Natiana Lee
Damali Olukayode
Ready to Wear Analysis: Watches
Watches evolved from portable spring driven clocks, these watches first came about in the 15th century in Europe. Watches are portable time pieces that were made possible by the invention on mainspring. In 1868 Patek Philippe invented the very first wrist watch for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary. In 1880 Constant Girard industrialized the concept of wrist watches that were geared toward German naval officers. At this time 2,000 wrist watches were produced, this event represents the commercialization of wristwatches only for men. Women openly wore wrist watches until the First World War. In 1904 the wrist watch began to become more popular. The Santos wrist watch first sold in 1911. The pocket-watches were still the dominant style favored by men until the First World War. During the war soldiers needed hands free watches; these were called “trench watches.” These watches resembled pocket watches. In 1930 after the war pocket-watches went out of style. Later in 1923, John Harwood invented the first successful winding system.
Today, wrist watches are in sold in various stores all around the nation. They come in different face sizes and colors. While there is no set size, all watches come with some way of decreasing links in the watch or moving the notches on the band. Typically women’s watches have a smaller faces when compared to a men’s watch. Some are more expensive than others and through this project, we displayed just that. For this project, my team decided to visit a moderately priced store, a better priced store, and a budget store, to gather information about similar wrist watches from three locations that are within three different price margins.
While visiting each establishment, every department store had a different type of persona. From these department stores of Macy's (Better), Kohl's (Moderate) and K-Mart (Budget) each store presented a different overall experience.