The history of the Red 12

The design philosophy for the red 12 was originally functional rather than artistic and stemmed back to the beginning of the 20th Century. At the time of WWI or around the year 1914 most watches were pocket watches and as it was impractical for soldiers to carry pocket watches so they were turned into wrist wearing watches which was more practical. People were accustomed to seeing the number 12 under the crown on pocket watches, so when switching to the wrist position the number 12 position changed and it was necessary to get used to it quickly, so for practical reasons the number 12 was painted in red to help people read the time correctly.

Below are few watches from our Islandus
collection with a Red 12