Pocket Watches · Fob watch
Fob Watch - Braille, c. 1850-1900
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1850-1900
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Fob watch
- Dimensions
- 5 cm (Length), 0.5 cm (Width), 8 cm (Height)
- Holding institution
- Museums Victoria, Melbourne
- Accession / object no.
- SH 931129
- Catalogue title (original)
- Fob Watch - Braille, circa 1850-1900 (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museums Victoria, Melbourne (object number SH 931129), this is a fob watch, dated c. 1850-1900. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. Recorded dimensions: 5 cm (Length), 0.5 cm (Width), 8 cm (Height). The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Summary — Museums Victoria
Alternative Name(s): Pocket Watch Fob Watch with raised numbers and numbers in braille. It was probably made during the mid to late nineteenth century and would have been used by a blind or partially-sighted person to tell the time. Braille was first developed in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. He spent several years refining his system and in 1829 published 'Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them.' In 1854 braille was adopted as the official communications system for blind people in France and in 1870 for Britain.
Physical description — Museums Victoria
Metal round fob watch with metal cover and chain. The face of the watch is raised and recessed, with braille numbers raised to show the hours, and Arabic numbers also raised slightly. The hands of the watch are of brass; a link between the watch and the chain may be gold-plated; the rest is Britannia metal, a type of pewter alloy.
Inscriptions & marks
Numbers in braille and Arabic 1 - 12 around the watch face.
Provenance
Donation from Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind (RVIB), 21 Jul 1993
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Machine production with interchangeable parts, pioneered by Waltham (1850s) and adopted by Elgin, Longines, Omega and others, made reliable lever watches widely affordable. Keyless winding became standard, railroad watch standards were introduced (1890s), and Swiss and American industries competed globally.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Verge escapementDetached lever escapementFuseeIdentification Centre
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