Reinventing the Wristwatch (From Dick Tracy to the Smartwatch)

The little-known history of the wristwatch—and how it was a proving ground for consumer products in the shift from a mechanical to a microelectronic world.

A beautifully illustrated volume from a former curator at the Smithsonian, perfect for young and old fans of wristwatches.

Today, new watches are mostly electronic. They give everyone access to the split-second accuracy once available to only scientists and technicians. But when the first electronic watches appeared in the 1970s, they touched off an instantaneous and disruptive global revolution in the watch business. Not just manufacturing, but retail and repair services changed forever, as mechanical gears gave way to microelectronics. Digital displays threatened to make the traditional dial and hands obsolete and, for some people, disturbed longheld assumptions about time.

In Reinventing the Wristwatch, Carlene Stephens explores four decades of wristwatch research and development, sales and service, and consumer reception to identify the significant shifts in the way wristwatches were made, sold, repaired, and used. 

The intriguing, complex history recounted in Reinventing the Wristwatch features all the elements of a daring adventure story—proud and determined protagonists, a daunting quest, and myriad obstacles to overcome in pursuit of that goal. In timekeeping history, the perennial and elusive quest has been to build a perfectly accurate watch. In the middle of the twentieth century, that goal drove engineers—working independently in Japan, Switzerland, and the United States—to experiment with microelectronic components newly created in Cold War laboratories. In the process, they completely reinvented the wristwatch. And in doing so completely changed definitions of timekeeping accuracy for a wide public.