Today I learned that pocket watches exist since ~1430, meaning the late dark ages, and had the form of a small can. The “modern”, flat form of pocket watches was developed in the 17th century, when they got traction and became a status symbol. Shortly after, in the mid of the 17th century, the first minute hands were added to the watches. The original ones weren’t precise enough to bother with a minute hand, instead they only showed the (rough) hour.

I came across this topic when I was looking for a topic for today and started to look into “why are old clocks made of brass”, which I didn’t find the answer to. But I came across the topic of pocket watches and noticed some interesting differences between the German and the English Wikipedia article about pocket watches. Combining the knowledge of both resulted in the paragraph above.