How the Pocket Watch Yielded to the Wristwatch in the Trenches of World War One
Before 1914, the wristwatch was a novelty for women or a gimmick for polo players. Real men carried pocket watches secured by chains to waistcoat buttonholes. Strapping a delicate timepiece to an exposed wrist struck most horologists as impractical. The First World War changed that calculus entirely.
The problem was operational. In trench warfare, an officer needed to synchronise attacks and time barrages. Fumbling with a pocket watch while holding binoculars or a revolver was not merely inconvenient; it could be fatal. Soldiers began strapping pocket watches to wrists using leather cups.
By 1916 the British War Department issued purpose-built wristwatches with wire lugs, luminous radium dials, and protective crystal grilles. Omega, Longines, and Waltham competed for contracts, accelerating development of smaller, more robust movements designed specifically for wrist wear.
The cultural shift was swift. Returning soldiers had grown accustomed to wristwatch convenience. By the mid-1920s wristwatch sales overtook pocket watches for the first time. The Rolex Oyster of 1926 and the Reverso of 1931 addressed durability concerns born in combat (https://www.omegawatches.com/planet-omega/heritage).
The pocket watch did not vanish immediately. It retained a ceremonial role with morning suits and continued to be produced by Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin for collectors valuing the larger canvas for engraving and complications. But as a practical instrument it was obsolete by 1930.
The wristwatch's wartime origin left an indelible mark on design DNA. The emphasis on legibility, durability, and water resistance defining modern tool watches traces directly to trench warfare requirements. Even luxury dress watches inherit the basic form factor improvised under fire.
The transition is one of the most consequential shifts in personal accessories. Not driven by fashion but by the brutal necessities of industrial warfare. Every wristwatch, from simplest quartz to most elaborate tourbillon, descends from an improvised solution to telling time while trying not to die.
