CASTLES OF ETERNITY · WAR WATCH
Imagine needing to know the time while both of your hands are occupied.
Now imagine having to reach beneath your clothing, pull out a pocket watch, open it, read it and put it back.
For everyday life, that might have been an inconvenience.
In another environment, it could become a problem.
That environment was war.
Before the Wrist
Long before watches became something most of us instinctively wear around our wrists, portable timekeeping already existed.
But for men, the pocket watch remained the established form.
A watch could sit safely inside clothing, often attached to a chain.
Absolutely.
Convenient?
Not always.
The wristwatch itself wasn't entirely new.
According to the Smithsonian Institution , small watches were already being used by some European women in the late nineteenth century, particularly during activities such as hunting, horse riding and cycling.
Many men, however, still regarded wristwatches as jewellery associated with women.
That perception was about to change.
1914
Europe went to war.
And the scale of the conflict was extraordinary.
The National Army Museum describes the First World War as the first truly global conflict, with fighting from 1914 to 1918 taking place across several continents, at sea and in the air.
Millions of people entered a world where coordination, communication and timing mattered enormously.
And suddenly something as ordinary as checking the time could become surprisingly inconvenient.
Try Reaching for a Pocket Watch
Picture a soldier carrying equipment.
His hands may already be occupied.
His clothing is designed for protection and utility.
The environment around him is difficult.
Now tell him to reach into a pocket every time he wants to check the hour.
There was a simpler solution.
Put the watch somewhere visible.
On the wrist.
The Smithsonian records that soldiers experimented with fastening pocket watches to their sleeves and even their legs as they entered the First World War.
As the conflict progressed, wristwatches became increasingly common among male soldiers as well as female nurses.
The reason wasn't complicated.
A wristwatch allowed you to read the time at a glance.
A Watch Built for a Different World
One surviving watch tells this story particularly well.
It was manufactured in 1917 by the Elgin National Watch Company in Illinois.
Today, it belongs to the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History .
Look at it and something immediately stands out.
There is a metal grid covering the crystal.
It wasn't there for decoration.
The protective grids became known as “shrapnel guards” during the war.
The design allowed the wearer to read the dial while providing additional protection to the watch crystal.
It's a small detail.
But it tells us something important about watch design.
Form often follows the life the watch is expected to live.
The Wristwatch Wasn't Always Designed Like This
Look at almost any modern watch.
Twelve at the top.
Six at the bottom.
Crown commonly positioned around three o'clock.
It feels obvious.
It wasn't.
Early wristwatch makers experimented with different orientations.
The Smithsonian documents watches with crowns positioned at three o'clock and others at nine.
Even the orientation of the dial relative to the strap wasn't initially standardised.
By the 1910s, however, many of these elements were moving towards the arrangement we recognise today.
The modern wristwatch was finding its form.
Function Became Design
Something interesting happens to useful objects over time.
We improve them.
Then we personalise them.
Eventually, they become part of our identity.
The wristwatch followed exactly that journey.
What could be a practical instrument became something far larger.
Dress watches.
Dive watches.
Field watches.
Racing watches.
Minimalist watches.
Different environments created different requirements, and those requirements eventually created some of the design languages we still recognise today.
You Can Still See That History on Modern Watches
Look closely at a modern watch and the past hasn't completely disappeared.
Large hour markers prioritise legibility.
Contrasting hands make the time easier to read.
Bezels add functionality and visual structure.
Chronograph pushers reflect our desire to measure more than simply hours and minutes.
Bracelets and straps determine how securely the watch sits against the wrist.
Features that began with practical purposes eventually became part of the visual vocabulary of watchmaking.
You can explore some of those different design languages through the CASTILAN watch collection .
From Equipment to Something Personal
After the war, the wristwatch didn't return to obscurity.
Its usefulness had become difficult to ignore.
And attitudes towards men wearing watches on their wrists had changed.
Manufacturers increasingly marketed wristwatches to men, while the object itself continued evolving.
Eventually, wearing a watch became completely ordinary.
So ordinary, in fact, that today we rarely think about how unusual the idea once was.
And Then the Watch Became Unnecessary
There is a beautiful irony in this story.
For generations, humans worked to make knowing the time more convenient.
Tower.
Pocket.
Wrist.
And eventually we created technology that made the wristwatch unnecessary for that original purpose.
Your phone already knows the time.
So does your computer.
So does your car.
Yet we still wear watches.
Millions of them.
Why?
Perhaps because somewhere along the way, the wristwatch stopped being only a tool.
It became something we choose.
A reflection of style.
An appreciation of engineering.
A reminder of an achievement.
A gift from someone important.
Something worn through years of our own story.
Technology solved the problem of knowing the time.
But it never replaced our fascination with wearing it.
The Next Time You Look at Your Watch
Remember that the object on your wrist wasn't always there.
Someone had to imagine putting it there.
Someone had to make it practical.
Someone had to redesign it.
And generations had to decide that this strange little machine deserved a permanent place on the human wrist.
More than a century later, it's still there.
Not because we need it.
Because we chose to keep it.