Fusee: (fyu-‘ze)n. a conical spirally grooved pulley in a timepiece from which a cord or chain unwinds onto a barrel containing the spring and which by its increasing diameter compensates for the lessening power of the spring
As we take a brief historical look into the history of watches and timepieces alike, let’s go back to the 16th Century in Germany where Peter Henlein created the first pocket watch. Most pocket watches were at one point an item of choice for people of aristocracy. Today, they are being handed down as gifts.
Then, in or around the early 17th Century, Fusees were adapted from clocks to watches. In 1687, the repeating mechanisms that tolls s bell sound every quarter hour and hour. As time goes on, so does the style of watches and timepieces. As we move on to the year 1704, that was when jewels were used in watch movements. Peter and Jacob Debaufre, Nicolas Facio were the first gentlemen to make this happen. It wasn’t until around 1750 that watchmakers began using enamel on watch dials. The English lever escpaements were eventually added nine years later by Thomas Mudge.
The first watch making shop erected in Paris, France in 1775. A few years later, Abraham Louis Perrelet invented the self winding movement making watches easy to set. Later in 1807, Thomas Young invented the recording chronograph. Two years following, Luther Goddard of Shrewsbury, MS was the first watch manufacturer in America. In 1820, the first patent for the self winding watch was registered. Tiffany’s was opened in 1837.
As far as brands, in 1853, Tissot made the first dual time zone watch; 1858, Minerva is founded; 1860 Heuer is founded; 1865, Zenith was founded and 1881, Movado was founded. In 1884, Greenwich, England was officially named the zero meridian and used as the worldwide recognized basis of time zones.
Watchmakers have evolved at the turn of the twentieth century beginning in 1905 when Hans Wilsdorf started the Rolex Watch Company. Wrist watches came with alarms in 1914. Further in 1926, Rolex introduced the first waterproof case called the “Oyster”. The Mickey Mouse watch was introduced by 1933 by Ingersoll. Technology began to play a part in how we tell time near 1970 when Hamilton created the “Pulsar”, the first electronic digital watch. Longines and Seiko took it a step further in introducing the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). In 1985, Swiss Heuer merged with TAG to form TAG Huere.
As far as time recording went, Casio did the unthinkable and innovative move by having a wrist watch equipped with a built-in Global Positioning System or GPS. Time has been here before man and will always continue. As we take a look into the history of such an intricate craft, one should also take in consideration as to the distribution of timepieces around the world.
