Hacker News

Zero Hour: Telling time was a matter of survival and strategy during WWI (2014)(laphamsquarterly.org)

105 points by NaOH 2 days ago | 6 comments

> “Wristlets,” as they were known until the 1920s, were designed for women. As the name implies, they were essentially bracelets designed for showing off jewels (and shapely wrists), and were equipped with a tiny watch face for decoration rather than practicality. It would take one of the twentieth century’s greatest rebranding campaigns to persuade military men to strap time to their wrists.

TIL

[–] forinti 23 hours ago

AFAIK, wrist watches were an idea by Santos Dumont, because he needed something practical during flight. He asked his friend Louis Cartier to come up with something and hence the first one was invented in 1904. It became popular (among rich people, I'm sure) in 1911 when Cartier started selling them to the public. I knew the bit about Dumont needing to keep time without using his hands, the rest I looked up just now.

[–] wildzzz 1 day ago

My grandmother had a ladies Rolex cocktail watch where the case was about the size of a dime.

[–] EGreg 1 day ago

No way!

I thought watches were adopted by men for practicality.

I guess people before WW2 would take watches out of pockets.

What about high heels? Originally for men, eh?

Not exactly. I suspected it: Roman high-soled shoes or high footwear (bushkins) were also worn by sex workers to identify themselves to potential clients in the streets.

[–] abrowne 1 day ago

I read that high(er?) heels were popularized by Persian cavalry. They help you to keep stable while shooting a bow in the saddle.

[–] anamax 13 hours ago

A heel keeps your foot from sliding through the stirrup, but the ball of your foot is what you normally stand on in the stirrup.