In an effort to BMA (Be More Analog), Elaine has started wearing a watch again. Me, susceptible me, I’ve started wearing a watch again too, a Timex Expedition, purchased in the first decade of this century.
I thought it might be fun to get a new strap. One way to really know what time it is: try finding a watch strap at a friendly neighborhood multinational retailer.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Strapped for time
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
comments: 4
I was surprised to see prominent wrist watches in "1917," but Wikipedia tells me that trench warfare and World War I had a lot to do with their acceptance:
"The impact of the First World War dramatically shifted public perceptions on the propriety of the man's wristwatch and opened up a mass market in the postwar era. The creeping barrage artillery tactic, developed during the war, required precise synchronization between the artillery gunners and the infantry advancing behind the barrage. Service watches produced during the War were specially designed for the rigours of trench warfare, with luminous dials and unbreakable glass. The War Office began issuing wristwatches to combatants from 1917.[25] By the end of the war, almost all enlisted men wore a wristwatch and after they were demobilized, the fashion soon caught on: the British Horological Journal wrote in 1917 that "the wristlet watch was little used by the sterner sex before the war, but now is seen on the wrist of nearly every man in uniform and of many men in civilian attire." By 1930, the ratio of a wrist to pocket watches was 50 to 1." "Watch"
Thanks for sharing that, George. I had no idea. Railroad (pocket) watches were prized for accuracy, but a watch on the wrist would have been much more useful in war.
Reading your comment made me remember something from Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt: Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) gives the old dad (Henry Travers) a watch as a gift, and the dad says, “I've never had a wristwatch. Fellows at the bank’ll think I’m quite a sport.” In other words, he’s always carried a pocket watch. You can see it the scene at the usual place.
Funny you should mention the Timex Expedition. I stumbled across mine while rummaging through a drawer last month. It was still running and it seemed like I should wear it, so I did. And continue to do so.
Takes a licking and keeps on, &c. Wear it well.
Post a Comment