Around the same time the pocket watch was taking off in Europe. Early timekeeping devices were contained in large drums which the user hung around their neck, and they merely consisted of an hour hand. By the end of the 19th century pocket watches had reduced in size considerably, but it took a German artillery officer, frustrated with having to use both hands to operate one, to come up with the idea of strapping the device to his wrist. If only he'd patented it.