April 14, 2026

6 min read

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How a lost 1812 wristwatch sparked a 200-year race in precision engineering

Modern luxury watches can be traced back to one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s younger sisters

By Jeanna Bryner edited by Seth Fletcher

Kyle Bean

Queen Caroline Murat of Naples, a younger sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, is credited with wearing the world’s first wristwatch: an oval-shaped face with a silver dial, attached to a bracelet made of hair and golden threads. Presented to the queen by Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1812, the watch (which has since been lost) would look underwhelming alongside today’s timekeeping masterpieces. As watches have become more complicated (yes, in the world of timepieces that could require a mortgage to purchase, it pays to be complicated), materials science and engineering have become ever more critical. Take the first silent vibrating alarm developed for a mechanical watch that debuted in 2019. Watchmaking company Richard Mille spent five years creating a watch with 816 parts whose two bezels of carbon fiber and titanium, respectively, shuttled vibrations originating from an oscillating mass to the wearer’s wrist.

Those parts were tucked in what would be considered haute horology and embody a recurring theme throughout the years: luxury watches represent the confluence of art and science, fashion and sentimentality, precision engineering and aesthetic distinctiveness. “Nobody spends six figures on a mechanical watch because it is the most efficient way to know the time,” says Nicholas Manousos, executive director of the Horological Society of New York. “People buy fine watches for the same reason they buy art or classic cars. They are drawn to craftsmanship, beauty, engineering, rarity, history, and the emotional power of an object made by human hands.”

TanTan Wang, an editor at well-known watch-news site Hodinkee, adds that the beauty of these watches is that art and science go hand in hand. “Some of the most incredibly technical watches might also have every single part exquisitely decorated and finished by hand.”

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Scientific American spoke with Manousos and Wang about advances in watchmaking and why watch nerds have become obsessed with collecting these accessories.

An edited transcript of the interviews follows.

Modern smartphones have made wristwatches largely pointless. So why do you think people continue to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on them?

Wang: Watches are appealing because they tap into the basic human desire for personal expression. From one angle, sure, people might be drawn to luxury watches because they are recognized as status symbols. But when you talk to the watch nerds, the conversation is very different. The exciting part about watches is that so many people can approach them in dramatically different ways. Some people come to them because of the history, some because of a fascination with micromechanics, and some for design and fashion.

At the same time, as our society becomes increasingly digital and online, wristwatches offer a respite from all this. Mechanical watches are little, miraculous pieces of engineering that still draw on many of the same techniques developed hundreds of years ago. Well-made watches can be passed down for generations, and that’s something that feels rare for any product these days.

Manousos: The human aspect of mechanical watchmaking is also incredibly powerful. In a world dominated by digital systems, a watch is honest. You can see the gears, springs, escapement and finishing. It reminds people that ingenuity can be elegant, tangible and poetic, not just efficient.

A luxury Richard Mille watch can measure speed based on distance traveled.

South China Morning Post/Edmond So/Getty Images

Is watchmaking more art or science?

Manousos: To me, watchmaking is at its best when art and science are inseparable. The science is obvious. A watch has to solve real engineering problems: how to store energy, regulate it and transmit it efficiently; compensate for shocks, temperature, friction and wear; and package that into a tiny object that can run reliably. The technical side is relentless. But the art is just as important. Finishing a bridge [which secures the moving parts] by hand, shaping a case so it wears beautifully, designing a dial, tuning the sound of a minute repeater—all of that is artistic judgment.

Wang: There’s also a much more literal version of watches as art. Many decorative disciplines exist in watchmaking, especially with the dial as a canvas. Grand feu enameling is a popular form where glass e