Most Expensive Watches

New Designer Watchesmovado womens watches are often welcome as gifts – but in some cases, have real symbolism. For example, in Spain, just like many other Western countries, it is traditional for men to present women with engagement rings when their proposals are accepted. However, Spanish women often return the gesture by presenting their future husbands with designer watches. This is only one of the more unique ways in which mens watches are presented as gifts.

A Short History

Designer watches and luxury watches have actually been around for about 500 years, although they were usually signs of status or a tool of one’s trade, as was the case for railroad mens’ pocket watches and dive watches. The first men’s watches appeared around the time of Martin Luther in the mid-16th Century; they were essentially miniature versions of the spring-wound wall clocks that had been invented less than a century earlier. Rather large and unwieldy, these early men’s watches were worn around the neck, fastened by a chain.

“Bracelet watches,” which were the first true wristwatches, were not mens watches at all; first appearing shortly after the American Civil War, they were actually intended to be worn by women. Men used pocket watches exclusively. It wasn’t until the invention of the airplane that it became necessary to develop a time piece that allowed pilots to tell time without removing their hands from the stick.

Louis Cartier, who later became well known for the production of luxury watches, was actually the first to come up with a practical mens watches designed to be worn on the wrist for the benefit of those early aviators.

Citizen watches are yet another famous name in luxury watches. These were first manufactured in 1918 by a Japanese company, Shoshoka Watch Institute, which changed its name in 1930. To this day, Citizen watches are considered some of the finest and most accurate timepieces in the world.

However, the standard by which true luxury watches are measured is Movado. Watches by this famous Swiss company have been famous since the first one came out in 1912. Movado diamond watches and Movado gold watches are known not only for exceptional quality, but for sleek, minimalist design. Women’s movado womens watches come in almost 100 different designs. Movado mens watches also come in many different designs – so if you are planning on presenting one as a gift, it may take you some time to decide on which one to buy!

All About Watches

You’re familiar with the custom in which a man gives a woman a ring as an engagement gift, but did you know that in some places, women give mens watches for the same reason? It’s true – in Spain when couples get engaged and announce wedding plans, women will purchase designer watches for their fiancés. Right now, you’re about to learn more about mens watches – and womens as well.

Back in the Day…

Designer watches and luxury watches are fairly new innovations, as well as specialty timepieces such as dive watches. The concept goes back quite a ways in history, however.

The first mechanical clocks came into existence in Europe around 1300, during the time of such luminaries as William (“Braveheart”) Wallace, Marco Polo, Jacques DeMolay and Dante Alighieri. (Interestingly, eyeglasses were invented about the same time.) These early clocks were driven by weights; spring-driven clock – from which mens watches were ultimately developed – did not come along until well over one hundred years later.

The first mens watches, invented around the time of King Henry VIII, were miniature versions of wall clocks, carried on a chain around the neck. Early models were still large and none-too-dependable; nonetheless, the pocket watch ultimately became a standard accessory for gentlemen starting in the 1600s and lasting until well into the 20th century (and was a required tool for railroad men).

The first wristwatches were actually made for women; the “bracelet watch” was first made available in 1868. It was the advent of aviation that led to the development of the first mens watches starting with the Santos watch of 1904 (named for the famous French-Brazilian aviator).

Designer Watches Since Then

The manufacturer of that early wristwatch was Louis Cartier – a name that has since been synonymous with luxury watches. However, his is hardly the only one.

Abruptly yanked into the Industrial Age from a medieval society that had been unchanged for over 1,700 years, the Japanese wasted little time in catching up to the Western World. Citizen watches, still a hallmark of timepiece quality, were first made in 1918 by the Shoshoka Watch Institute, which became Citizen in 1930.

Another famous name – from a country the name of which is practically a synonym for fine watchmaking – is that of Swiss company Movado (Esperanto for “always in motion”). Movado watches have been famous since before the First World War. Movado diamond watches and Movado gold watches combine elegant, minimalist style with state-of-the-art, cutting edge technology for some of the most accurate timepieces on Earth. If you are considering one of the many women’s Movado watches, you may have a difficult time; there are nearly 100 different Movado women’s watches to choose from – and nearly as many models of mens watches!

In Esperanto, the universal language, the word means always in motion. In English, it has come to essentially mean “extraordinary, iconic timepiece.” The same definition pretty much applies to languages around the globe as Movado has become one of the most demanded and adored watches in the world. And the brand has quite an interesting history.

It was once known as the North American Watch Company, but today, the Movado Group is one of the leading makers and distributers of luxury timepieces in exisence. They are now an amalgamation of several distinguished watchmakers including the Concord company, and it thus makes timepieces under the ESQ and Vizio brand names. It also has licencing agreements with Coach and is a distributer for the Swiss fine watch brands, Piaget and Corum. Aside from all this, Movado owns and operates many retail stores that not only sell Movado watches but also fine jewelry and accessories.

Movado can trace its roots all the way back to 1881, when it was established by Achille Ditesheim, a nineteen year old watchmaker in the small village of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura Mountains. Ditesheim’s little six-person workshop grew so quickly that by 1897 it had about eighty watchmakers, making it one of the largest manufacturers of luxury watches in the entire country. And already the brand had established a reputation for making watches of great technological sophistication being one of the first companies to utilize advanced machinery rather than simple hand tools. It was Ditesheim who gave Movado its Esperanto name.

By 1920 the Movado company was making and marketing over seven hundred different watch models throughout the world including two of its most well known timepieces, Ermeto and Valentino, the latter, encased in snakeskin, was named for the eponymous movie star, and the Ermeto, was one of the most luxurious watches of its era, with many of the different watches in the collection, covered in precious gemstones.

As good as the Twenties were to the Movado brand, the Thirties and Forties were perhaps even more innovative and noteworthy. In a roughly fifteen-year period, Movado created one of the first digital wristwatches, as well as water-resistant timepieces in various styles and in 1945, they introduced the first ever automatic winding wristwatch called the Tempomatic (which eventually evolved into the Kingmatic).

In the Sixties, Movado introduced the timepiece that till this day is probably most closely associated with the brand itself, its classic Museum Watch.

Nathan George Horwitt, an American artist, designed the Museum Watch with its now famous black, numberless dial. This design became so important to the horological world that Mr. Horwitt donated the prototype to the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The brand went through a bit of a slump in the Seventies but when it was acquired by the North American Watch Company, its fortunes began to turn – especially in America and by 1996 the North American Watch Company officially adopted the Movado name as its own, as it had already become its most popular brand.

And today, Movado is still one of the most popular and innovative luxury watch brands in America, and that condition is unlikely to change anytime soon.