Inventor of the watch.

Peter Henlein (also spelled Henle or Hele)^[1] (1485 – August 1542), a locksmith and clockmaker of Nuremberg, Germany, is often considered the inventor of the watch.^[2][3] He was one of the first craftsmen to make small ornamental portable clocks which were often worn as pendants or attached to clothing,^[4] and which are regarded as the first watches. Many sources also erroneously^[5][6][7] credit him as the inventor of the mainspring.

Henlein grew up in Nuremberg. His parents were Peter, a brass forger and citizen of Nuremberg since 1461, and Barbara Henlein.^[11] He had one older brother, Herman Henlein, who became also a master cutler in 1496.^[12][13] In his life he was married to three women: Kunigunde Ernst, his first wife, and Margarethe, his second, and Walburga Schreyer, his third wife.^[12]

He apparently apprenticed in his youth as a locksmith. At the time, locksmiths were among the few craftsmen with the skills and tools to enter the new field of clockmaking.^[14]

On September 7, 1504, he was involved in a brawl in which a fellow locksmith, Georg Glaser, was killed. As one of the accused he asked for and received asylum in the Franciscan Monastery [de] of Nuremberg, where he lived until 1508. This monastery had a history as a center of scientific and astronomical knowledge.^{[15][16][17][18]} During his asylum he may have gained deeper knowledge of the craft of clockmaking there.

Henlein became known as a maker of small portable ornamental spring-powered brass clocks, very rare and expensive,^[2] which were fashionable among the nobility of the time, worn as pendants or attached to clothing, which can be considered the first watches. He was known as the first craftsman to build clockworks into “Bisamköpfe”, musk-balls or pomanders, small pendant containers fashioned from precious metals for fragrances or disinfectants; these are now known as pomander watches.^[2][19][4] In November of 1509, he became a master in the city’s locksmith guild.^[2] He is mentioned in the city’s records as the supplier of these small clocks, which were given as gifts to important people.^[20][2] The earliest extant example of a watch, the Watch 1505, a fire-gilded pomander watch dated 1505, has been attributed to Henlein.^[16]

In 1529, Henlein traveled to Strasbourg on behalf of the Nuremberg council, for a sky globe. Six years later, he crafted a watch for the council of Nuremberg.^[12] He also built a tower clock for Lichtenau castle in 1541, and was known as a builder of advanced astronomical instruments.^[2]

Henlein died in August 1542 and was buried at the Katharinenkirche, Nuremberg.