Atmel covers wearables from 1644 to 2003:
Wearable technology is undoubtedly one of the latest trends to proliferate our digital world. While wearables might seem like an innovation entirely out of the 21st century, humans have been tinkering with these gizmos and gadgets long before the days of Pebble, Jawbone, Fitbit and Google Glass. In fact, the definition of “wearable computers” can date all the way back to the 16th century when humans first starting wearing time-keeping devices. However, due to the differing definitions of both “wearable” and “computer,” there remains varying beliefs as to who devised the first computer with which we adorned our bodies. For some, the first wearable (an abacus ring) arrived on the scene early as between 1368 and 1644 during Qing Dynasty era, while others believe it was either the first wristwatch by Breguet for the Queen of Naples in 1810, or the covert timing devices hidden in shoes to cheat the game of roulette by Thorp and Shannon in the 1960s.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!