In todays world, were we all live in a race against time and were minutes matter, the alarm watch still proves itself to be very useful.
An alarm watch is able to sound at a pre-set time which is handy for reminding people of certain things, cooking food and waking up.
Originally a feature only found in clocks, Eterna’s watchmakers were able to downsize all parts and implement this feature into a watch for the first time in 1908 but only went in to production in 1914. Although not loud enough to wake a person, it was a handy feature to remind people of certain things.
The first company who made an alarm watch loud enough to wake a person was Vulcain. Their so called “Cricket” watches came in to production in 1947. The alarm watches really caught on and quickly other brands started developing them.
In 1958, Jaeger-LeCoultre released the “Memovox”. This model turned in to the classic we know now and it’s still a part of their collection.
Other brands like Breguet have improved the alarm function by making it hearable under water to a depth up to 300m or like Glashütte Original who made the alarm programable up to 30 days in advance.
Today, the alarm watch is a pretty rare bird. Because of modern technology and the high cost, these watches are a collectors thing now and rarely seen in the wild. We would surely love to these mechanical wonders more!