POCKET WATCH

Updated 04-May-2020.

Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about POCKET WATCH!

Can a pocket watch outshine the Apple Watch?: Forget the Apple Watch. The hottest new thing in timepieces may turn out to be a concept as old as your grandfather’s pocket watch.

My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: pocket watches were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century . wristwatches became popular after world war i during which a transitional design, trench watches, were used by the military . watch watch chains were often decorated with a silver or enamel pendant . a watch winding key, vesta case, or cigar cutter also appeared on watch chains . also common are fasteners designed to be put through buttonhole and by the end of the 15th century, spring-driven clocks appeared in Italy, and in Germany . Peter Henlein, a master locksmith of Nuremberg, was regularly manufacturing pocket watches by 1526 . ‘clock-watches’ were heavy drum shaped brass cylinders several inches in diameter, engraved and ornamented . the movement was made of iron or steel and held together with tapered pins and wedges the shape later evolved into a rounded form; these were later called Nuremberg eggs . later in the century there was a trend for unusually shaped watches . styles changed in the 17th century and men began to watch fobs began to be used, the name originating from the german word fuppe, a small pocket . until the second half of the 18th century, watches were luxury items . newspapers offer rewards of up to five up to the 1720s, almost all watch movements were based on the verge escapement . escapement involved a high degree of friction and did not include jewelling . a verge watch could rarely achieve any high the first widely used improvement was the cylinder escapement . the lever escapement became common after about 1820 . in 1857 the American Watch Company in Waltham, Massachusetts introduced the Waltham Model 57 . most Model 57 pocket watches were in a coin silver (“one nine fine”) 90% pure silver alloy commonly used in dollar coinage, slightly less pure than sterling silver . watch manufacture was becoming streamlined; japy family of Schaf railroad officials commissioned Webb C. Ball as their Chief Time Inspector . he established precision standards and a reliable timepiece inspection system for Railroad chronometers . this led to the adoption in 1893 of stringent standards for after 1908, watches approved for railroad service were required to be cased in open-faced cases . the name originated from England where fox hunting men could open watch with one hand . a conversion dial relocates winding the majority of antique and vintage hunter-case watches have the lid-hinges at the 9 o’clock position . modern hunter case pocket watches usually have the hinges for the lid at the 6 o’clock position a watch key was necessary to wind the watch and to set the time . some watches of this period had the setting-arbor at the front of the watch . watch keys are the origin of the class key, common parap keywind watch movements make use of a fusee, to improve isochronism . chain winds back onto mainspring barrel and pulls on larger diameter part of fusee . this provides more uniform amount of torque on the watch the first stem-wind and stem-set pocket watches were sold during the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 . the first owners of these new kinds of watches were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert . stem-wind, stem- fusee chain-driven timing replaced with a mainspring of better quality spring steel . balance wheel and balance spring provide separate function: to regulate timing of movement . once lever was pulled out, crown could be turned to set the time lever setting watches make accidental time changes impossible . after 1908 lever setting was generally required for new watches entering service on American railroads . this style of watch is occasionally referred to as “nail set” Dial down. Dial up. Pendant down. Pendant left. Pendant right. temperatures range from 34–100 degrees Fahrenheit . adjusting a watch to position requires many hours of labor, increasing the cost of the watch . Railroad watches were required, after 1908, to be adjusted to 5 positions . 3 positions were the general requirement before that time . early watches used a solid steel balance . as temperature increased, the solid balance expanded in size the hairspring would lengthen, decreasing its spring constant . this problem was initially solved through the use of the compensation balance . the balance would decrease in size with heating to compensate for the lengthening . watch could be adjusted to keep time the same at both hot (100 °F) and cold (32°) temperatures . unfortunately, a watch so adjusted would run slow at temperatures between these two . the problem was solved through the Breguet overcoil places part of outermost turn of hairspring in a different plane . this allows hairspring to “breathe” more evenly and symmetrically . two types of overcoils are found modern watches often use a slightly less effective “dogleg” to form an overcoil . pocket watches remained predominant for men until the start of the 20th century . in men’s fashions pocket watches began to be the use of pocket watches in a professional environment came to an end in approximately 1943 . the royal navy distributed to sailors Waltham pocket watches, with black dials . for a few years three-piece suits for men returned to in some countries a gift of a gold-cased pocket watch is traditionally awarded to an employee upon their retirement . the pocketwatch has regained popularity due to steampunk, a subcultural movement embracing arts