Every watch we sell and every watch we repair at our bench in Durrës descends from one moment in Paris, more than 120 years ago. A frustrated pilot, a jeweller who listened, and a small flat watch with a leather strap. This is the first story in our series on the watches that made history.
A World That Kept Time in Its Pocket
At the start of the 1900s, a gentleman's watch lived on a chain in his waistcoat. Checking the time was a two-handed ritual: reach in, pull out, open, read, put back. Watches worn on the wrist existed, but they were small jewelled pieces made for women. No serious man would wear one.
That etiquette survived because nobody's life depended on reading the time in half a second. Then people started to fly.
The Pilot Who Could Not Let Go of the Controls
Alberto Santos-Dumont was one of the most famous men in Paris. A Brazilian aviation pioneer, he had flown his airship around the Eiffel Tower in 1901 and won 100,000 francs for it. Crowds followed him; newspapers printed his every flight.
He was also a friend of the jeweller Louis Cartier, and he had a very practical complaint: in the air, timing was everything, and he could not dig a pocket watch out of his jacket while both hands held the controls.
In 1904, Cartier and the master watchmaker Edmond Jaeger built the answer: a flat, square-cased watch with a dial he could read at a glance and a leather strap that held it to his wrist. Santos-Dumont wore it on every flight afterwards, in front of the cameras and the crowds. The most photographed man in Paris was suddenly wearing his watch on his wrist, and it was not jewellery. It was equipment.
The detail that still matters: the Santos put its screws on display, right on the bezel, at a time when fine watchmaking hid every technical trace. It said openly: this is a machine, built for work. Watch design has drawn on that honesty ever since.
From One Wrist to Every Wrist
Cartier put the Santos into regular production in 1911, and Parisian men who wanted a piece of Santos-Dumont's fame bought it. But it took a war to finish what a pilot started.
In the trenches of the First World War, officers coordinated attacks to the minute and needed both hands free. Armies issued wristwatches by the tens of thousands. The men who survived came home wearing them, and the old two-handed pocket ritual suddenly looked like something from another century. By the 1930s the transformation was complete: the pocket watch was history, and the wristwatch was simply what a watch was.
The Santos itself never left. Cartier still makes it today, square case, exposed screws, more than 120 years after a pilot's complaint. Very few products of any kind survive a century in continuous production. It happened because the design solved a real problem, honestly.
What This Story Means When You Buy a Watch Today
The lesson of the Santos is not about luxury. It is that a good watch is a tool you can read in half a second, worn where your eyes already are. That idea costs nothing; a Cartier costs as much as a car.
At our shop in Durrës you can wear the same idea from €50: flat dials, clean hands, cases that slip under a cuff. The Hislon Classic at €199 carries the same dress-watch DNA: a fluted bezel, a legible silver dial and a sapphire crystal, with a 1-year guarantee. Browse the full collection here.
Have a watch with its own history? A grandfather's mechanical piece, a wedding gift from decades back: we service watches of any age at our workshop, with a free assessment before any work. See our watch repair service, or send a photo on WhatsApp first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was the Santos really the first wristwatch?
Women wore small watches on bracelets in the 1800s, so not the first ever. The Santos of 1904 was the first wristwatch designed for a man to do a job: flying. It turned the wristwatch from jewellery into a tool, and that is where the modern watch begins.
When did wristwatches replace pocket watches?
Between roughly 1914 and 1930. First World War officers needed both hands free, armies issued wristwatches by the tens of thousands, and the men who came home kept them on. By the 1930s the pocket watch was gone.
Can you service an old family watch in Durrës?
Yes, any age and any brand. Assessment is free: bring it to the shop, or send a photo on WhatsApp at +355 67 636 0510 and we quote before touching anything.
Wear a Piece of That History
The wristwatch was born as a tool you can trust at a glance. We stock watches built on exactly that idea, from €50 to €199, every one with a 1-year guarantee. In Durrës, or delivered anywhere in Albania.
Rruga Aleksander Goga · Durrës 2001 · Albania · +355 67 636 0510
Published by Iglisi Watch · Durrës, Albania · July 2026. First article in our series on the watches that made history.