Once upon a time the major goal for watchmakers was to make an accurate, reliable timepiece.

Years of careful thought and extreme care in manufacturing went into making a watch that would stand up to the rigors of everyday life. Sometimes more than that. Wristwatches first became popular among men during WWI when they had to withstand harsh conditions. True, there was sometimes attention paid to delicate scrollwork, fine gold or silver and other artistic elements. But the emphasis was on merely keeping time to within a few minutes per month.

With advances in technology came tuning forks and electric watches, followed by quartz movements, then atomic-clock regulated radio watches. Over the same time period even mechanical watches became sturdy and relatively immune within mechanical limitations from temperature, shock, water infiltration and other traditional problems.

Today, an electronic watch can be so accurate that one can debate what one means by ‘What is THE time?’ The vibrations in a cesium atom at the center of an atomic clock are so regular they simply define the standard of what IS the current time. The movement of the earth around the sun, and the stars movements through the sky are no longer considered the most accurate standards.

But watchmakers are nothing if not clever. Having solved one problem to even the most demanding person’s satisfaction, they’ve turned their attention to other things. Watches are no longer just timekeeping objects, they are master consoles of electronic wizardry.

Timex’s Ironman is used by athletes around the world to measure laps, time events and other functions. Including heart rate monitors, body temperature gauges and other devices it has every feature a sportsperson could want.

Miniature cell phones are embedded in some models, such as the m300 or the Wristomo. Weighing less than 3 ounces, it’s the ultimate for those who don’t like a mobile phone weighing down their pocket, purse or pants.

You need never get lost now that GPS technology can be had on a wristwatch. With a backlit display for easy reading at night or in the dark forest, your only concern now should be the bears or your water supply.

Sure, watches have had simple calculators for over 20 years now. But now you can get a complete PDA in a wristwatch. Some models even tout a miniature monitor with browser access, ala your cell phone. If you just have to have Yahoo! Finance at your fingertips with the flick of a wrist and the stab of a pen, you can now have it.

Are you a big talk radio fan? FM radio has been available on a wristwatch for years. But now you can get satellite radio and never be far away from your favorite program. Perhaps you prefer TV? That too has been incorporated in watches, though the small screen still has the same old limitations. But if you want to get stock quotes and video commentary from Bloomberg, it’s there at a price.

With the omni-presence of cell phones, wireless Internet and other means of telling the time, the death of the wristwatch has been predicted over and over. At best, it was thought, they would simply become pieces of jewelry - which in some cases is certainly true. But watchmakers have been among the most ingenious inventors for 700 years and their product is not likely to disappear quite so easily.

The future in wristwatches may still contain a few surprises in the years to come.