Legend has it that the wristwatch first became popular in World War I. Soldiers and aviators found having to fumble around in a pocket to find their watch while engaging with the enemy troublesome. Until then, wristwatches had been mainly worn by women, but the trend was rapidly adopted by the population at large.
Cartier was the first of the Swiss watchmakers to produce a wristwatch, the Santos, which appeared in 1911, but soon the other brands followed suit. Today the early Swiss wristwatches are regarded as the best pieces and fetch 10s – or even hundreds – of thousands of pounds at auction.
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