1485 : Leonardo da Vinci sketches a fusee for a clock. 1500s : Germany : Peter Henlein creates the first pocket watch.
Early 1600s : Form watches becoming popular. Cases are shaped like animals and objects. Religious themes are popular.
1635 : Around this time that the fusee was adapted from clocks to watches.
1659 - 1675 : Christian Huygens invents the "Remontoire".
1687 : Daniel Quare patents the repeating mechanism that uses bells to sound quarter hours and the hours.
1704 : Peter and Jacob Debaufre, Nicolas Facio, are the first to use rubies in watch
movements.
1750 : watch makers began using enamel on watch dials.
1759 : Thomas Mudge invents the English lever escapement.
1775 : Abraham Louis Breguet sets up his own watch making shop in Paris, France.
1780 : Abraham Louis Perrelet invents the self winding movement.
1786 : Breguet is the first to use guilloche on watch dials.
1791 : J.F. Bautte founded the watch company that would eventually become Girard-Perregaux.
1807 : Thomas Young invents the recording chronograph.
1809 : Luther Goddard of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts is the first watch manufacturer in America.
1820 : Thomas Prest registers a patent for the self winding watch.
1833 : Antoine LeCoultre starts his own watchmaking business which later become Jaeger-LeCoultre.
1837 : First Tiffany store opens.
1843: Adrien Philippe develops a watch with winding and setting through the crown.
1844 : The start, stop, and reset chronograph is invented by Adolph Nicole.
1844 : Antoine LeCoultre invents the millionometre.
1848 : Louis Brandt opens his own workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds which eventually became the Omega watch Company.
1853 : Tissot makes the first dual time zone watch.
1858 : Minerva is founded.
1860 : Heuer is founded.
1865 : Zenith founded.
1881 : Movado founded.
1884 : Greenwich, England is officially named the zero meridian and used as the world wide recognized basis of time zones.
1886 : Geneva Seal established.
1894 : Universal Geneve established.
1905 : Hans Wilsdorf starts the Rolex watch Company.
1914 : Eterna introduces the first wrist watch with an alarm.
1918 : Japan : Shakosha watch Company opened. This would become Citizen in 1931.
1923 : John Harwood is the first to mass produce a self winding wrist watch.
1924 : Tokyo : Seiko brand name is launched by Kinttaro Hattori.
1926 : Rolex introduces the first waterproof case called the "Oyster".
1929 : First anti magnetic watch created by Tissot.
1933 : Ingersoll introduces the "Mickey Mouse" watch.
1956 : Rolex introduces their first model that displays the day and date.
1957 : Hamilton introduces the world's first battery driven watch.
1962 : Rado produces the world's first scratch proof watch called the "Diastar 1".
1962 : ETA of Switzerland develops the first quartz battery operated watch.
1970 : Hamilton releases the "Pulsar", the first electronic digital watch.
1972 : Longines and Seiko introduce the LCD, (Liquid Crystal Display).
1980 : Hublot founded.
1983 : SMH of Switzerland launches the S watch brand.
1985 : Swiss Heuer Company merges with TAG to form TAG Heuer.
1986 : Audemars Piguet introduces the first self winding tourbillon.
1991 : Franck Muller founded.
1999 : Casio innovates with the first wrist watch with a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS).
source
