Despite their blood-and-guts birth in the trenches, wristwatches were at first dismissed by many as uncomfortably unmasculine. Men and women alike often thought of them as a fad. Within a decade most had changed their minds. By the late 1920s world production of wristwatches had surpassed that of pocket watches. The wristwatch's appeal was not just convenience, but appearance. The new timers quickly developed a personality of their own, taking on shapes never imagined in the days of the pocket watch-tonneau, square (like the SantosDumont), baguette and tank- and decorated with a fanciful assortment of numerals, lugs and bracelets. Switzerland remained the leader in watch production as Patek Philippe, Constantin, Audemars Piguet and scores of others converted their factories to wristwatch production. Just how accurate watches had became apparent when, in 1962, NASA bought from a Houston jewelry store an Omega Speedmaster, subjected it to a battery of hellish endurance and accuracy tests, and found it fit to fly in a spaceship around the world, and eventually much farther. On July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 made its historic lunar landing, the Speedmaster became the first watch on the moon. But the Swiss Apollo triumph was short-lived. Within a few months watch technology would make a leap as giant as Armstrong's. It would take place not in Switzerland, but in Japan. Enjoy and take a look