IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATCHES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Forrest Watson, of St. John's Square,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATCHES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Forrest Watson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th February 1857.
I, JOHN FORREST WATSON, of St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATCHES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
watches. For this purpose the works of a watch are enclosed in a case
having a metal back and a glazed front, which constitutes the body of the
watch. This body is so constructed in respect to a framed case that it can
when desired be used as a hunting watch, and at other times as an opened-face
watch, with the face and glass in front. The frame is formed in three parts,
first, a central ring in which the body of the watch can be placed and readily
fixed and held, whether the face be in one direction or the other, for which
purpose it is preferred to form a rib or projection on the interior of the ring to
form a bed for receiving a similar projection around the body of the watch,
the body being fixed in the ring by a bolt or catch or other suitable fastening;

page_text: second, to one side of the central ring is hinged an open frame, so that
when the face of the watch is in that direction the open ring will surround the
glass, and present the appearance of an ordinary open-faced watch; third,
to the other side of the central ring is hinged a close back, which opens
from the knob or handle in the ordinary manner of a hunting watch, so
that when the body of the watch is fixed in the central ring with the face
towards the back, the watch will appear to be, and in fact acts as an ordinary
hunting watch, and be looked at by opening the back by pressure on the
ordinary spring catch, and the back of the body of the watch will be presented
through the open ring on the other side; and such back, together with the
open ring will represent the appearance of the back of an ordinary hunting
watch.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Forrest Watson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FORREST WATSON, of St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middle-
sex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven; in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said]
John Forrest Watson, Her special licence that I, the said John Forrest
Watson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Forrest Watson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Forrest Watson, my executors, or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my or their or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent:

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Forrest Watson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
watches. For this purpose the works of a watch are enclosed in a case
having a metal back and a glazed front, which constitutes the body of the
watch. This body is so constructed in respect to a framed case that it can
when desired be used as a hunting watch, and at other times when desired as
an ordinary open-face watch, with the face and glass in front. The frame is
formed in three parts, first, a central ring in which the body of the watch can
be placed and readily fixed and held, whether the face be in one direction or
the other, for which purpose it is preferred to form a rib or projection on the
interior of the ring to form a bed for receiving a similar projection around the
body of the watch, the body being fixed in the ring by a bolt or catch or other
suitable fastening; second, to one side of the central ring is hinged an open
frame, so that when the face of the watch is in that direction the open ring will
surround the glass and present the appearance of an ordinary open-faced
watch; third, to the other side of the central ring is hinged a close back, which
opens from the knob or handle in the ordinary manner of a hunting watch, so
that when the body of the watch is fixed in the central ring with the face
towards the back, the watch will appear to be and in fact acts as an ordinary
hunting watch, and be looked at by opening the back by pressure on the ordinary
spring catch, and the back of the body of the watch will be presented through
the open ring on the other side, and such back, together with the open ring,
will represent the appearance of the back of an ordinary hunting watch.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a front view, Figure 2 a back view, and Figure 3 an edge
view of the case in which the working parts of the watch are enclosed; and
Figure 4 is a side view of the external case open, into which the case con-

page_text: which, when this case is enclosed within the outer case (as is shown in the
transverse section Figure 5), catch in the circular groove in the ring a, and
at the same time the circular enlargement or flange on the inner case (clearly
shewn at Figure 3) rests on the inner rib or edge of the ring a. In order to
remove the inner from the outer case it is necessary to press on the projection
el, so as to withdraw the catch e on the inner case. The inner case containing
the works of the watch can be put into the ring a, either so that the glass
of the inner case appears through the open ring c of the outer case, and then
the watch resembles an ordinary open-face watch, or so that the metal back of
the inner case appears through the ring c, and then the watch resembles a
hunting watch.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would remark that I am aware that watches have
heretofore sometimes been furnished with separate outer cases, and that some-
times also these outer cases have been so constructed as to receive the watches
for which they are made either when turned so as to exhibit the face or the
back through the open ring of the case, but whenever this has been done, the
handle or pendant of the watch has been attached to the interior case so as to
make a complete watch without the exterior case.
Now, what I claim is, the constructing an outer case consisting of a ring a,
with a metal back b, hinged to one of its sides, and an open ring c to its other
side, the ring a having the handle of the watch fixed to it, and being arranged
to receive the inner case containing the works when turned in one or other
position; that is to say, so that either the front or the back of the inner case
shall appear through the open ring of the outer case. I also claim the con-
structing an inner case with a circular enlargement or flange round it to rest
on the ring of the outer case, also with suitable catches to hold it in its place
in the ring of the outer case, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Forrest Watson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
AR. CARPMAEL.
JOHN FORREST WATSON. (L.S.)