Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Pocket watch, Sweden, 1957–1990
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1957–1990
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- Sweden
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Holding institution
- Gotland Defense Museum
- Accession / object no.
- GFM_object_GFM002649
- Catalogue title (original)
- Ship watch (English)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Gotland Defense Museum (object number GFM_object_GFM002649), this is a pocket watch, made in Sweden, dated 1957–1990. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) 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 Gotland Defense Museum (English)
The ship’s clock has belonged to MinutSnr 16, (Mul 16). At GK/KA3 there was a minute laying division, No. 16 for works with coastal artillery minations and other underwater equipment. Mul 16 was divided by GK/KA3 in 1957. The division also carried out other diving activities for the Navy, other authorities and sometimes also for the civilian shipping. The division has repeatedly assisted fishermen who have received mines from the world wars in their fishing gear. There have been other unidentified objects, which have been assessed to be dangerous. The division was responsible for all ships and boats in the regiment, including those which, after mobilization, would belong to other units. The division has also assisted the state with heavy transports to Gotska Sandön and Karlsöarna, among others. The division has been on standby with its pressure chamber to assist in accidents involving divers and the like. The division has assisted the Fleet, when they needed support, with various trips and shipments at sea around Gotland’s coasts. On some occasions also along the east coast of Sweden. Today, in the museum’s collections, there are a few objects left by Mul 16 and the division, such as the steering wheel, the nudge and the nameplate. For some years around 1990, Mul 16 was replaced by Mul 18. Pictures and objects are owned by the KA3 Comrade Association, the Gotlandskustartillery, and are deposited at the museum. The inscription is: MUL 16 and the century: 1957.
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz pocket watches and inexpensive novelty watches appeared, while traditional mechanical pocket watches survived mainly as collectibles and gifts.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical 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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