History of Pocket Watches

Pocket watches are small, simple timepieces normally carried in a coat pocket or worn at the belt. The history of pocket begins as far back as the 1500s and continues even today.

The discovery of spring technology by a German named Peter Henlein and others in the 1500s made personal timepieces possible. Henlein was a locksmith, who lived in Nuremberg. In those days a locksmith was like a modern toolmaker capable of fine workmanship in metal.

They learned that spiral springs could be wound and uncoiled to move the hour hand of the clock. This technology might have been an improvement over hanging weights, but the speed at which the coiled springs winded was not consistent. In the past people had judge the hour by looking at the sun, so this was an improvement. Even though it was off by an hour so—many considered it almost miraculous.

Watchmakers still needed a solution to the problem of uneven winding. The first thing they noticed was that springs uncoiled at a more consistent pace if it was not wound tightly. They invented something called stackfreed, a cam with an additional spring that compensated the main spring’s changes in speed. The fusee, made of stiff hog bristle, prevented the spring from being wound too tightly.

The biggest change came in 1675 when a number of watchmakers learned that a spiral spring attached to the balance went a long way in improving accuracy. Suddenly people could look at their watches and have the correct time within minutes rather than being off by nearly an hour. The minute hand had been invented, which ended the necessity of having to wind a watch more than once a day.

In the 1700s English watchmakers created gold and silver pair cases to slide the watch into, which alleviated the problem of the watch face and hour hand, having no covering. Next came the addition of jewels as bearings in watches to prevent friction and wear between metal parts.

English watchmakers achieve industry leadership when they developed the technique of drilling holes into jewels, mostly rubies, enabling them to be used as bearings. Though watchmakers from other countries did not follow the British watchmakers’ lead for nearly a century, today the number the sign of watch’s durability and quality is the number of jewels it has. All through the 18th century the method remained a specialty of English watchmakers.

But rubies were precious stones and far too expensive to use as bearings in watches, so, in 1902 Auguset Verneuil, a French chemist, made the first artificial rubies in watches. The Verneuil process is a method of manufacturing synthetic gemstones by melting a finely powdered substance into a boule, or a single crystal ignot.

He examined the Geneva rubies that had been sold by an unknown merchant and realized that he would be able to recrystalize finely ground aluminum oxide into a large gemstone. There was a growing demand for artificial rubies that led Verneuil to design the Verneuil furnace, which enabled him to create man made crystals. His work was published in 1904.

Rubies became the first gemstone to be synthetically produced. Verenuil soon discovered that his process could also be used to produce other gemstones. In the intervening centuries that had been some improvements in the method, though basically it remains unchanged to this day.

Pocket watches continued to change through the 18th century when diamonds became part of some of them, sending their value through the roof. Around this time watchmakers began to use oil to lubricate and smooth the movement of the watch’s hand. Then, towards the end of the 18th century they began to design pocket watches with three hands.

It’s interesting to note a pocket watch was actually the first timekeeping device and it was worn around the neck. The industry grew when the railroad began using them. At first, they were encrusted with jewels and so finely made only royalty and the very wealthy could afford to buy one. Smaller ones that could be worn around the neck came later, but the pocket watch was considered a fashion accessory until the development of the railroad.

If you’re a collector, finding a pocket watch will be difficult because most of them are part of a large collection. Many who enjoy collecting pocket watches, like to collect those that are rare, and therefore of more value.

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