Should you take ring watches seriously? Their history and place in watchmaking

Buffy Acacia

For as long as watchmaking has been distinguished from clockmaking, the Venn diagram between watches and jewellery has been a circle. No amount of utility or ruggedness disguises the fact that they’re accessories, and they’re a form of self-expression. Some watches however, are much further down the jewellery end of the spectrum. You can put a watch anywhere that a movement will fit, and considering how small they can be, rings have been fair game for a long time.

The 16th century and Pierre Woeiriot de Bouzey II

Everyone knows that watchmaking is an extremely old profession, but just how old is often understated. Clocks small enough to carry have been around since the 1450s, and the best minds of the Renaissance knew that shrinking that technology down was not just a show of engineering skill, but also practical. The Italian scholar and poet Giglio Gregorio Giraldi wrote about a watch that told the hours placed into the handle of an eyeglass as early as 1541. Perhaps the best part of these near-ancient designs is that their makers were also ingenious goldsmiths, and no detail was spared.

The earliest evidence of a ring watch actually goes all the way back to the late 16th century. In 1561, Queen Elizabeth I ruled England, Madrid was declared the capital of Spain, and a goldsmith named Pierre Woeiriot de Bouzey II published a book of engravings. His book Livre d’anneaux d’orfèvrerie de l’invention de Pierre Woeiriot Lorrain clearly depicts a plate of a mechanical watch set into a ring, flanked by ornate decorations and a pair of rams. There’s no record that this particular ring watch was made, but it’s proof that they would have existed even earlier in the Renaissance.

Madame de Pompadour and Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

The next major milestone in the story involves the rather high-profile Madame de Pompadour and the King of France, Louis XV. Pierre Beaumarchais, the very same man who wrote the controversial anti-aristocratic The Marriage of Figaro, was just 22 years old when he presented his design for a keyless watch to Madame de Pompadour. It was able to be wound just by twisting the watch and it was set in a ring. The King then requested a repeater version to be made for himself. It almost sounds made-up, but the story is recorded in Beaumarchais’ own words throughout several letters that have been preserved. There was even a dispute over the invention, and the Royal Academy of Sciences ended up certifying the invention as Beaumarchais’.

The 19th century

Even by the early 1800s and throughout the Victorian era, ring watches had nearly become a staple in the upper crust and were available to anyone wealthy enough to purchase them, not just to aristocrats. They fell out of fashion after Prince Albert died in 1861, and fashion trends followed Queen Victoria into her less-opulent mourning jewellery. But when miniature movements were becoming almost comically small in the 1900s-1920s, they flooded back along with lavish Art Deco designs and fabulous gem-settings.

Ring watches were less prolific in the early 20th century as wristwatches soared in popularity. However, the ones that were around still utilised party tricks. Some were even small enough that they could be hidden beneath a gem-set lid, sneakily opening up to show you the time if you were getting bored at a cocktail party. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 101 launched in 1929 was perfect for rings, as it remains the world’s smallest mechanical calibre at 14mm long, 4.8mm wide and 3.4mm thick.

When the 1950s rolled around, the gap between men and women’s jewellery had grown substantially, but the post-war boom led to a proliferation of ring watches for middle class women. Now they were even available in steel or base metal cases, loaded with off-the-shelf movements and stamped with the name of a retailer. Higher end models were still around though, for example Blancpain and Jaeger-LeCoultre models that used semi-precious gems instead of glass as crystals, and were powered by Ladybird movements (the smallest round movement) introduced in 1956.

The 1960s and ‘70s erupted with creativity, but also witnessed the sharp rise and competitive performance of Japanese brands. Seiko, in particular, was the major player. If you search eBay for vintage ring watches now, the majority of them will be Seikos, mostly because the brand made so many of them. Fluted bezels, faceted crystals, and adjustable bands to fit many fingers were classics of Seiko’s catalogues. They lack the old-world splendour of the antique ones, and they can sometimes look like little cupcakes due to the thickness, but they’re still incredibly cute and fun. If you’re lucky, they may even keep decent time.

Then came the quartz crisis. Most of the Swiss brands that made movements to fit into rings went under, and the few that survived did so by focusing their efforts on less frivolous product lines. Digital watches became fashionable too, and having an outdated mechanical watch on your finger just wasn’t as cool as it once was. During the late ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s, ring watches became novelties in the negative sense. Most of them came from no-name brands and were made as cheaply as possible, even from plastic and rubber at times. Even if they had still been fashionable, ring watches’ associations with flea market junk quickly made them fairly undesirable, except for a few dazzling pieces from the likes of Jaeger-LeCoultre and Audemars Piguet.

So where do ring watches stand today? Overall, there is definitely a rising fascination with high jewellery watchmaking again. The ravages of minimalism are fading, and people aren’t afraid to express themselves with bold colours, wild shapes and intricate textures. Perhaps it’s the also the effect of jewellers such as Bulgari and Cartier becoming so well-respected in the watch world, that the lines are blurring for the better. We’ve yet to see a new line of ring watches released from a big-name brand, but it feels like a matter of time.

Should you take ring watches seriously? Definitely. If you’re an appreciator of mechanical movements and the feats of engineering required to make them work, then you can understand just how hard it is to make a watch movement fit inside of a ring. On top of that, it has to withstand stronger vibrations and higher wear than something that just sits on your wrist. Granted, ring watches become infinitely more collectible the older they are, as well as more valuable because of their material worth in precious metals and gemstones. But, more recent versions like those from Seiko are far more wearable, and you could still rock one today if you felt up to it. If you also feel like the ring watch’s return is imminent, you should probably start shopping now before vintage prices skyrocket.