Man has been measuring time for thousands of years. Around 3500 BC, Egyptians created very basic sundials, which divided the day into two parts, using the sun to create shadows on a simple device. Though the Greeks substantially improved these early mechanisms, little advancement was made regarding the mechanics of clocks during the Middle Ages.
From the 15th Century onwards, the growth in sailing and navigating increased the need to tell the time more accurately. Early in this century, the first pocket watch was made by a German locksmith called Peter Henlein. Although they had a tendency to slow down (due to the gradual winding down of the mainspring), they were instantly very popular with the wealthy, as their small size made them easily portable.
Unlike modern watches, these pocket watches only had an hour hand; there was no minute hand. As there was no glass protection, these pocket watches often had a metal case to protect the hour hand. Though the minute hand was found on a pocket watch from approximately 1670 onwards, there was no glass face until the next century. In 1884 the town of Greenwich in England became internationally recognised as the base time for the entire world, a standard that is still used today (GMT – Greenwich Mean Time).
Pocket watches were common right up until the beginning of the 20th century. After this period, scientists and engineers improved their skills of working on a much smaller scale, thus allowing the wristwatch to be invented. In 1905 in Switzerland, Hans Wilsdorf formed a small company known as the Rolex Watch Company. In 1918 in Japan a company was formed that eventually became Citizen Watches. In 1923, John Harwood designed the first self-winding wristwatch for mass production and a year later in Tokyo, Seiko was set up.
During the 1960’s, people were very proud to own an electronic quartz watch: the first prototype was designed in 1962 in Switzerland, and came into production in 1969. It is rather exciting to learn how Mother Nature constantly proves essential in improving our lives. In an electronic quartz watch, Quartz Crystal is used as an oscillator in an electronic circuit, which is then used within the electronic mechanics of a watch. It is very technical indeed, but basically the Quartz Crystal vibrates with such regularity it makes it very reliable for telling the time accurately. Also, though most quartz movements are electronic, they are designed in such a way to drive mechanical hands on the clock face, which even in the computer age, tends to be the preferred method of telling the time.
What many people may not realise, however, is that Quartz was not the first gem to be used in watch movements. Back in 1704, long before the quartz movement watches, brothers Peter and Jacob Debaufre used Rubies and then Sapphires to regulate the movement in their watches! These gems were shaped into small round balls and their extreme hardness (remember they register 9 on the Mohs scale), combined with their low and predictable friction made them the perfect central component in a watch, from which everything else then rotated. In the early 1900’s, as man learnt to recreate these gems in laboratories, and they were eventually replaced by their lower costing, synthetic look-a-likes.
Today, there is a whole host of different watches available to us. Analogue watches have a numbered dial on the clock face, and typically have an hour hand and a minute hand. More often than not there is also a second hand. If the watch uses a quartz movement, this second hand will ‘tick’ on every second. Where the watch uses a mechanical movement, the hand will move in a ‘sweeping’ fashion around the clock face. Many jewellery and watch designers have great fun in designing the different hands of a watch: for example, making the minute and hour hand in the shape of a stem, and the second hand in the shape of a flower.
Also available to us today are digital watches. However, as these require less craftsmanship when making them, collectors have little demand for them. There is also less variety in quality, and usually it is more difficult for a designer to apply a personal touch.
Watches do not have to be worn as functional objects, forgotten on our left or right wrist. A careful selection of colour and design and your watch becomes a piece of jewellery valued as much as a favourite ring or necklace. Of course, as with all jewellery, once you have more than one watch to choose from, you are left with the difficult decision of which watch to wear with which outfit.
All of the watches across the Coloured Rocks brands are crafted to the highest standards. Whilst many of them are made in Hong Kong, they often feature either Japanese or Swiss Movement. Watches made by Lorique are actually crafted in Switzerland and are amongst some of the finest watches available on the market today. With prices from £19 to £2999, Coloured Rocks offers a wide selection of watches, all of which feature gems and a minimum of a one year warranty.
