)

Read more about “🕰️ The First Watch Ever Made: Who Invented It? (2026)”

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