Watch Trivia

The one thing we love about watches the most, especially older ones, is the history behind them and indeed the fascinating stories associated with them. Researching various watches in our collection we have learnt so much. This is why we love all watches, regardless of their potential value or collectability.

These are a few snippets of history and bits of trivia from just a few watches in our collection.

Wristwatches were for the Ladies

Omega - British War Department Issue (1914)

Our 1914 Omega pocket watch was issued by the British War Department in 1914 and as such bears the Broad Arrow (or Pheon) mark on the back of the watch. Did you know that before WW1 wristwatches, or wristlets as they were called then, were pretty much just something worn by the ladies and men had pocket watches. Whilst there were examples of men wearing wristwatches during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and the Spanish-American War (1898) on the whole wrislets were seen as feminine items whilst pocket watches were most definitely a masculine accessory.

During WW1, it was soon found by officers in the field that having a watch on the wrist made it much easier to use during battle or crawling through trenches. As a result many pocket watches were fitted into specially made wrist straps (as pictured on our watch) that immediately turned a pocket watch into a wristwatch. As the war progressed, the practicality of wearing a watch on the wrist increased and whilst some pocket watches were converted into wristwatches by soldering metal lugs to each side of the case and adding a strap, watch manufacturers (like Omega) started to mass produce wristwatches for soldiers (for example the Trench watch). By 1917, the wristwatch had proved to be so successful and indeed essential in combat that the British War Department started to issue wristwatches to soldiers as part of their uniform.

For society as a whole, seeing soldiers going to war with wristwatches had quite an effect on the masculinity of the wristwatch as they were now associated with brave soldiers fighting for King and country. As a result, following WW1, it became much more commonplace (and indeed much more acceptable without the risk of ridicule) for men to wear wristwatches. Pocket watches did not suddenly vanish though, they remained popular into the early 1940s when sales of wristwatches then surpassed those for pocket watches.

The First Watch on the Moon

Ex-NASA Omega Speedmaster Pro (1985)

Our Omega Speedmaster is extra special as it once belonged to an ex-NASA test pilot called John Winfield who was based at Edwards Airforce Base in California in the 1980s. The watch was kindly donated to Harvey by Lauri Murakami in the USA. John Winfield was a patient of her husband, who was a dentist, and Winfield gifted the watch, along with flight suit and jacket to him.

This model of watch also has its own historical past as on 21st July, 1969 both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had an Omega Speedmaster strapped to their wrist as they became the first men to step onto the moon. Whilst the world watched, all glued to their TV screens, the watch also made its own history by being the first watch worn on the Moon.. NASA tested a number of watches for manned space missions and the Omega Speedmaster was the only one to past their test. As such, the engraving on the back of the watch details that this in the only watch certified by NASA for manned space missions. Even today the watch remains one of only 4 watches to be officially certified by NASA for space, although the Omega Speedmaster remains the only watch certified for actual spacewalks.

The watch also helped to save the lives of the crew of Apollo 13 in 1970. Launching into space on the 13th April of that year, two days after the launch, one of the spacecraft’s oxygen tanks burst. Therefore without any normal navigational equipment, the crew had to use lunar gravity to propel their damaged spacecraft back to Earth. Using an Omega Speedmaster they timed 14 second engine burst adjusting their course as they went along. The crew managed to safely return to Earth and in recognition to the Omega's contribution, Omega were awarded the "Silver Snoopy Award" that was an honorary award issued by NASA for outstanding contribution to the success of the mission.

Watchmaker to King Charles .. The First

Edward East EDW 1960G20 (2017)

At first glances our Edward East of London watch from 2017 looks like a rather nice ornate dress watch although there is more to the watch than meets the eye. The design of the watch is inspired by pocket watches from the late 1600s, notably those ,made by Edward East.

Edward East was a watchmaker and clockmaker to King Charles of England, not the King Charles that sits on the throne now but King Charles I from 1635 to 1649. Being a tennis fan, King Charles I would often give out watches made by Edward East as prices and indeed himself owned watches and clocks made by East. It is said that even on his way to his execution, King Charles presented a large silver alarm clock-watch made by Edward East to Sir Thomas Herbert who was a "Gentleman of the bedchamber" to the king.

Back to the Future

Casio CA-53 (2023)

Back in the 1980s the film, Back to the Future, became an instant hit following Marty Mcfly (Michael J Fox) and Doc Brown's (Christopher Lloyd) adventures in a Delorean DMC-12 car that had been turned into a time machine.

