Watches are one of the many things in demand today. Aside from helping people tell time, they can also be used as a fashion statement.
There are different types of watches and some are very expensive, depending on the brand and model you choose to purchase. Over time, there have been new developments in watch design, thanks in large part to technology. With unlimited possibilities, technology has elevated how watches are made and molded into perfection.
Here’s how:
Enabled Mass Production
One of the questions you might be thinking of is, “How does technology affect the production of watches, as well as its impact on manufacturing?”
There used to be a time when all watches were handcrafted by skilled craftsmen on a large scale. However, nowadays, watches are mass produced in factories. As manufacturing became more mechanized, watch production became cheaper as well, leading to a lower quality. On the other hand, watches made by hand, while fewer than the mass-produced ones, may be considered as luxury items because of the craftsmanship applied in their creation.
Developed Automation
As watch making became more mechanized, watchmakers started automating the process. Watches began as simple time pieces, but later, designers started adding new features.
The first watches are not the wristwatches we know today but alarm clocks. Soon, watch makers added date functions and, eventually, built-in calendars, which are some of the advantages of tactical watches.
Watch makers started automating the actual movements of the watches. This gave manufacturers a chance to focus more on the features of the watches rather than the movements. Currently, majority of the watches today are made with a stopwatch or a timer function built into the face.
While watches are a time piece, making them has also progressed to becoming a hobby. This hobby, then, allows watch makers to add more features to their creations in order to enhance and further its function.
Increased Complexity
Technology’s impact on watches is not just limited to how a piece looks. Over the past century or so, watches have become more complex.
Today’s watches can do everything from showing the time to surfing the Internet. Smart watches can even measure your heart rate and the number of steps you take in a day. As watches become more intricate, watch makers needed to find ways to make these complex details functional.
Also, the manufacturing processes a watch undergoes determines how valuable they are. The cost of a watch will often be based on its features, as well as its overall durability.
More Materials Are Used
Watches are important to people because they are an expression of how they feel, where they are headed, and who they are as a person. In addition to how watches are made, the way watches are worn is equally as important.
The type of materials used in the construction of a watch and the way those materials are treated have an impact on how they wear and look. For instance, the materials that are used in the many watches can affect how long a watch is able to maintain its precision. Certain materials such as sapphire is extremely hard, thus increasing the watch’s precision.
Enhanced Precision
Speaking of precision, when it comes to how watches are made today, precision is everything. Because of this, watch manufacturers are always looking for ways to increase the accuracy of their watches.
In response to this, companies are working hard to develop new materials and methods of using these to increase the precision of a watch while keeping it at a reasonable price.
Use Of Nanotechnology
There are what we now consider smart watches, and one of the ways to increase the precision of a watch without having to hike the cost is through the use of nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is used in many forms, including the creation of watches. In simple terms, nanotechnology is the study of small nanotubes and how these tiny tubes are manipulated into the right size and shape so that they can function like watch’s mechanism. For this to happen, a watch needs to have a circuit board that has nanotubes printed onto it.
Nanotechnology is an exciting topic in which many different technological advances are being made. As more nanotechnologies are developed, the accuracy of how watches work will also improve.
This is why future watches will be made with nanotechnologies since it helps increase the precision of how it functions. And soon, we will be able to look into the future and see how watches will function even more accurately.
Conclusion
Technology has enhanced various aspects of human life, even in the telling of time. What was a handcrafted creation before has evolved into something more complex as watch making is now largely mass produced. Watches themselves are no longer just simple time pieces but are intricately made items that can not only tell time, but also display dates, keep track of your heart rate, and even surf the Internet. Thanks to nanotechnology as well, we may be closer to having watches that we only dreamt of in science-fiction.
