Pocket watch

A pocket watch is a <a href="/facts/Watch/PuFUMNTl">watch</a> that is made to be carried in a <a href="/facts/Pocket/AclSj32j">pocket</a>, as opposed to a <a href="/facts/Watch/PuFUMNTl">wristwatch</a>, which is strapped to the <a href="/facts/Wrist/scSMl0zG">wrist</a>.
They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> during which a transitional design, <a href="/facts/Trench_watch/1t5huX8G">trench watches</a>, were used by the military. Pocket watches generally have an attached <a href="/facts/Chain/KlYIprGC">chain</a> to allow them to be secured to a <a href="/facts/Waistcoat/w8IW9BJb">waistcoat</a>, <a href="/facts/Lapel/8mAxm8lL">lapel</a>, or <a href="/facts/Belt_(clothing)/WurjmUK1">belt loop</a>, and to prevent them from being dropped. Watches were also mounted on a short <a href="/facts/Leather/kvQtwHPH">leather</a> strap or fob, when a long chain would have been cumbersome or likely to catch on things. This fob could also provide a protective flap over their face and crystal. Women's watches were normally of this form, with a watch fob that was more decorative than protective. Chains were frequently decorated with a <a href="/facts/Silver/xXe41BGg">silver</a> or <a href="/facts/Vitreous_enamel/gjfb1hA8">enamel</a> pendant, often carrying the arms of some <a href="/facts/Club_(organization)/8vmeaRQs">club</a> or <a href="/facts/Society/PulvrYfa">society</a>, which by association also became known as a fob. Ostensibly practical gadgets such as a watch winding key, <a href="/facts/Vesta_case/YSLNkfd3">vesta case</a>, <a href="/facts/Seal_(emblem)/GPW9xYc8">seal</a>, and/or a <a href="/facts/Cigar_cutter_watch_fob/zkrGBGx2">cigar cutter</a> also appeared on watch chains, although usually in an overly decorated style. Also common are fasteners designed to be put through a <a href="/facts/Buttonhole/AsIrMz3C">buttonhole</a> and worn in a jacket or <a href="/facts/Waistcoat/w8IW9BJb">waistcoat</a>, this sort being frequently associated with and named after <a href="/facts/Train_conductor/1FC9Gvk9">train conductors</a>.
An early reference to the pocket watch is in a letter in November 1462 from the Italian <a href="/facts/Clockmaker/ttytAgEW">clockmaker</a> Bartholomew Manfredi to the Marchese di Mantova Federico Gonzaga, where he offers him a "pocket clock" better than that belonging to the <a href="/facts/Duke_of_Modena/trKNonwU">Duke of Modena</a>. By the end of the 15th <a href="/facts/Century/HGNNAxYj">century</a>, <a href="/facts/Spring_(device)/jknGXzTq">spring</a>-driven clocks appeared in <a href="/facts/Italy/tUf0PDYF">Italy</a>, and in <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">Germany</a>. <a href="/facts/Peter_Henlein/zkeWbV3p">Peter Henlein</a>, a <a href="/facts/Master_craftsman/pGqb15nJ">master</a> <a href="/facts/Locksmith/Qg0mY9vS">locksmith</a> of <a href="/facts/Nuremberg/Bht6TsP4">Nuremberg</a>, was regularly manufacturing pocket watches by 1526. Thereafter, pocket watch <a href="/facts/Manufacture/3qW7bcdy">manufacture</a> spread throughout the rest of <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a> as the 16th century progressed. Early watches only had an hour hand, the minute hand appearing in the late 17th century.

Pocket watch open-in-new

Pocket watch