Skull Form Watch
Artist
Maker unknown
(French)
Date1725-1750
MediumSilver
Dimensions52.4 x 41.3 x 31.8 mm
ClassificationsT&E FOR TIMEKEEPING
Credit LineProctor Collection, Thomas R. Proctor Watch Collection
Object numberPC. 272
DescriptionSKULL SHAPED. mvt. circular full plate bridge cockOn View
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 fashion for skull-shaped watches in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries reflects an interest in memento mori, which means "remember you must die." This form was intended to remind wearers of their mortality, an appropriate collateral function, perhaps, for an artifact whose main purpose is to tick away the passing time.
