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Friday, January 22, 2010

The Watch in Your Pocket

Friday, January 22, 2010

By Nazima Golamaully

There was a time when most people carried their watches in their pockets rather than on their wrists.

A pocket watch is basically a small clock that a person carries in their pocket. They were often attached to a small chain or watch fob so they couldn't be dropped or stolen. During the late 19th Century most professionals and railroad workers carried them.

They are the oldest kind of watch and were first developed in the 16th Century but only carried by the rich. Most people didn't carry watches until the advent of railroads in the 19th Century which required people to follow schedules.

Pocket watches were associated with the railroads because railroad crew members used them to make sure that they were following the train schedules. Railroads started the practice of giving a gold watch to an employee on his retirement.

They began disappearing in World War I when wristwatches began to get popular. A major reason for the popularity of wristwatches was the appearance of cars. People could easily check wristwatches while driving they couldn't check pocket watches while driving a car.

Since the 1920s there have been attempts to bring the pocket watch back but they haven't been successful. Today, classic American pocket watches like Elgin and Bulova are very popular collectors items.

There are two main kinds, open face and hunter-case watches. An open face watch has a large easy to read open face, this was the kind of watch often carried by railroad men. Many later open faced watches had two or three smaller faces on them to give people more information. A hunter case watch is the watch with a metal cover that snaps shut over the face to protect it. Hunter case watches were often carried by workingmen who needed to protect their watches.

Pocket watches were originally wound with keys but in their heyday most had jeweled movements. Most were wound with a knob on the top of the watch that was turned.

Today, aficionados can find a wide variety of pocket watches for sale online. Collectors can also locate lots of classic pocket watches for sale.

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1 comments:

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