During the film Marty McFly wears a Casio calculator watch that can be clearly seen on his wrist whilst Doc is testing the Delorean during its first 1-minute jump into the future. It is often incorrectly stated that the watch is a Casio CA-53, although given that the CA-53 was not available until 1988 and the film was made in 1984 it wasn't. The watch Marty wears in the first Back to the Future film is actually the CA53's predecessor, the Casio CA-50. That said, in Back to the Future 2 and 3, Marty does indeed wear a Casio CA-53 in both films.

For fans wishing to own such a watch they are in luck, as despite being introduced in 1988, the CA-53 remains in production to this day.

The World's First Camera Watch

Casio WQV-1 (2000)

Casio have long fascinated us with the watches they produce, especially throughout the 1980s and 1990s when mobile phones were still the size of buses and Casio manufactured numerous gadget watches, many of which probably belong in a Spy movie.

Our Casio WQV-1 from September 2000 has the accolade of being the first watch in the world to be fitted with a small digital camera and not only that, you could view the photos you took on the watch screen. The camera on the watch was a 1/14-inch monochrome CMOS sensor and the watch took up to 80 photos in jpg format.

The photos it took were not actually much bigger than a postage stamp at 120x 120 dots (14,400); monochrome with 16 grayscales) which were viewed on a 20 x 20mm screen size. Unless the lighting was really bright, the photos were a bit blurred and, with no back light on the watch, in certain conditions, the screen was hard to see. The watch shipped with a infra-red receiver that plugged into a PC and this allowed the watch to send the images across by infra red.

So the images were blurry, and not really of much use if I'm honest but then who cared, this was a watch with a built in camera and at the time nothing else existed like it. It really was ground breaking technology and truly astounded those who saw it..

In the same year, the WQV-1 range was rapidly superseded by the WQV-2 (same camera slightly different design watch), then in 2001, the WQV-3. This now took colour pictures but had a mono display although that was then taken over by the final watch in this range, the WQV-10 that took colour photos and had a colour LCD display..

Back in 2001 I built a website that covered the Casio WQV range of watches. The website vanished a few years ago although has now been found and restored here as an archive for this watch. Elvis Payne Casio Wrist Camera website.

The First Talking Watch in the UK

Trafalgar Talking Watch (1981)

These days no one really thinks about talking watches and indeed they can be purchased for almost next to nothing, although that wasn't the case in 1981 with the recommended retail price of Trafalgar's Talking watch being set at £65. (That's about £308 in today's money).

The Trafalgar Talking watch is actually the first talking watch available in the UK, the first talking watch in the world being the Palerma, manufactured slightly earlier in the same year. Compared with modern electronics the Trafalgar talking watch features a rather large circuit made by Sharp and covered in various resistors. Contrary to popular belief that the watch had some sort of tape recorder, the circuit effectively created a synthesised voice. Trafalgar tried to explain how detailing that, "When required, the voice wavelength code stored in three integrated circuits is released through the speaker" which we imagine made everyone think, "Ah yes, that's how it works".

The watch also featured both a talking stopwatch and alarm (that both spoke the time and played music). The latter of which was quite unusual, as when the alarm went off, the button on the front acted as a snooze alarm. If you pressed it and then did nothing, after 5 minutes the watch would again tell you the time and this time add, "Please hurry" suggesting you are now late as you have been snoozing.

To make all this happen, the circuit board required a fair bit of power that came in the form of 4 x 393 (AG5) batteries. In 1983, Trafalgar released a Mk 2 version finished in silver that had a couple of extra switches on the front that made accessing modes and alarm functions a little easier although it didn't really capture the imagination as much as the original.

The Most Sold Watch in the World

Casio F-91W (2023)

On first impressions the Casio F-91W made appear a cheap and cheerful watch and yet this modest little watch hides a secret. The Casio F-91W was first introduced in 1989 and has been in constant production since. It is said that from 2011, annual production of the watch was about 3 million watches a year. It is the watches low price, its accuracy and indeed its long battery life (a battery on average lasting 7 years) that makes this watch so successful. After 7 years you can either change the battery or just buy another watch for a little bit extra.

Such is the accuracy of the watch that used to be linked to terrorism and the US government became suspicious of anyone weariing one. This wasn't really helped by the fact that It is said the watch was also used by AL Qaeda as a detonator on time bombs.

Based on the fact that 3 million F-91W watches have been built each year from 2011, that is 36,000,000 watches … and that's not counting the thousands of F-91s made from 1989 - 2011. We think therefore that the watch certainly deserves a prime spot in our collection, it may be basic and it may be cheap but above all else, the watch is a legend.

