New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-20

hinged lid on one side to nclose the dial, the
lid being engraved and usually pierced with an
aperture each hour through when the
/ position Of the hand might be seen Most OF
the watches were provided with bell. on which
| in some cases the hours were sounded in regular
progression, in other instances the bell was
merely utilized for an alarum. The cases were
usually worked a jour to emit the SOUND.
The specimens OF early table clocks and clock
watches illustrated in this volume are noihihs
less than beautiful The richness. deiea'y anu
refinement Of the Ornamentation are deHshttuI
/ even in the black and white presentment. 20
far as artistic beauty goes the clock and watch
makers Of to-day have certainly not improved
/ upon their predecessors. They give US few
things as good as the quaint, original and lovely
timekeepers Of the eighteenth century and OF
an even earlier period
When the term watch" first used IT had
not its present significance because at that
period the tmekeeper was not worn in the
/ pocket-it might have meant. perhaps weight
clock Of large size Queen Elizabeth had a mag
nfcent collection Of watches. most OF them
being apparently table watches or small clocks
though Leicester gave her "a clocke set with
/ "dyamondes" in armlet. and this was no
doubt something like the watch bracelet Of the
/ nineteenth century. Whenever Elizabethan
/ courtier had some moments Of leisure he ap-
parently went out and bought the queen
"clocke" or "Watche" mostly garnshed with
precious stones 1t was in her period that the
fantastic skull watch became popular with
skilled makers and those illustrated by Mr.
Britten are wonderfully worked they are
CHASTITY.
These were not the only strange shapes in
which watches were then made. Among thos'
lock, a book crosses, cookie shell. a pear
tulip, poppy bud, basket of flowers. al
olive. a star and d butterfly. Most Of these
! toy watches were French. and IN the last
. century the sellers Of them were called toy
men" oval watches called Nuremberg eggs
. We're made in that town a. early as 1890 and
these were worn on the person attached boy
means Of chatelaines Watches were not car
red il the pocket for NOR than a century after
. the handspring was invented the smaller kinds
when at all. instead OF being kept on a
table or cabinet, were attached 10 a chain
round the neck or fastened to the dress or, like
I LeiCester's gift. set in a bracelet. The author
holds that the dial which the melancholy
Jacques drew from his poke was not a watch
but a portable sua dial These dials, sometimes
with d compass attached. were among the con
venieuces Of Shakespearcs day. Most OF the
early watches were Of such uneven shape
with pointed projection depending from the
bottom of the case. that they could not be car
ried in the pocket Nh Brtten believes that
the fob from the German "fuppe" "a small
pocketJ was possibly introduced by the Purl-
tans IN order to conceal the dandacal orna-
ment Of a watch and he gives US picture OF
oliver CromweIs watch with the short fob
chain attached-the trst fob in point Of date
to b. found
Watch glasses We're not introduced until the
early years Of the seventeenth century though,
ODDLY enough. they were used for table clocks
some time before Watches with metal covers
were fashionable till the middle Of that century.
The fob" was generally adopted by men, and
until the end Of the eighteenth century women
continued o. wear their timepeces suspended
from chatelaines The earliest watches had only
one case and for this wood Of various kinds,
precious and semi precious stones. amber. metal
and leather Were used. metal being OF course,
the chief material. Enamel was early employed
in the decoration Of watch cases and dials.
Some Of these tlmekeepers were so dainty that
they were provided with an additional case
and the use OF these pair cases continued 10
1850 Sometimes these outer cases were OF norm
mr. tortoise shell with picture etched or painted
on the under side sometimes they were OF less
expensiy, material Of meta covered with some
kird Of skin. Shagreen was popular ana TINS
is described by the author a. "a remarkably
tough kind Of leather made chiefly at Astra-
chan from the strong skin that covers the crup-
nor of the ass or horse In it, preparation a
. peculiar roughness is produced by treadlng INTO
the skin hard round seeds which are shaken
ont when the skin has been dried 1t Il then
, s,ai,.d green with copper filings and sal am