Collections Video: Harold Hawes's Trench Watch

Wristwatches are commonplace now, but they haven't always been. During the Boer War, British soldiers began welding lugs onto their pocket watches to strap them to their wrists, and by the time the First World War arrived, many soldiers began wearing trench watches.
One such soldier was Harold Hawes of Barre, Vermont: after studying in a technical program, he was deployed to France, bringing along his Lancet watch with him. Vermont Historical Society Public Relations and Guest Services Coordinator Andrew Liptak talks about the watch and how it's a representative example of how wristwatches became a popular fashion item after the war.
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Further reading:
Read our museum catalog entry for this watch: vermonthistory.org/catalog?se...
Read "A Brief History of the Wristwatch" www.theatlantic.com/internati...
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