November, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



397 



Two very fine examples of early German bridge-work 



modern watch might have been considered. The chief ob- 

 ject might have been to gather fine specimens of bridge- 

 work with cunning engraving and chasing; it might have 

 been to collect dials that would show the various methods 

 of telling time and the quaint sup- 

 plementary devices sometimes 

 added by the old watchmakers; 

 again it might have been to bring 

 together a great number of cases 

 either for their odd forms, their 

 material or their remarkable style 

 of decoration. What was done 

 was to collect them for the sake of 

 their mechanical development to 

 show the successive stages of their 

 improvement. In other words, it 

 was the essentially mechanical and 

 scientific quality of the watch — its 

 natural history, we might say — 

 that exerted the firmest at- 

 traction. With this object 

 as the guiding motive the 

 collection gained additions 

 from the most widely di- 

 verse quarters, and incident- 

 ally all the other aspects of 

 watch collecting, previously 

 mentioned, were duly repre- 

 sented. The result was a 

 singularly complete gather- 

 ing of specimens illustrative 

 of all the skill and artistry 

 that have gone into the 

 watchmakers' craft from the 

 earliest days 



German watch with pierced case, showing striking move 

 ment. Small bell in cover 



breeds wholesome humility for what we have lost in an ar- 

 tistic way and gives a modicum of satisfaction for what we 

 have gained on the practical side. 



The story of watches begins back in the sixteenth century 

 at a time when they were really 

 small clocks. This resemblance 

 seems all the more marked when 

 we learn that not a few of the 

 early watches had bells on which 

 the hours were struck and 

 "alarms" sounded. They really 

 antedated our modern alarm 

 clocks by more than three cen- 

 turies. These bells sometimes 

 formed casings or envelopes for 

 the works. 



The first watches seem to have 

 been made in Nuremberg soon after 

 1500, by Peter Henlein or Hele, 

 as he is often called. The 

 mechanism, though ingeni- 

 ous and a distinct advance 

 upon what had been previ- 

 ously achieved, would 

 scarcely pass muster to-day 

 for accurate time keeping. 

 From Nuremberg the art of 

 watch-making soon spread 

 to other parts of Germany, 

 to France, to Holland and 

 to England. Notwithstand- 

 ing their increasing popular- 

 ity as curious toys and trin- 

 kets for the rich, their inac- 



A Nuremberg canister watch of the early 1 6th century 

 Such collecting can never be regarded as a curacy and susceptibility to internal derangement were 

 mere idle hobby, even by the most prosaic. If looked at in proverbial for Shakespeare says, in lines which show the 

 the proper light it broadens our interest and sympathy, poet's love of taking illustrations from foreign parts: 



Early 1 7th century German watch by Bumel of Nuremberg. Silver case, pierced sides and gilt dial. 



example of German bridge-work 



The watch to the right is an early 



