It’s All a Matter of Time: 5 Fun Facts About Wrist Watches that You Won’t Believe

If you have ever worked a boring job in your life, then odds are you have found yourself checking the time a lot.

These days everyone has a cell phone, or maybe even a smartwatch to keep the time for them. But despite their ubiquity, wrist watches remain a classic and classy accessory among both men and women.

But if you actually think about it, the custom of carrying a miniature clock around on our wrists seems quite odd. How exactly did that come about? And what other weird aspects are there to watches?

Five Fun Facts About Wrist Watches

In the 20th century, luxury wrist watches became prized as a symbol of status and taste. High-end watches carry prices tags in the thousands.

If someone is willing to spend that kind of money on a timepiece, there must be at least a few interesting reasons why. So here are our favorite facts about wrist watches. 

1. We Have Been Keeping Time the Same Way for Thousands of Years

The first recorded instance of timekeeping dates back to around the year 2,000 B.C. And more interestingly, we measured it in segments of 60, just as we do now.

They say you don’t fix what isn’t broken, and the system seems to have worked for the last 4,000 years or so.

2. Wrist Watches were Originally Designed for Women

Despite being stereotyped as a gentleman’s accessory, wrist watches were originally envisioned with women in mind.

Men traditionally carried pocket watches, as had been the fashion since their introduction during the Tudor Dynasty. But as women’s apparel didn’t, and often still doesn’t, feature functional pockets, pocket watches were out of the question. Hence the inception of wrist watches.

Bonus fact: The first known wrist watch was worn by Queen Elizabeth I. It was gifted to her by Robert Dudley, her suspected lover.

Wrist watches would not become fashionable among men until World War I when it quickly became apparent that they were more practical for a soldier to carry than a pocket watch.

3. The Most Expensive Watch Ever Sold Went for $17.8 Million

We all knew that watches can be expensive, but even the most dedicated enthusiast would balk at that number.

The watch in question was a 1968 Rolex Daytona. That’s a valuable model to be sure, but normally nowhere near $17.8 million.

Well, its value derives from having been the personal watch of Academy Award winner Paul Newman. Gifted to him by his wife, Newman wore the watch anytime he wasn’t acting. It was such an iconic part of his look that the ’68 Daytona became colloquially known as “The Paul Newman.”

4. Omega Watches were the Favored Choice of Astronauts

If Paul Newman favored Rolex, it seems that the first men to land on the moon favored Omega.

Specifically, astronauts preferred the Omega Speedmaster. The watch was carried during the Apollo moon missions and was carried by both American Astronauts and Russian Kosmonauts during the first joint US-Soviet space flight.

The Speedmaster’s sister model, the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean, finds favor among a different kind of explorer, being the preferred choice of maritime adventurers.

5. Watches for Sale are “Happy” to See You

If you’ve been shopping in a showroom, you may have noticed that all the pieces on display had one thing in common.

Oftentimes, every watch will be set to ten minutes past ten, or sometimes ten past two. This is a marketing technique called “happy time”, so named because the positioning of the watch’s hands resembles a smile.

By making the pieces appear to smile at customers, retailers attempt to subliminally impart positive feelings to customers, making them more likely to make a purchase.

Our Style is Representative of Ourselves

At a glance, wearing a tiny clock on our arms seems to just be one of those curious customs that we picked up at some point. But as with any aspect of culture, wrist watches have meaning and history.

When was the last time you found yourself frantically checking the time? To hear some stories on some of the worst such instances, check out our top disastrous first date stories.

Weirdomatic is the place where all weird things come to life through the amazing world of photographs – a corner of our wild imagination or the whimsical face of the reality?