ABOUT TIME

A stroll through history uncovers the crucial role played by women in the evolution of the modern watch.

- JOSH BOZIN

How rich is the history women's watches? At the of outset, it's worth noting two points. One, in respect to how the modern wristwatch came to be, women not men-are at the centre of the story.

And two, though within the watch industry a lot of bragging is done about which company was the first to do this or the first to do that, there is only one company that can rightfully claim to have designed the first wristwatch as we know it today.

The story begins with Breguet.

Abraham-Louis Breguet set up his watchmaking workshop in Paris in 1775, making Breguet one of the world's oldest watch brands. Thirty-five years later, in 1810, he'd created something unprecedented for Caroline Murat, queen of Naples: a watch designed to be worn on the wrist. Today, despite the best efforts of historians and collectors, the whereabouts of this timepiece remain unknown. Further, no one can find Breguet's preliminary sketches or a single replication of the historic piece.

So, how can we know what this watch looked like, and even whether it was a wristwatch at all? Well, based on Breguet's workshop service records (which include an order for a timepiece "mounted upon a bracelet"), it's believed to have been oblong in shape, with a very delicate guilloché silver dial with Breguet numerals, and to have featured several complications, including a minute repeater, a moon-phase indicator and a thermometer, making it an astonishing feat for the time. And thanks to its wristlet of hair and gold thread, this piece could be worn on the wrist.