Alberto Santos-Dumont, an aviation pioneer flew his dirigible around the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1901 winning the Deutsch Prize. At the celebration dinner, legend has it; he recounted to a friend his difficulty with accurately timing progress and position with a pocket watch, as both hands were needed on the controls.

His friend happened to be Louis Cartier, and his answer to Santos Dumont came in 1904 as the first pilot watch. The popularity of the Santos Watch by Cartier led to men wearing wristwatches. Prior to that only women wore wristwatches while men carried pocket watches.