Portable timepieces, made possible by the invention…

Portable timepieces, made possible by the invention of the mainspring in the early fifteenth century, evolve from portable spring-driven clocks, which first appear in fifteenth century Europe.

Nuremberg clockmaker Peter Henlein, who is often credited as the inventor of the watch, is one of the first German craftsman to make "clock-watches" (taschenuhr), ornamental timepieces worn as pendants, which are the first timepieces to be worn on the body.

Other German clockmakers are creating miniature timepieces during this period, however, and there is no evidence Henlein was the first.