Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Pocket watch, Germany, 1937
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1937
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Lower Saxony
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Holding institution
- Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum
- Accession / object no.
- item_ZP5GCES77MUGCAIGNZTIQ6ET52W677CW
- Catalogue title (original)
- Taschenuhr von Hermann Bonnecke für langjährige treue Arbeit von der Ilseder Hütte (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum (object number item_ZP5GCES77MUGCAIGNZTIQ6ET52W677CW), this is a pocket watch, made in Lower Saxony, Germany, dated 1937. 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)
Halboffene Taschenuhr mit Gehäuse aus 900er Silber, vergoldetem Rand, geriffelter und herausziehbarer Krone (Kronenaufzug) und Pendant mit Bügel zur Befestigung einer Uhrkette auf Position 12. Das Uhrenglas ist in einem Deckel mit Lünette, Scharnier und Lippe zur Öffnung eingelassen. Unter dem Uhrenglas liegt ein weißes Zifferblatt mit arabischen Ziffern, Hilfsblatt für Sekunden ("Kleine Sekunde") auf Position 6 und goldenen Stunden- und Minutenzeiger. Zusätzlich zeigt es das Herstellerlogo (Junghans) auf Position 12. Der Rückdeckel mit Scharnier und Lippe zur Öffnung ist auf der Außenseite guillochiert und mit einer runden Kartusche mit den Initialen "HB" (Hermann Bonnecke) verziert. Auf der Innenseite finden sich verschiedene Stempelmarken u.a. Kontroll- und Feingehaltstempel (Reichssilberstempel / 0,900) und Herstellerlogo (Junghans im Stern). Das Uhrwerk wird durch einen Staubdeckel (Cuvette) mit Widmung geschützt, auf dessen Rückseite sich die Stempelmarken wiederholen. Das Uhrwerk selbst ist mit dem Herstellerlogo "Junghans", den Angaben "47 G" (Kaliber) und "052157" versehen. Zur Uhr gehört ein mit Samt ausgeschlagenes blaues Kästchen mit Schriftzug im Deckel. Das Stellen der Zeiger erfolgt über die gezogene Krone. Die Taschenuhr ist eine Ehrengabe für Hermann Bonnecke als Dank für langjährige treue Mitarbeit von der Ilseder Hütte.
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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