Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Pocket watch, Bochum, 1934 (Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum item_MFAOY4V5YU6QQLTEUPSUF32XTGLZNDOL)
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1934
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Bochum
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Holding institution
- Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum
- Accession / object no.
- item_MFAOY4V5YU6QQLTEUPSUF32XTGLZNDOL
- Catalogue title (original)
- Taschenuhr des verunglückten Bergmannes Lischke (Schlagwetterexplosion am 03.01.1934 im Braunkohlenbergwerk Zeche Nelson III) (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum (object number item_MFAOY4V5YU6QQLTEUPSUF32XTGLZNDOL), this is a pocket watch, made in Bochum, dated 1934. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Pocket Watches collection. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Catalogue description from Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum (def)
Überreste einer Taschenuhr mit Brandspuren und starker Verfärbung. Das Gehäuse ist noch fast vollständig erhalten, es fehlen lediglich der Vorderdeckel mit Uhrenglas, die Krone und Teile des Bügels. Seitlich am Gehäuse befindet sich zusätzlich das Drückerschiffchen. Das Scharnier des verzierten Rückdeckels ist noch funktionsfähig, ebenso ist die Verzierung auf der Außenseite trotz Beschädigung und Verfärbung zu erkennen. Das Zifferblatt ist lose und meiner schwarzen Schicht überzogen, stellenweise schimmern die Ziffern durch. Das Uhrwerk selbst ist zerstört, lediglich die Trägerplatte mit einzelnen Elementen ist vorhanden und die Spirale liegt der Uhr lose bei. Die Taschenuhr trägt auf dem Rückdeckel eine bildliche Darstellung im Stil eines Stichs. In einer hügeligen Landschaft ist eine Figur unter einem Sternenhimmel mit einem Stab in der Hand dargestellt. Als wortwörtliche Zeitzeugen fungieren Taschenuhren insbesondere dann, wenn sie aus dem Kontext eines Grubenunglücks stammen. So können sie beispielsweise den Zeitpunkt einer Explosion bezeugen, da sie möglicherweise zu dieser Zeit stehengeblieben sind bzw. zerstört wurden.
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The pocket watch reached technical maturity and then began to give way to the wristwatch after the First World War. Complicated watches for collectors such as Henry Graves Jr. and James Ward Packard, railroad watches, and slim Art Deco dress watches are characteristic.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
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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