Missing Connection: Fountain Pens and Watches
A retro-styled wristwatch, a Timex T-80 Digital watch, Pelikan, Waterman and Conklin Fountain Pens.
I've posited elsewhere that I have become something of a “techno curmudgeon” — that is someone who has serious reservations about technology, and therefore has adopted older technology. And yes, that is one possible connection between Fountain Pens and Wristwatches, but there is something else that I feel connects them, and other things that I am interested in.
So, I am not certain if this will be a series of posts or not, but sometimes I think there are things that are connected in non-obvious ways. And, hopefully those connections are worthwhile examining.
Necessities Turned Luxuries
While it is quite a niche item these days, when people think of Fountain Pens, they most likely think of Montblanc. Maybe Pelikan, or possibly Conway Stewart. Wristwatches are a little less niche, but most people are still likely to think of luxury brands: Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, possibly Audemars Piguet or Cartier.
But there was a time when these items weren't luxuries, and it wasn't all that long ago. That's what I want to talk about just a bit.
When Fountain Pens Were Essential
Fountain pens were pretty essential items up to around the invention of the ballpoint pen. Brands like Waterman, Parker, and Conklin were some of the most recognized in the world. These weren't the luxury items they would become.
The invention of the ballpoint pen can be traced back to John Loud's 1888 patent. However, the initial design for a ballpoint pen were not commercially successful. The primary idea was that a ball-and-socket would be used to deliver ink to a surface. Loud's primary motivation for this design was to be able to write on rough surfaces that a fountain pen was not capable of handling. However, the design proved too rough to use on paper, and so it wasn't a viable product.
It wouldn't be until Laszlo Biro and his brother Gyrogy were able to perfect the formulation of ink, and make it work with the ball-and-socket mechanism for the modern ballpoint pen to be invented. This was in 1943, which, of course was during World War II. It wasn't until after the war that these pens started to proliferate.
Prior to the invention of the Biro (and later Cristal) pen, fountain pens were the primary writing tool.
When Watches Were Essential
The history of mechanical wristwatches is a little more complicated. It wasn't until the 17th century that the hairspring was invented, which led to the creation of reasonably accurate timekeeping devices in the 18th century. However, aside from some particular uses, the modern wristwatch really didn't become a common item until the 20th century. What about the 19th century? Men mostly carried pocket (or fob) watches, which wristwatches were for women.
However, in the 1970 there was a new type of wristwatch: the quartz wristwatch. First brought to market by Seiko on January 31st, 1969 with the Astron, quartz wristwatches quickly started eroding the mechanical watch market. And about a decade later, quartz digital watches would become a new, futuristic force in wristwatches. This disruption to the market forced many mechanical watchmakers out of business, while those that survived found themselves moving into the luxury category.
Brands like Seiko, Citizen, Casio, Timex and Armitron became some of the biggest names in watches during this period in the United States. And they still are today, although the invention of cellphones and smartwatches has largely supplanted both the mechanical and quartz watch industries.
However, the interesting side to this is quartz and digital watches have not completely moved into the luxury market segment the way mechanical watches have. Many of the brands known for their quartz watches offer a range of items from everyday watches, all the way to luxury watches.
Conclusion
I think it's interesting that the items that were at one time essential, but now are seen as either obsolete or luxury items have been making something of a comeback. Don't get me know, I have no illusion that they will ever return to the prominence they had during the 18th-20th centuries. But, it seems as time and technology marches along in the 21st century there are more people looking back to the past technology, and picking up on the items that were essential and embracing them again.
Categories: #Essays Tags: #watches, #wristwatches, #FountainPens, #technology, #time License: Copyright Unattributed. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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