The history of American pocket watches started during the 16th century, the first watch was created when the spring driven clock was invented. Clocks were produced using spring instead of weight. The portable clocks were the first timepieces that the public can own. At first the watch was made quite big and were worn around the neck. Then, it took another century to create a watch that can be worn in a pocket. Although pocket watch was already designed, it was not that popular during the time and only few rich individuals were reported wore it.

Way back in the 13th century, weight-driven clocks were developed. It used gears while hour hand was already used while the minute hand was an indication of luxury and wealth. The weight-driven clocks were publicly displayed on church towers, city halls, and monasteries.

The entry of the 17th century made pocket watched even more desirable. The box-like image was removed and was replaced by more rounded and slimmer cases. Clockmakers also became instant artists as they infuse designs and craftsmanship to every pocket watch the made.

The rise of railroading construction during the last half of the 19th century led to the widespread use of pocket watches in the United States. Because of the likelihood of train wrecks and other accidents if all railroad workers did not accurately know the current time, pocket watches became a requirement as an equipment for all railroad workers. They were required to have a pocket watch everytime they were at work.

The first steps toward standardization for railroad-work watches were taken in 1887 when the American Railway Association held a meeting to define basic standards for watches. However, it took a disaster to bring about widespread acceptance of stringent standards. A famous train wreck on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway in Kipton, Ohio on April 19, 1891 occurred because one of the engineers' watches had stopped for 4 minutes. The railroad officials commissioned Webb C. Ball as their Chief Time Inspector, in order to establish precision standards and a reliable timepiece inspection system for Railroad chronometers. This led to the adoption in 1893 of stringent standards for pocket watches used in railroading. These railroad-grade pocket watches, as they became colloquially known, had to meet the General Railroad Timepiece Standards adopted in 1893 by almost all railroads.

Railroad employees up to this day are required to keep their watches on time, and are subject to spot checks by their superiors at any time. Failure to keep their watches on time can lead to disciplinary action or expulsion, due to the gravely serious safety issues involved.

Pocket watches seemingly lost its puplarity in the modern times, having been superseded by wristwatches. Up until about the turn of the 20th century, though, the pocket watch was predominant and the wristwatch was considered feminine and unmanly. In men's fashions, pocket watches began to be superseded by wristwatches around the time of World War I, when officers in the field began to appreciate that a watch worn on the wrist was more easily accessed than one kept in a pocket. However, pocket watches continued to be widely used in railroading even as their popularity declined elsewhere.

For a few years in the late 1970s and 1980s three-piece suits for men returned to fashion, and this led to small resurgence in pocketwatches, as some men actually began using the vest pocket for its original purpose. Since then, a few watch companies make pocketwatches, and they have their firm adherents. However, in the United States, for most men, a pocket watch must be carried in a hip pocket.

Pocket watches played a vital role of the modernization in the United States. Nowadays, there are pocket watches collectors who are looking for these types of watches and even aiming for the vintage pocket watches.