Mens Watches - Because "Chronos" was a God

By mens watches, we usually mean mens wristwatches. Pocket watches may be fashionable in some circles, or prized among collectors, but the truly many mens watches are all wristwatches. But that wasn't always the case. In the hazy history of watches, men sported pocket watches and allegedly were heard to say that they'd sooner be caught wearing a skirt than wearing a wristwatch. At the start of the 20th century, the beginning of the modern age, wristwatches were still "wristlets" and mens watches as we know them today did not yet exist. So how did this strange turn of events result in the timepieces we all know and love today? More...

Practical Mechanics "Make" Mens Watches

It's elementary, my dear reader. Men, while disdaining wristlets, still needed a hands-free timekeeping solution. Pilots, for instance, couldn't be expected to dig a pocket watch out of their pants while executing a barrel roll. Soldiers in the trenches needed a device they wouldn't lose and that wouldn't require extra effort to find and read. Etc., etc., so on and so forth - the girly first impressions of early watches were quashed when men saw what kind of practical possibilities a wrist-worn watch opened up. Mens watches were born.

Well, perhaps that statement needs to be revised. They weren't so much born as conceived - or even reconceived. Once they were thought of as mens watches, they simply were, in the minds of the public and of men themselves, mens watches. They went on to be adopted and adapted by professions and industries that were dominated by men. In addition to pilots and soldiers, specialized forms for use in outer space or deep-sea diving appeared. Chronograph variations were used by managers to time and evaluate their employees. Sports variations were used by athletes and trainers.

Mens Watches - Not Design but Purpose

Thus, though we in the 21st century might propose that it is design - the outer appearance, the size and often excessive additional dials and functions, etc. that makes mens watches what they are, it is actually purpose rather than design that defines them.

Historically, mens watches were just watches worn by men doing manly things. Design and aesthetics then swept in to create visual significations intended to set them apart from those for women, and these design and aesthetic conventions have continued to this day. All the same, they are also practical, purposeful developments. Even when worn as little more than an item of decorative jewelry, mens watches must at least serve the purpose of making the wearer seem masculine, powerful and important. They must be precision engineered not just for timekeeping but for status-keeping - and indeed they are.

The Future of Mens Watches

The question for the future of mens watches is whether they can escape their past. If they began as something that could be dismissed as jewelry and achieved their renaissance as purpose-driven time-tools, what does it say about the state of the art when most of them today, even the classic examples of practical engineering, are once again worn more for decorating than for doing?