Pocket Watches · Watch
Transparent digital talking watch in case, made by Virgin Records to promote the David Bowie album Hours , 1999
- Maker / attribution
- Rex Ray (designer); Virgin Records (maker)
- Date
- 1999
- Historical period
- Mechanical Renaissance (1990 – 2010)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- Watch: Rubberized plastic and metal and glass, with internal digital watch mechanism (including battery, circuit board etc). Printed with printing ink. Case: Moulded plastic. Stamped and printed.
- Dimensions
- Length: 25 cm; Width: 4.3 cm (Watch); Width: 1.5 (Watch); Length: 8.8 cm (Case); Width: 6 cm (Case); Depth: 5 cm (Case)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.2867:1-2024
- Credit line
- Lent by the V&A Americas Foundation through the generosity of Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.2867:1-2024), this is a watch by Rex Ray, dated 1999. The Atlas places it in the Mechanical Renaissance period (1990 – 2010) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Watch: Rubberized plastic and metal and glass, with internal digital watch mechanism (including battery, circuit board etc). Printed with printing ink. Case: Moulded plastic. Stamped and printed. Recorded dimensions: Length: 25 cm; Width: 4.3 cm (Watch); Width: 1.5 (Watch); Length: 8.8 cm (Case); Width: 6 cm (Case); Depth: 5 cm (Case). 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
V&A — Physical description
Watch: A transparent plastic digital talking watch. It has a square shaped face, with two large buttons on the right hand side, and a silver metal back. The watch strap is rubberized, flexible plastic. On the strap, there is writing printed in blue text, including the 'db' logo. The watch has a sticky residue. Case: An oval shaped, transluscent hard plastic case. It has a hinged lid and base, and an additional moulded support section on a hinge within the base, which can hold the watch. The lid of the case is printed with a blue barcode design, in which the letters and numbers spell out 'DAVID BOWIE HOURS'. There is some small raised text stamped on the bottom of the base. The case no longer closes properly.
Inscriptions & marks
DB 'HOURS...'; DAVID BOWIE HOURS; 3554
Historical context
Mechanical Renaissance (1990 – 2010)
Mechanical watches return as cultural objects; independent watchmaking flourishes.
Collectors' interest in antique pocket watches grew, and a few houses made new pocket watches with grand complications as technical showpieces.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Quartz 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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