Do you know when you have seen mens designer watches that there is always number III? That's what you had in mind many years ago when you got a watch gift with Roman numerals. Usually we know Roman numerals like I, II, III, IV, V, and so on, but what I see is a watch with an IIII Roman numeral in number four. After you saw other watch with Roman numerals, it turned out that my guess was wrong. This action turns out to be intentional and is a common practice. Not only general, this practice has been carried out hundreds of years ago. It is fun to take everything easy including knowing or learning the story behind mens designer watches. It is III and it might not be good.
There are various theories about the reason why mens designer watches Online manufacturers wear III, which is then called watchmaker's four-compared IV. The most common reason that is still worn today is to maintain a balanced display between the left and right sides. The number IIII on the right in appearance can compensate for number VIII on the left compared to IV which looks thinner. Symmetry is also seen in the distribution of numbers on the watch, namely 4 begins with letter I, 4 begins with the letter V, and the remaining 4 wears X. Numbers IIII watch are easier to read in various viewpoints because inverted IV position can be ambiguous with VI upright straight. In addition, there are also reasons for production efficiency. Using number IIII saves more mold for making Roman numerals than using IV. With III, total is needed 20 pieces I, 4 pieces V, and 4 pieces X. mens designer watches can make VIIIIIX-shaped prints that can then be worn four times for one dial display. Using IV will be more inefficient in printing numbers and does it sound fun to get to know story behind old technology like automatic or else. In addition to the reasons in terms of practicality and symmetry, there are various speculations regarding the reasons for using IIII. Some say that IIII was worn at the sundial at that time because using IV at the hour was considered to insult Jupiter's god who was written in Latin as IVPPITER. But considering when the wall watch replaces the sundial function, adherents of ancient Roman religion were almost or even nonexistent, but IIII is still being worn, the theory is doubtful. There were also those who said this was ordered by King Louis XIV of France, but it turned out that the practice of using IIII as mens designer had been carried out long before. Even suspected reasons for symmetry may not be the main reason for the initial wear of IIII. In the United Kingdom, for example, the cathedral Wells that was made in the 14th century worn IIII and had a 24-digit format in a circle so there was no symmetry that needed to be considered like a normal watch, while Big Ben was famous and followed the usual watch format, 12 using IV . Behind all that, in fact both IIII and IV have been worn in ancient Roman texts, even both of which can appear in the same document.
There is no definite answer about the initial wear of IIII on the mens designer watch dial, but in reality with IIII there are various facilities obtained from production to the wear of watch. Even so, like the Big Ben example mentioned earlier, there are still watches that wear IV as number four. However, the wear of IIII is an interesting fact from the history of the watch in the world.