List your iconic or seminal watches

bren2002

What do you consider to be some of the most iconic or seminal watches in history?

For me -
Rolex Submariner; first dive watch
Omega Speedmaster; first watch on the moon
Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean; for the coaxial movement

Should the Tag Monaco be here? Maybe.
Cartier Tank? Probably.

sparrowcar

For me growing up and only discovering premium watch brands in my later years these would be my list. Remember probably none of us had watches worth more than a few quid in our early days.

Swatch (any from the 80's)
Casio F-91W
Casio G-shock
Tag Monaco
Breitling Navi
Omega SMP ( or any the watches 007 wore)

Wibbs

bren2002 wrote: »

Rolex Submariner; first dive watch

NOt to nitpick B, fantastic watch that the Sub is but it wasn't. Not even close. The first dive watch aimed at that market was the Omega Marine way back in the 30's. Then you had watches like the original Panerai and the Longines. After the war particularly in the US Hamilton and Elgin had divers watches. Rotatable bezel looks like a divers watch we'd expect today? Nope, the Blancpain LIP fifty fathoms preceded it. That said the Sub is an icon, one still available today.

My list might include the very earliest wristwatches by Omega(the first in 1908), Longines, Zenith and a host of others. The birth of the wristwatch for men. Within that the first wrist chronograph first produced by Longines in 1913. This also started the subsection of Military watches, an area of innovation in toughness and legibility.

Rolex Oyster. Brought various waterproofing designs together in one and soon after had an automatic movement to reduce wear on the crown. Though waterproof watches were around before the Rolex, they were of variable success, though the earliest known a specially commissioned run by British Navy Submariners(the watch being named thusly) in WW1 would have been as waterproof as the later Oyster but because it used gaskets you could wind and set it without care about flooding.

The various 20/30's Pilots watches e.g. the Weems Hour angle made by a couple of makers, notably Longines, but also Zenith and Omega and others later on.

30's Wyler Incaflex. The first real implementation in shock proofing for wristwatches.

The Tissot Antimagnetic again in the 30's and one of the pioneers of this tech. Within a year many other makers started sprouting the word antimagnetic on their dials. A big deal in pilots watches in those early days of electricity flying around all over the place in cockpits of the day.

1930/40's Longines flyback chronograph 13ZN movement. Made Patek and others look like they were thrown together. Still to this day a fantastically well designed and built chrono.

Patek Calatrava. Elegance personified.

Hamilton electric movements. Weren't much more accurate than mechanicals of the time and about as reliable as a baby's arse, but started something big.

Breitling Navitimer. Brought the slide rule computer to the wrist.

Omega Speedmaster. True icon again still being produced today.

Bulova Accutron. Biggest leap in accuracy in personal timekeeping since the lever escapement came along.

Heuer/Breitling/Seiko/Zenith with the first automatic chronograph all at pretty much the same time.

But just around the corner, months away in fact, came the biggest game changer in 20th century timekeeping.

Seiko Astron/Swiss Beta 21 quartz movements. A revolution in personal timekeeping and one that today still makes up the vast majority of watches sold(honourable mention for Girard Perregaux for setting the frequency standard and general layout of pretty much all analogue quartz that followed).

Omega Marine Chronometer. The most accurate wristwatch ever produced at the time and even today is astonishingly accurate.

Pulsar P1. First widely available LED watch. Started a massive trend for digital dials that lasted well over a decade(and that rather than quartz itself buggered the Swiss mechanical movement).

The Swatch. Without it and the money they generated from it it's likely Swiss watches, especially mechanical ones would be a tiny niche market today.

Casio G-Shock.

Omega bringing the co axial escapement to market in their DeVille range.

Seiko Springdrive. Whole new approach to keeping time.

My general list anyway.