Bracelet Watch
Artist
Maker unknown
(Swiss)
Date1800-1825
MediumGold, half-pearls, diamonds, enamel, steel
Dimensions41.3 x 60 x 57.2 mm
ClassificationsT&E FOR TIMEKEEPING
Credit LineProctor Collection, Thomas R. Proctor Watch Collection
Terms
Object numberPC. 355
DescriptionEnamelled gold bracelet watchCompromising a bracelet of five articulated tapered segments, each with panel of white enamel scrolls enclosed by translucent red enamel border; the central segment incorporating an octagonal recess into which is fitted a conforming watch case set with split pearls around the bezel; the case is held in the bracelet by two spring tabs; the back of the case has asliding panel with access for winding, setting and regulation.
CASE: comprising a bracelet of five articulated tapered segments, each with panel of white enamel scrolls enclosed by translucent red enamel border; the central segment incorporating an octagonal recess into which is fitted a conforming watch case set with split pearls around the bezel; the case is held in the bracelet by two spring tabs; the back of the case has asliding panel with access for winding, setting and regulation.
On View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextThe first known documentation of a watch worn on a wrist is in an account book from the firm of Jaquet-Droz and Leschot of Geneva in 1790. The reference notes, "a watch to be fixed on a bracelet." The watch may have been a special order or a watchmaker's experiment with a new form. The Empress Josephine gave her daughter-in-law, Princess Auguste-Amelie of Leuchtenberg, a pair of gold bracelets, one with a watch and the other with a calendar, as a wedding present in 1806. When the bracelet watch was first introduced, it was, most likely, attached to a ribbon fastener; later, watches were incorporated into gold bracelets. A bracelet watch was relatively rare feminine adornment during most of the nineteenth century. The form was not widely accepted until the 1880s. Its successor, the wristwatch, did not become be a commonplace accouterment for men and women until the twentieth century.
