Not only did the Great War move timekeeping to the wrist with trench watches—it also introduced a refined aesthetic built for battle.
Originally published by Cole Pennington on Hodinkee.
It's mostly just assumed that a watch should be worn on the wrist, but when was the last time you thought about how it got there in the first place? It's a perfect solution. A moderately sized watch is unobtrusive when worn on the wrist, and it's easy to position it to view the time. It fades into the background when we don't need it, but it's immediately available when we do. It's just about as good a solution as possible.
Round "wristlet" watch with wire lugs, and radium-painted hands and numerals.
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And those attributes are exactly what made it the ideal solution for soldiers in WWI, the first major historical event where timekeeping migrated from the pocket watch to the wrist. The trend reportedly started during the Boer War, when Britain marched on the Boer states of the Republic of Transvaal and The Orange Free State. The reasoning behind the wrist-mounted convention was simple: it freed up one hand that would normally be used to operate a pocket watch. When WWI rolled around, the functional benefits of the wristwatch had turned it into a trend. And it didn't stay on the battlefield – instead it became a fashion statement in the civilian world as well. Prior to the advent of the war it was typically only ladies who wore wristwatches, but now they were symbols of masculinity and bravado, reflecting the spirit of a soldier.
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Source: Hodinkee
When the clock moved from the pocket watch to the wrist, it was an opportunity for an injection of fresh design. By today's standards, trench watches, or "wristlets" as they were known, look quite radical. The demands of trench warfare meant that soldiers needed to protect their watches while entering and exiting the trench, so naturally the crystal was the primary element to protect. The crystal was often guarded by a hinged cage that was designed as to not obscure the numerals, a design element that was carried over from the pocket watch. The symmetry and design flair in guard designs is a detail that sets trench watches apart from contemporary watches in such a fantastic way.
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Guards intended to protect crystals against breakage took on an enormous variety of forms.
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It's a design feature that's both beautiful and problematic, because the hands are easily obscured by the guards, making the time more difficult to read, but there's no denying that there is something fascinating about the ironic elegance that emerged from solving a simple durability problem. The crystals on trench watches were mineral glass, which was relatively fragile. Shatter resistant Plexiglass emerged in the 1930s and brought the crystal guard to an end.
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Source: Hodinkee
Source: Hodinkee
Engraving names, titles, and places on the caseback also carried over from pocket watches. Although dog tags had been implemented during WWI, a personalized engraving could serve as a redundancy system for identification. Roughly 2.8 million American soldiers served overseas during WWI. About 1.8 million of those were in France.
A U.S. Army Air Service watch, with the Service's prop-and-wings insignia. The USAS was the forerunner of today's U.S. Air Force.
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An Enicar wristwatch with a surprisingly contemporary teardrop case and integrated compass
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Contemporary watch design has generally remained the same since the mid-century era, with many modern companies cranking out models that often reference their very own designs from that time. Some design features that emerged during the trench watch era ended up dying there as well. Enicar produced a teardrop-shaped case that featured an integrated compass made from sterling silver. The curvature of the case fits the wrist perfectly, and the way the compass is worked into the case is something I’ve not seen on any other watch. From a function standpoint, it’s brilliant, but there’s also an undeniable beauty that just hasn't been present in watch design ever since. And to think, this was a watch made for fighting wars!
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