Timex to Rolex
Timex to Rolex
By Henry Primos Smith - February 7, 2025
Before the Industrial Revolution, most people—particularly those in rural, agrarian communities—experienced time in a more flexible way. Daily life followed natural cycles like sunrise, sunset, and the changing seasons, rather than the precise measurement of hours and minutes. Few people owned clocks or watches, and the concept of punctuality was less rigid.
Article graphic by Lana Welborn.
In contrast, in urban areas and among the wealthy, clocks had already become symbols of status and technological progress. Tower clocks in town squares and personal timepieces were regarded as marks of sophistication. However, for the majority, timekeeping was still a shared and collective experience with little need for strict accuracy.
The growing availability of affordable watches paralleled the broader consumer culture of the Industrial Revolution. Advances in manufacturing, particularly in the U.S. with companies like Waltham Watch Co., allowed for the mass production of watches. This marked a significant shift from the handmade, artisanal timepieces of earlier centuries and further solidified the importance of time in daily life.
World War I saw the transition from pocket watches to wristwatches, as soldiers in the field found the wristwatch more convenient under harsh conditions. For much of the early 20th century, a high-quality watch was characterized by a gold casing. As wristwatches grew in popularity, design innovations flourished. The Art Deco movement of the 1920s and 1930s heavily influenced watch aesthetics, exemplified by Cartier’s Tank (1917) and Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso (1931), both featuring sleek geometric shapes and clean lines. In the postwar era, watchmakers embraced both functionality and design excellence. Hans Wilsdorf’s Rolex Oyster (1926) set a new standard for waterproofing, while Gérald Genta revolutionized sports watches with his steel luxury designs like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak (1972) and the Patek Philippe Nautilus (1976), blending ruggedness with sophistication.
The quartz crisis of the 1970s, when inexpensive quartz watches from Japan threatened the Swiss mechanical watch industry, led to another evolution in design. In response, Swiss watchmakers focused on craftsmanship and luxury to produce highly complicated and artistic mechanical watches. At the same time, brands like Swatch embraced playful, affordable designs to capture the mass market. By the early 2000s, independent watchmakers like François-Paul Journe and Philippe Dufour gained recognition for their mastery of traditional horology, blending historical techniques with modern innovation.
Watches are particularly interesting because, much like a wedding ring, they are worn directly on the skin for years. However, instead of representing a commitment to the institution of marriage, a watch represents a commitment to the institution of time. Any watch, from the cheapest Timex to the most expensive Rolex, binds people together and declares that our time is valuable and should never be wasted.
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