Trench watch
{{Short description|Early wristwatch design used in World War I}}
File:trench watch 1916 gold.jpg
The trench watch (wristlet) is a type of watch that came into use by the military during World War I, as pocket watches were not practical in combat. It was a transitional design between pocket watches and wristwatches, incorporating features of both.{{Citation | url = http://www.qualitytyme.net/pages/rolex_articles/history_of_wristwatch.html | contribution = History of wristwratch | publisher = Quality Time | title = Rolex | type = article}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/trenchwatches.php |title=Great War trench watches |first1=Eur Ing David |last1=Boettcher |date=June 2015 |publisher=Vintage Watch Straps |accessdate=June 11, 2015}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ysl5oAEACAAJ |title=Elgin Trench Watches of the Great War |first1=Stan |last1=Czubernat |year=2015 |isbn=9780764347115 |type=Hardcover |publisher=Schiffer Publishing, Limited |language=English}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y9Y3DQAAQBAJ&dq=Trench+watch&pg=PP59 |page=59 |title=Maintaining and Repairing Mechanical Watches: A Practical Guide |first1=Mark W. |last1=Wiles |isbn=9781785001567 |date=July 15, 2016 |type=ebook |publisher=Crowood Press |language=English}}
Background
The first watch adapted to be worn on the wrist was made in 1810 by Abraham-Louis Breguet, commissioned by Caroline Bonaparte, Queen of Naples. The first series of purpose-made men’s wristwatches was produced by Girard-Perregaux in 1880 for the German Navy.{{Citation | url = http://www.brandwatch.ru/WatchArticles/Chronology/ | publisher = Brand Watch | place = RU |language=Russian | type = article | title = Chronology}}. During World War I numerous companies, including Omega, Longines, Elgin and others produced wristwatches for the military. Rolex also produced trench watches.{{Cite web |last=Roderick |first=Kyle |title=‘The Watch Book Rolex’ Makes Horological History |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kyleroderick/2022/08/15/the-watch-book-rolex-makes-horological-history/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=Forbes |language=en}}{{Better source needed|date=July 2023}} These watches were of virtually identical style with an enamel dial, wide white numerals and a luminescent radium hour hand.{{efn-ua|"[P]owered by radium salts so that it glowed strongly all the time" without resort to sun exposure. While the luminescence only lasted three or four years, the radium paint dials should be treated as radioactive and dangerous.}} Often they did not bear the name of the manufacturer, though the movement, originally designed in the 1890s for ladies’ pendant watches, was marked "Swiss".{{efn-ua|"A book published during the war as early as 1916 "Knowledge for War: Every officer's handbook for the front" by Captain B. C. Lake of the King's Own Scottish Borderers included the list of Officer's Kit shown in the picture. The first item on the list, ahead of otherwise indispensable items such as "Revolver" and "Field glasses" is "Luminous wristwatch with unbreakable glass". The presence of luminous paint and an unbreakable crystal became the signature features of a trench or "Service" watch, and featured prominently in adverts during the war."}}
From pocket watches those trench watches inherited hinged front and back covers. The lugs for a strap looked like a thick wire attachment to the classical round shape of pocket watches rather than an integrated part of the body of the later and modern wristwatches.
The name "wristlet" was used until the early 1930s and was eventually replaced by the modern name "wristwatch".
Gallery
File:Frontispiece, watch advertisement (Signalling, 1918).jpg|Advertisement, 1918
File:Wrist Watch WWI.jpg|Waltham USA trench watch with shrapnel guard, 1914
See also
References
=Notes=
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External links
{{Commons category|Trench watches}}
- {{Citation | url = http://people.timezone.com/mfriedberg/articles/Wristlets.html | title = Wristlets | first = M | last = Friedberg | type = article | publisher = Timezone }}.
- {{Citation | url = http://www.qualitytyme.net/pages/rolex_articles/history_of_wristwatch.html | contribution = The history and evolution of the wristwatch | title = Rolex | type = article | publisher = Quality Time}}.
- [https://anordain.com/blogs/news/100-years-of-british-military-watches#]
- [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-ironic-elegance-of-trench-watches]
- [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/blogshrapnelguards.php]
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