From his sleeve insignia, Buck Masterson was a Sargent in the Quartermaster Corps. This picture appears to have been taken in Texas circa 1916 - 1917; around the time Gen. “Black Jack” Pershing was attempting to catch Mexican revolutionary, Poncho Villa. The photo clearly shows a large wristwatch with a white dial and a pierced crystal guard. The strap is composed of a narrow strap going through the wire lugs of the watch, the narrow strap is laced through a wide back-band which kept the watch away from the wrist. Although the scale and clarity of the picture do not allow for more than an educated guess, given the size of this watch, it may be an American made non-jeweled wrist watch.

Magnification of Sgt. Masterson’s watch:

In this informal picture, the man in the center and to the right appear to have wrist straps holding pocket watches. This picture was also taken in Texas circa 1916-1917.

On the wrist of this U.S. Army truck driver is a square or rectangular wristwatch. In the background are some of the Motor Transport Corps’ Packard trucks.

Magnification of the wrist watch in the above picture of the Army truck driver.

In this picture of US Army truck mechanics, the second man from the left is holding a pocket watch. Maybe he wanted to let the photographer know it’s time to quit fooling around with his camera! Unlike the other guys, this old fashioned guy has a pipe in his other hand instead of a cigaret.

In this early field photo, troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire relax in a complex of trenches. Under magnification, a pocket watch in a wrist-adapter can be seen on the wrist of the soldier in the center.

An official German postcard photo depicting an officer (with a white dial wristwatch) looking out over no-mans land.

The Caption: "Kaisder-Wilhelm Barrikade 25 meter vom Feind entfernt."

More Austro-Hungarian troops of WWI gathered upon a small train. With a glass it’s possible to see two full size pocket watches in wrist adaptors. It would appear that the pocket watch to wrist adaptor was widely used on both sides of the war.