Amazing Facts You Have Never Known About Watches
There is nothing more that says about a person by the choice of watch and most people rely only on their mobile phones to conveniently check time. Perhaps the watch you are wearing might project subtle elegance, sporty or being chunky. There are as many different kinds of watches as there are people who wear them.
Here are a few incredible facts that you never knew about watches. You might look at your watch in a whole new light after considering these!
Oldest Watch
Believed to be the earliest watch in existence is the Melanchthon watch. The watch was made in 1530 for protestant reformer Philipp Melancthon, a colleague of Martin Luther. The age of the watch and its owner makes it a remarkable enough, but it is also one of the older spherical designed watches.
Smallest Watch
It was in 1929 that the smallest ever wristwatch movement was designed and built. The Jaeger Le Coultre 101 is a tiny timepiece that was actually produced right up until the fifties. It was designed by Edmond Jaeger and David Le Coultre, who’s partnership since 1903 had created the most astonishingly advanced clocks and watches of that era. The weight of the 98 parts, along with the hands, case and dials, only came in at just under a gramme, and measured only 14mm in length.
Roman Numerals
Have you ever asked yourself, “why isn’t the numeral at ’4′ right on my watch?”
On a watch or clock face, Roman numerals run in the correct order ‘I’, ‘II’, ‘III,’ until we get to the numeral for ’4′. It should read ‘IV’, but more often than not, doesn’t. There is a legendary story about the king of France, Louis XIV, a man who really should know his numerals!
When a celebrated clockmaker had designed and built a special clock for the king, the monarch insisted the numeral ‘IV’ was wrong. No matter how much, undoubtedly subtle, advise the king received to the contrary, he was insistent. For this reason, the clock was changed to suit the king. The truth of the matter is that clocks with the numeral ‘IIII’ have existed long before the reign of Louis XIV, and it’s believed that it’s actually more to do with aesthetic balance on the clock face.
Most Expensive Watch
You might be proud of that extra special watch that’s too good to wear every day, or that you managed to get hold of one of the range of Hugo Boss watches, but that’s nothing compared to the Chopard 201-carat watch. This is thanks to the almost impossible number of valuable jewels encrusted upon it. Embedded across the body and strap is a menu of ridiculously expensive diamonds, all cut to different shapes in a plethora of colours. The full shopping list goes like this:
So what’s the price tag on this baby? This timepiece was bought at auction just over 10 years ago at a value of 25m US dollars. Ker-ching!
