Today there are countless wristwatches. Even if we limit ourselves to mechanical watches it is not easy to count the number of individual pieces. However there are always pioneers. Like guiding stars in the dark night we introduce brands and watches that have pioneered new genres and led the history of watches.

The Oldest Watch Brand

© Vacheronconstantin

Vacheron Constantin is a brand that has never stopped production or lost its lineage since its founding in 1755. In terms of years Blancpain which opened in 1735 is the oldest but it almost disappeared due to the quartz shock of the 1970s and was revived in 1983 by Jean-Claude Biver who is known as a genius in watch marketing so it is difficult to say that its history has been maintained. Breguet is similar. Abraham Louis Breguet who was called a genius watchmaker began making excellent watches under his own name from 1755 and his son and grandson inherited the business but until the 1970s when the Chaumet brothers and Daniel Roth became interested in Breguet high-end watches its presence was not significant. It was only in 1999 that Nicolas Hayek former chairman of the Swatch Group led a major revival of the brand.

The World's First Wristwatch

The first wristwatch was made for women. This was because dresses without pockets led to the creation of accessories that could be worn on the waist or wrist. Examples include the Breguet 2639 (1810) which was the origin of the Reine de Naples and the Patek Philippe ladies' watch (1868) which is listed in the Guinness Book as the first wristwatch. However in the case of Breguet there are no surviving pieces or photos and the Patek Philippe is limited by its overly decorative nature. Men's wristwatches began as military watches with a belt attached to a pocket watch. In 1880 Girard-Perregaux made such a watch at the request of the German Emperor.

1904 Santos Dumont © Wristwatchreview

In the truest sense the first wristwatch was the Cartier Santos born in 1904. This is because it had an integrated case with lugs that could properly attach a strap.

The World's Thinnest Movement

Reducing the thickness of a mechanical watch is truly an extreme competition. In order to remove and shave off as many parts as possible while maintaining proper operation all watchmaking skills and know-how must be mobilized and sometimes even existing theories must be overturned. Therefore only a few brands challenge the realm of ultra-thin watches and most record-breaking takes place within this league.

Thickness 1.8mm Bulgari Octo Finissimo © Hodinkee

Thickness 1.75mm Richard Mille RM-01 © Hodinkee

Currently the thinnest mechanical watch is the Richard Mille RM UP-01 released in 2022 with a thickness of 1.75mm surpassing the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra (1.8mm). Even the traditional crown system (winding stem) was changed for a thinner profile. This was possible because it is a hand-wound watch.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic © Hodinkee

Additionally automatic watches are inevitably a bit thicker due to the rotor that winds the mainspring automatically. The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic which debuted in 2018 with a thickness of 3.95mm still holds the record. It is the world's thinnest self-winding and tourbillon watch.

The World's First Minute Repeater Wristwatch

© hautemontres

In 1892 the Swiss company Louis Brandt & Fils (meaning 'Louis Brandt and Sons') created the first minute repeater wristwatch. They succeeded in miniaturizing an existing pocket watch movement for use in a wristwatch. Two years later brothers Louis Paul and César Brandt changed the company name to Omega. This marked the beginning of a mega-manufacturer that would become known worldwide beyond Switzerland.

The World's First Diver's Watch

There are various opinions in this field. Rolex obtained a patent for the Oyster case in 1926 which was the world's first to be water-resistant to 100 meters but the Oyster watch at that time was not a diver's watch. The Radiomir made by Panerai in 1936 was a military watch for the Italian Navy's special diving unit. The first watch to be recognized by divers as a civilian diver's watch was the Omega Marine in 1939.

Omega Marine Ref.CK679 1935 © Black Bough Watches

However the square design with a double case is quite different from today's diver's watches.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms released in 1953 © Blancpain

The watch that can be considered the prototype of the modern diver's watch is the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms which was born in 1953. Although it appeared around the same time as the Rolex Submariner it took some time before the Submariner was equipped with a unidirectional bezel.

The World's First Pilot's Watch

In 1909 French aviation engineer Louis Blériot succeeded in crossing the English Channel for the first time in the world in his own invention the Blériot XI monoplane. This was only six years after the Wright brothers in the United States invented the first powered airplane in human history. On Blériot's wrist was a Zenith aviation watch.

Zenith wristwatch owned by Blériot © Watchesbysjx

With large Arabic numeral indexes for legibility luminous cathedral hands an onion-shaped crown that could be turned while wearing pilot gloves and a coin bezel it had all the essential elements and is considered the starting point of the modern pilot's watch. In addition Zenith is the only brand that can mark 'Pilot' on the dial of a pilot's watch. This is thanks to founder Georges Favre-Jacot registering the trademark early on.

The World's First Automatic Chronograph Watch

The year 1969 when 'counterculture' resisting the established generation reached its peak was also a period of great upheaval in watch history. This is because it was the year when the automatic chronograph was born. Unlike regular wristwatches which had already switched to automatic mechanisms in the 1960s chronographs still had a strong image of being old-fashioned because they were hand-wound. In response Zenith Seiko and a four-company alliance of Breitling Heuer-Leonidas (now TAG Heuer) Hamilton-Buren (now Hamilton) and Dubois Dépraz all announced their entry and succeeded in developing automatic chronograph movements in the same year.

Breitling chronograph watch © Crownandcaliber

However the timing was slightly different. In January 1969 Zenith was the first to announce the integrated automatic chronograph movement 'El Primero' but it was released in September of that year. The four-company alliance unveiled the 'Chronomatic' which placed a chronograph module on an automatic movement in March. Seiko introduced the Caliber 6139 with a vertical clutch and column wheel as the Speedtimer in May.
Additionally the first hand-wound chronograph wristwatch was Longines (1913). In 1915 Breitling separated the chronograph push button from the crown and added a reset button at the 4 o'clock position on the case thus completing the chronograph wristwatch as we know it today.

The World's First Titanium Watch

Titanium which is strong against corrosion and magnetism and even biocompatible while being lightweight is gaining more attention these days as sports watches become more popular. The first brand to take on titanium was Citizen. In the 1970s they produced the X-8 Chronometer a hybrid wristwatch combining mechanical and quartz movements in pure titanium with a purity of 99.6 percent and although it was a limited edition they made as many as 2, 000 pieces. Considering the difficulty of processing titanium and the technology level at the time this was a remarkable achievement.

The world's first self-winding tourbillon © Audemars Piguet

Additionally the world's first self-winding tourbillon wristwatch introduced by Audemars Piguet in 1986 was not only the world's thinnest self-winding tourbillon wristwatch at the time (thickness 4.8mm) but also the first watch to use a titanium tourbillon cage.