May, 1909] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 9 



A FOSSIL WATCH. 



Bv D. J. Mahony, M.Sc. 



{Read before the Field NaturulisW Cluh of Victoria, 19th April, 1909.) 



Before describing the specimen, some apology should be 

 offered for the title of this short paper, for the word fossil 

 connotes great antiquity to most of us, and a watch, especially a 

 keyless watch, can certainly be of no great age. Mr. J. E. Marr, 

 in his well-known work, " The Principles of Stratigraphical 

 Geology," remarks that the stone implement of the river gravels 

 is as genuine a fossil as the ammonite collected from the chalk, 

 and that even more modern implements may be true fossils. For 

 instance, the occurrence of moa bones in New Zealand in 

 accumulations below those containing biscuit tins and jam pots 

 has been used as a geological argument pointing to the extinction 

 of the moa before the arrival of Europeans. The biscuit tin 

 here serves all the purposes of a fossil, and there is no valid 

 reason why it should not be spoken of as such. The same 

 argument applies to the watch under consideration for it shows 

 that the rock in which it was imbedded has been solidified during 

 the last quarter of a century. 



The specimen consists of a watch and chain, now separate, but 

 evidently once united. The watch is keyless, and the winder has 

 been broken off and is still attached to the chain. The chain is 

 of German silver, and is of the short double type worn by ladies 

 about 15 years ago. The two strands are fastened by a sliding 

 band and the swivel and shank are attached. The ring or bow 

 to which the swivel is fastened is of rolled gold, and the shank 

 which connected it and the winder to the watch has an iron core. 

 The whole is for the most part imbedded in a hard mass of sand- 

 stone, composed of small silica grains of beach sand and some 

 pebbles of ironstone, bound together by a cement of calcite, and 

 in part iron-stained. The iron oxide is especially common round 

 the steel shank of the winder, from which it has evidently been 

 derived. There are a few slight traces of verdigris on the chain, 

 but the exposed parts scarcely look duller than they would if put 

 by in a drawer for a few years, and they remain quite flexible. 

 It might well be used again if freed from stone. The watch 

 itself was unfortunately broken away from the rock by the 

 workmen who discovered it. Mr. Kosminsky, an expert on the 

 subject, informs me that this kind of keyless movement is still 

 used in Geneva watches, and was first introduced about 20 years 

 ago, so that the age of the watch is restricted to that short 

 number of years. The case is missing, but was probably silver. 

 The works are of steel and brass, and the face is white enamel, 

 quite fresh and unstained, with the figures as clear as on the day 

 when it left the maker. The hands are broken off. 



