The wristwatch was invented by Patek Philippe at the end of the 19th century. It was however considered a woman's accessory. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont, who had difficulty checking the time while in his first aircraft (Dumont was working on the invention of the aeroplane), asked his friend Louis Cartier for a watch he could use more easily. Cartier gave him a leather-band wristwatch from which Dumont never separated. Being a popular figure in Paris, Cartier was soon able to sell these watches to other men. During the First World War, officers in all armies soon discovered that in battlefield situations, quickly glancing at a watch on their wrist was far more convenient than fumbling in their jacket pockets for an old-fashioned pocket watch. In addition, as increasing numbers of officers were killed in the early stages of the war, NCOs promoted to replace them often did not have pocket watches (traditionally a middle-class item out of the reach of ordinary working-class soldiers), and so relied on the army to provide them with timekeepers. As the scale of battles increased, artillery and infantry officers were required to synchronize watches in order to conduct attacks at precise moments, whilst artillery officers were in need of a large number of accurate timekeepers for rangefinding and gunnery. Army contractors began to issue reliable, cheap, mass-produced wristwatches which were ideal for these purposes. When the war ended, demobilized European and American officers were allowed to keep their wristwatches, helping to popularize the items amongst middle-class Western civilian culture. Today, many Westerners wear watches on their wrists, a direct result of the first world war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch#Wrist_watch

The history of the wristwatch is indeed short. Wristwatches did not begin to see widespread use until the 1920s. Men tended to regard the wristwatch as effeminate. Watches adapted to the wrist made sporadic appearances as early as the late 1500s. Queen Elizabeth I is said to have been given one. In the early 1800s the wristwatch made more frequent appearances when jewelry and watchmakers began creating gem encrusted timepieces for royalty. Impact of War: Toward the end of the 1800s, women began to embrace the wristwatch as an item of adornment. Despite the feminine association, the concept became accepted as indispensable to military campaigns as mechanization in war grew. The ability to read time with a quick glance rather than having dig through to pockets was critical in battle. Officers in the South African Boer war (1899-1902) used wristwatches. By World War I, military organizations began to demand them. They became especially crucial to fledgling aerial combat operations. As demand for wristwatches in warfare grew, rugged timepieces covered with metal grids were introduced. The first chronograph wristwatches were developed, and luminous hands and markers were developed.

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