The First Watch To Be Exibited As Modern Art

Movado Museum Watch (1995)

Our Movado Museum watch was kindly donated by Harry Kraemer of Kraemer Aviation Services . The Museum watch is something of an icon thanks to its simplistic dial and modern aesthetics. With more than 200 international awards for watch design and time technology, Movado watches are permanent exhibits in museum collections worldwide.

The Movado Museum Watch was created by Nathan George Horwitt, who was the first artist to explore the concept of time as design. Such is the impact of the design, that in 1960, Horwitt’s original dial design becomes the first watch dial ever to be accepted by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, into its permanent design collection. Since then , the design has remained a firm favourite amongst Movado's watch line up.

The Name is Bond ...

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600 (2018)

In older James Bond movies the fictional spy, James Bond, appears to always be remembered for wearing Rolex watches although over the years he has worn a number of watches that have also included makes like Pulsar, Tag Heuer and even Seiko's 1982 TV watch once made an appearance being tested in Q's lab.

In the Daniel Craig era of James Bond, Bond always wears Omega watches and there is even a tongue in cheek sentence in a scene from the 2006 film Casino Royale when Bond is asked if he is wearing a Rolex and he replied, "Omega".

Our Omega Planet Ocean 600 is the same model as the watch worn by Bond in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace and again in the 2012 film Skyfall.. We read that behind the scenes the watch was too heavy to wear during various action scenes and so a special titanium lightweight version was made for him

Our Planet Ocean is a 45mm version and currently is the heaviest watch in our collection weighing in at around 230 grams.. Unlike Bond though we will stick with this version.

Hour Hand Only

Zeno SOS Solo Watch (1992)

If you travel way back in time, a long, long, time ago to the 1300s you would probably be surprised to see that mechanical clocks on had one hand, an hour hand. It was not until 1680 that clocks were fitted with a minute hand and then around 1690 when the second hand was introduced although not widely used.

Our Zeni SOS Solo Watch one just one hand is therefore (donated to Harvey by Retrowatches) a link to the past, to a time where clocks only had an hour hand. Unlike clocks of old, the Zeno has the benefit of a modern quartz movement and again unlike old clocks with just the hour markers, the Zeno has the benefit of 5 minutes markers around the out edge to help tell the time a bit more precisely with one hand.

So where as in 1679, when you arranged to meet for a drink and said, "I'll meet you outside the Red Lion when 2 o'clock has gone and its not quite 3 o'clock., with the one hand on the Zeno you can narrow it down a bit more.

Intel Inside

Microma Hexagon Watch (1976)

When you think of the "Intel Inside" logo and the snazzy little soundbite that goes with it, you often think of it being in PCs or laptops. Did you know however at the dawn of LCD digital watches, Intel purchased the Microma watch brand in 1972 for $15 million hoping to corner the watch market.. Microma are said to have created the world first watch with a LCD digital; displlay and of course, from 1972 they featured an Intel chipset.

It seems at the time that Microma watches were expected to sell for around $250 each and so the expected profit level appeared very handsome. Sadly the price of LCD watches dropped dramatically as dozens of watch manufactuers made watches with LCD displays. The alarm bells began to ring for Intel, and they sold the Microma watch brand in 1977 losing millions in the process. The brand was then known as Microma Swiss.

We have two of these Intel based watches, a gold one and a silver one that is pictured here. Both watches are 1976 models, that whilst not being the first watch with a LCD display, does fall under Intel's ownership of the company and have an Intel Inside.

KITT it's me Michael, can you hear me?

Doctor Collector - Knight Rider Communication Watch (2023)

For those who lived throughout the 1980s there was no escaping the TV series Knight Rider starring David Hassellhoth as Michael Knight and his talking AI-equipped Pontiac Firebird Trans Am called KITT, a car that seemingly could do just about anything apart from make a Latte. One of gadgets Michael Knight used was a wrist communicator in which he could talk to KITT. The Doctor Collector Wrist Communicator released in 2023 is described as a "prop replica" of the original used in the TV series and notes that whilst this has basic watch functions, it is not a real wrist communicator - just in case someone has their own talking car and tries to talk to it.

The original watch in the TV series was created by using a 1980s AM Radio watch that was sold under a variety of brand names. Removing the original markings, decals were then applied producing the Knight Industries Wrist Communicator. This prop replica therefore emulates the functions of the original radio watch including a fake non-turning tuning dial.