Watches You Should Know

The common 3 o’clock date display window originates from none other than the Rolex Datejust introduced in 1945.

The Fiyta Spacemaster watch has been to space and back, and it’s crammed with special features for actual use by Chinese taikonauts.

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms helped introduce the modern dive watch to the world.

Breitling created the modern chronograph as we know it today way back in 1934.

This two-timer from the jet age is technically and aesthetically the mother of all GMT watches.

There is perhaps no wristwatch still in production that’s more associated with flight and pilots than the Breitling Navitimer.

Wristwatches with "atomic timekeeping" have unexpected German origins.

Rolex, Patek Philippe and others competed neck-in-neck with Seiko in the race to develop the ultimate battery-powered movement.

The Rolex Submariner and Daytona can both trace their roots to a single innovative — and largely unknown — watch.

The Astron is quite possibly the most historically significant quartz watch ever made.

The Vulcain Cricket pioneered fascinating technical solutions, a mechanical alarm, and was the choice of some notable personages.

It looks like no other timepiece from the brand. And it functions differently, too.

From technological firsts to designs that broke the mold, these watches altered the course of the watch industry.