Before the First World War, watches on the wrist were considered exclusively for women
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00:00 Before the First World War, watches on the wrist were considered exclusively for women.
00:08 And first of all, they were decoration.
00:11 Putting a watch on a man's hand was scarier than wearing a skirt.
00:17 Men wore watches in their waist pockets.
00:21 The war changed everything.
00:23 Officers, cavalrymen, and aviators began to wear watches and compasses on their wrists.
00:30 It was extremely difficult for the pilot to take them out of the waist pocket.
00:36 The watch on the wrist has become a symbol of courage.
00:40 Men returning home from the front were in no hurry to part with their wristwatches.
00:47 And out of army habits, continued to wear them on their wrists.
00:52 It no longer had any utility function.
00:56 It was a kind of analogue of post-war Boston.
00:59 A warrantor of courage of their wearer.
01:03 And former soldiers changed function.
01:06 By 1930, sales of wristwatches exceeded sales of pocket watches for the first time.
01:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]