I couldn't find anything that suggests the introduction of wristwatches to China was a markedly "historical" event, unlike the introduction of European astronomical techniques to the Chinese imperial courts by Jesuit missionaries. I suspect wristwatches just diffused into China as part of global trade towards the end of the 19th century, rather than being introduced by colonisation.

As for 「表」 in the word 「手表」, that is highly unlikely to be a calque from a European language.

「手表」 is a Simplified Chinese rendering of the orthodox spelling 「手錶」, where 「錶」 (note the additional 「金」 component, meaning metal) was likely invented to specialise 「表」 to mean time-keeping device, by means of similarities to the word rendered as 「鐘表」 (striking clock; 「鐘」 means bell).

In the context of a measurement device, 「表」 is a morpheme roughly equivalent to English ~meter (e.g. thermometer) or ~graph (e.g. chronograph). This morpheme is ancient; even in the narrow sense of time-keeping devices, it is found in received texts dating back from BCE. From Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals:

《呂氏春秋・功名》

由其道，功名之不可得逃，猶表之與影，若呼之與響。

An orthodox attainment of fame and rank is inseparable from a track record of accomplishments, just like sundials are inseparable from the shadows they cast, and a person's yell is inseparable from the echoes that follow.

From Records of the Gand Historian:

《史記・司馬穰苴列傳》

穰苴先馳至軍，立表下漏待賈。

Sima Rangju arrived to the army encampment with haste, and erected sundials and water clocks, waiting for Zhuang Jia.

I couldn't find anything that suggests the introduction of wristwatches to China was a markedly "historical" event, unlike the introduction of European astronomical techniques to the Chinese imperial courts by Jesuit missionaries. I suspect wristwatches just diffused into China as part of global trade towards the end of the 19th century, rather than being introduced by colonisation.

As for 「表」 in the word 「手表」, that is highly unlikely to be a calque from a European language.

「手表」 is a Simplified Chinese rendering of the orthodox spelling 「手錶」, where 「錶」 (note the additional 「金」 component, meaning metal) was likely invented to specialise 「表」 to mean time-keeping device, by means of similarities to the word rendered as 「鐘表」 (striking clock; 「鐘」 means bell).

In the context of a measurement device, 「表」 is a morpheme roughly equivalent to English ~meter (e.g. thermometer) or ~graph (e.g. chronograph). This morpheme is ancient; even in the narrow sense of time-keeping devices, it is found in received texts dating back from BCE. From Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals:

《呂氏春秋・功名》

由其道，功名之不可得逃，猶表之與影，若呼之與響。

An orthodox attainment of fame and rank is inseparable from a track record of accomplishments, just like sundials are inseparable from the shadows they cast, and a person's yell is inseparable from the echoes that follow.

From Records of the Grand Historian:

《史記・司馬穰苴列傳》

穰苴先馳至軍，立表下漏待賈。

Sima Rangju arrived to the army encampment with haste, and erected sundials and water clocks, waiting for Zhuang Jia.