The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-02-04
About Watches.

AI01s ~ oACoo bAAto n6aSurefS must nave
come into sudden notoriety. The early
watches We're mostly large and richly
chased. There was one such In Sir Ash
ton Levers collection, with the date
l541, but by next year we find a striking
watch mounted in ring, so the makers
must quickly have modified the size of
the works. Watches In these times
were greatly priced, and but rarely
found in the possession of any but of
royal or noble persons. The makers
were busy, however, if not intent upon
turning out many, at least in improving
the quality of those finished. DR.. Der
ham describes watch said to have be-
longed to King Henry VIII, which
only required winding once every seven
days, and Anne Boleyn had similar
one.
In Elizabeth's time watches had come
into more general use, though it does
not seem to be an uncommon thing to
borrow timekeeper.
Mary Queen of Scots had several
watches of a gruesome and lugubrious
character. One was in crystal case.
coffin shaped another, which she be-
queathed to her maid of honor, Mary
Setoun, was in silver-gilt, in the shape
of a human skull. Upon the forehead
was craven scythe and hour-glass
placed between a palace and a cottage.
to show the impartiality of death. At
the back of the skull was Time destroy
ing all things, and on the top scenes OF
the Garden of Eden and the crucifxion.
The watch was opened by reversing the
skull, placing the upper part in the hol-
low of the hand, and lifting the hinged
Jaws.
At South Kensington is silver watch
formed like duck hanging by the neck.
It is two and seven-eighths inches in
length, and by a German named Henry
Ester. One of this makers watches in
the British Museum is tulip-shaped, and
dated 100. The same collection con-
tains watch in the form of o cross,
with gilt-metal frame, and pieces of
crystal in front, back and sides; and
one with a group on the top-a Venus
and Cupid, with dog. At the British
Museum is a German cruciform dial,
presented by A. W. Franks, ESQ.,, made
by Melchior Reichol in 1869; also, an
English watch in the shape of fritil-
larry flower. The Scottish Society of
Antiquaries have watch of Sir Walter
Raleigh's, which belongs to subsequent
period.
King James wore a fnger-ring with a
watch set in the jewel. One of his
timekeepers (extant) is oval, and nearly
all brass. The dial is a silver ring one
eighth Of an inch wide. The hours are
engraved in Roman numerals, and there
is a small stud at the base of each, so
that the hour could be ascertained by
touch in the dark. Above the dial are
figures of Leda and the Swan, and be-
low cherub's head between two foxes.
In this watch catgut is used instead of q
chain.
Charles I. had two watches, one of
gold and one of silver, placed near
lamp upon stool at his bedside. On
the morning of the unhappy Kings ex-
ecution, while on the way to Whitehall,
he gave the silver watch to Sir Thomas
Herbert. This is still preserved. It is
richly chased, three inches in diameter,
and one and a quarter thick.
In the Fellowes Collection at the
British Museum is d watch formerly
worn by Milton. It is of silver-gilt,
and steel faced, the dial covered by
a glass. Upon the face is inscribed
"Ioanni Miltoni, 1881"
In the same collection are two oval
silver watches made in 1850, and said to
have been the property of Oliver Crom-
well. There is also another watch in
the Ashmolean Museum which, without
doubt, was the great Protectors.
South Kensington has several watches
of seventeenth-century make.
The greatest improvements in the art
of Matchmaking are due to the seven
teenth century, when the studious minds
of Huygens and DR.. Hooke were di-
rected into this channel. DR.. Hooke,
an irrepressible and cosmopolitan
scientist" originated the spiral Or
pendulum spring, and this was improved
upon by Thomas Tompion, who had
been farrier, and tried his prentice
hand at patchwork by regulating the
wheels of meat-iacks. Tompion was a
famous matchmaker Of the day, and DIR.
Hooke induced him to construct watch
upon the new principle for Charles II.
From this period watches became real
timekeepers, and the improvements in
troduced since have been mainly to
counteract the varying effects Of cold
and heat upen the metal Of which the
works are constructed, and in
rendering the working parts less
liable to friction. until the pre-
cision and mathematical accuracy of
these machines justly entitled them to
the eulogy of Paley, who selected watches
as exhibiting the highest specimens of
human ingenuity.
At one time it was fashionable to
wear two watches, to compare the one
with the other. This carrying Of two
watches at one time was as nothing COM
pared to the whimsicality of a Saxon
Minister. Count Bruhl, in whose ward
robe, when the Prussians took Dresden
in 1857, were discovered suits Of clothes
for each day of the year, and 365
watches, sticks and snuff boxes, respect
lively.
Some of the last-century watches are
highly ornamented, and other specimens
display great ingenuity. South Ken
sington has q French lyre-shaped watch,
set with pearls and enameled, and sur
mounted by an image of the sun. An
other, in the form of very small apple,
has a gold-enameled case, and is sur
rounded by belt Of seed pearls. This
was made at Geneva about 1850. In the
Gardner collection at the same museum
is watch in an oval gold case, highly
decorated with pearls and diamonds,
set in enamel, the hands of which con-
tract and elongate to suit the form of
the dial.
Miniature watches are little thought
of now; precision is everything,
as it should be; and this has cul-
minated in the chronograph, won
derful invention Of our own day, by
which the great horse races are usually
timed. The precise moment the start
er's flag is lowered is indicated upon the
dial by spot OF ink, and another dot
shows with equal exactitude the time at
which the first horse passes the judges
chair. -,Scientifc american.
GOethe'S Heartlessmess.