The First World War coincided with a breakthrough in watchmaking. In the following decade, new and pioneering designs followed, let’s see the details.
In World War I, many soldiers preferred a watch that could be quickly read on the wrist to a timepiece safely tucked away in a uniform jacket pocket. One result of this was that, after the Great War, wristwatches became popular among men, many of whom had previously despised them as a feminine accessory.
In the Roaring Twenties, the wristwatch emerged as a genre in which Louis Cartier was a pioneer. He sketched out his first Cartier tank in 1917. The model was first produced in 1919 and given its slender “cintrée” shape in 1921.
The Art Deco style also influenced the design of the watch. the rectangular case of the Reverso, with parallel lines engraved on the top and bottom edges, was a product of the era.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the military again strongly influenced the design of the 1940s. Large pilot’s replica watches, like the ones first produced by IWC for the Luftwaffe in 1940, were easy to read thanks to their large cases and black dials. Their crowns were also easy to grip, allowing pilots to operate them while wearing gloves, and their straps were often particularly long, allowing pilots to buckle these watches around their thighs.
Few watches have had such a strong impact on the watchmaking world and are so often imitated as replica Rolex’s Submariner. It debuted in 1953, ushering in the era of the round, water-resistant, sporty, self-winding wristwatch.
Quartz watches dominate the 1970s. Their luminous digital indicators relied initially on light-red LEDs (light-emitting diodes) and later on LCDs (liquid crystal displays). TAG Heuer’s Chronosplit chronograph, launched in 1975, was made with both devices.
Mechanical fake watches began their renaissance in the 1990s, with a focus on horological technology and complications. But there were also design innovations, such as Lange’s Lange 1: its off-centered dial arrangement was later adopted by other manufacturers.
There were hardly any new designs in the 00s that could match the success of the Hublot Big Bang. Its theme was the combination of multiple materials. This mix was achieved through the construction of the case, which combined more than 50 separate components. A large number of limited editions also helped to make Hublot synonymous with bold colors, diversity, and joie de vivre.
The trend of showing the inner workings of a watch through a skeletonized dial had begun in the 00s, but after 2010, dials were often eliminated altogether. And Richard Mille was one of the pioneers of this new openness.