![]() In fact, many early wristwatches were small pocket watches that had wire lugs attached to them. The faux wire lugs look like they are soldered onto the case, which was a common feature on early wristwatches. The case is rounded like a river stone, almost like a pocket watch might appear. Looking at the case, you can tell right away that Cavalry watches were designed to invoke a different time period. These alpha models established many of the familiar traits seen in the first generation Swiss Army Cavalry Chronos. That means quickly touching base with the original Swiss Army Cavalry watch. Creating the chronograph version of the classic Swiss Army Cavalry allowed the designers to expand the idea of a trench watch into a more complex timepiece.Īs the saying goes, we should start at the beginning. This is a fairly common practice in the retail industry where retailers build related products that feel similar but “speak” to different types of consumers. The chronographs were a great way to create a “line extension” for an existing popular watch. The popular three-handed predecessors called Swiss Army Cavalry watches established much of the design language for the first generation Cavalry Chronos. The Swiss Army Cavalry Chronographs were not the first of the Cavalry line of watches. Overview of Earlier Swiss Army Cavalry Watches Longines and Zenith, are just two watch manufacturers who are mining this time period for horological gold. Swiss Army is not the only one to do this as many famous watch brands look backward at historical watch designs from their own back catalog. Instead, I am suggesting that the Swiss Army designers took style cues from a bygone era and reappropriated them into a modern watch called the Cavalry Chronograph. True historians and watch aficionados may take issue with comparing a somewhat modern quartz watch to mechanical timepieces of over a century ago, and I would have to agree that it is not an apples-to-apples comparison. I believe that they take inspiration from early wristwatches, which are sometimes referred to as trench watches. I am mentioning World War I history to provide a background for the Swiss Army Cavalry watches in this article. I invite you to learn more by reading an excellent article about the “Great War Trench Watches” by David Boettcher. Wristwatches were another tool in the game of life an death on the battlefield. Officers of the era started wearing wristwatches and accurate timing devices became important to synchronize military actions over immense front lines that stretched for hundreds of miles. However, there is nothing like the enemy shooting at you to help you adopt a good idea, no matter if it was considered “unmanly”. It is hard to imagine, but in those days, wristwatches (aka wristlets) were considered something for women to wear while men favored a pocket watch. Inventions of the era included the airplane, motorized vehicles, machine guns, poison gas weapons, telephones, and even mass-produced wristwatches. Not only was warfare changing rapidly, but the technologies that we take for granted today were being pushed by man’s desire to kill as many of the enemies as possible and survive. If we look at the watch in this context, its name might start to make more sense. That was an era when equine cavalry was being phased out for mechanical replacements like trucks and tanks. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the American frontier and had more to do with the time period around the first World War. Regardless, it makes me wonder why Victorinox Swiss Army used the name Cavalry Chrono for these watches. Of course, I am being facetious because this watch (or any watch) by Victorinox Swiss Army could not have existed in 1876 when the Battle of Little Bighorn happened. Back in those days, large mechanical pocket watches like the American made Waltham 57 were the method of timekeeping. Give Your Wristwatch as a Sentimental GiftĬuster’s Last Charge: Image: Library of Congress.The Best Gift Ideas for Watch Collector Presents.The Best Watch Review Websites and Horology Blogs.The Best Wrist Watch Channels on YouTube.Buy Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Bands and Bracelets.Manufacture Dates of Victorinox Swiss Army Watches.Unofficial History of Victorinox Swiss Army Watches.
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