Bowers Watch and Clock Repair logo.

LOCATION:
We are located on the north end of Cheshire Bridge Road, one block south of the I-85 overpass,  between the cross streets of Sheridan Road and
Chantilly Road.

OPEN:
Wed.- Fri.

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM


Saturdays

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

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LEARN HOW TO
instruction page

We accept
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all credit cards

THE POCKET WATCH

 

Piaget pocket watch apart.A pocket watch is a watch that’s made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is worn on the wrist. Developed in the16th century, The first watches were big and boxy, and people wore them around their necks. By 1524, Peter Henlein, a master locksmith from Nuremberg, was regularly making pocket watches in England. Soon pocket watch manufacture spread throughout Europe. Early watches only had an hour hand. The minute hand didn’t appear on them until the late 17th century. It wasn’t for another century that it became common for people to wear a watch in a pocket. Henry Pitkin, along with his brother, produced the first American pocket watches with machine-made parts in the late 1830s.

As technology progressed, the watch cases and their movements became smaller. Pocket watches were the most common type of watch until wristwatches gained popularity after World War I. Most pocket watches had a chain attached, known as a fob, which allowed them to be secured to a vest, lapel, or belt loop to prevent them from being dropped. Some, known as hunter-case watches, also had a hinged metal cover to protect the watch crystal. At the opposite end of the fob were fasteners designed to be put through a buttonhole and worn in a jacket. Railroad conductors commonly used this method.

The rise of railroading during the last half of the 19th century led to the widespread use of pocket watches. Because of the likelihood of train wrecks and other accidents if all railroad workers did not accurately know the current time, pocket watches became required equipment for all of them.

Open faced watches offer an unobtrusive view of the dial, allowing the most important aspect of a watch, reading the information. A requirement of a Railroad watch was an open face case. However, a hunting case affords the best protection to a pocket watch, with its metal cover protecting the crystal and dial from dust, scratches and other damage. Activated by depressing the crown, the spring-loaded door opens from the 3 o’clock side with its hinge at 9 o'clock. This arrangement requires a 90-degree change in the orientation of the location between the pendant and second hand locations and often a mismatched marriage of the two results in a “sidewinder” with the wrong movement in the wrong case.

Learn about the origin of the railroad pocket watch
.
 
Read about collecting watch papers.
Read about collecting watches.
 
Read about collecting pocket watch holders.
 

We restore and repair vintage pocket watches.

< Back to Watches                                                         To The Waterbury Watch >

Pocket watches
Cuckoo clocks Hadley-Roma bands
Howard Miller clocks
Novelty clocks
Vintage watches

Watch dome.
We offer a variety of watch domes to protect you precious heirlooms

FOR SALE

$350
For more information

We carry a complete selection of bands from $15 to $300

We carry Atlanta's
largest selection
of watch bands and
will
size them while you wait.

 

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