Zero Hour: Telling time was a matter of survival and strategy during WWI (2014)

During World War I, accurate timekeeping became essential to coordinating armies spread across vast fronts and hidden in trenches. Officers synchronized watches to time attacks, including gas releases, while soldiers relied on dawn and dusk to anticipate danger during periods of heightened vigilance. The watch offered more than practical help: for wounded Hungarian officer Béla Zombory-Moldován, his surviving watch connected him to the independent life he had left behind and offered an illusion of control amid war’s chaos. The conflict made precise, standardized time a matter of both survival and strategy, even as weather and battlefield confusion could frustrate the schedules commanders set.

The demands of trench warfare also accelerated the wristwatch’s transformation from a feminine fashion accessory into essential military equipment. Pocket watches were awkward to use in combat, so manufacturers developed rugged wristwatches with luminous dials and durable glass. British authorities initially favored a protected pocket watch, but the U.S. military issued wristwatches to some officers, and companies including Rolex, Omega, Longines, and Cartier promoted the design as dependable and masculine. After the Armistice was signed, the chosen end time - 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918 - gave the cessation of fighting a memorable symmetry, though news reached troops unevenly and thousands were still killed or wounded that day. The annual two-minute silence at eleven paired modern clock time with the older rhythms of sunrise and sunset in remembrance.