Pocket watch facts for kids

A gold pocket watch

A pocket watch is a timepiece that is kept in the pocket rather than worn on a wrist (wristwatch). It is thought to be invented by Peter Henlein.

The pocket watch usually has a chain to connect to a certain clothing, so the watch would not fall out of the pocket and get broken. This watch was popular before the wristwatch become popular. Because of wristwatches, the pocket watch became less common and popular. Still, some people today wear pocket watches, and a golden pocket watch is often a token of a person's retirement.

Images for kids

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  Savonette with cathedral hands and luminescent dial made by Thos. Russell & Son (probably in the 1920s)

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  Pocketwatches evolved from clock-watches, supposedly called Nuremberg eggs, worn on chains around the neck. Example by Peter Henlein, 1510, Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg.

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  Antique verge fusée pocketwatch movement, from the 1700s

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  A French pocketwatch from the 1920s

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  High resolution image of a clockwork with silver hallmark and precision surface finish

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  Wooden pocket watch XIX-XX. Russian stamp, 2010

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  A so-called "mystery watch" with a transparent dial, c. 1889, Musée d'Horlogerie of Le Locle, Switzerland. It is the first transparent watch.

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  An open-face pocket watch made by the Polish watchmaker Franciszek Czapek, c. 1876

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  The parts of a pocket watch movement by B. G. Seielstad

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  The c. 1950 Omega pocket watch is of stem-wind, stem-set movement.

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  Movement of a 1914 Hamilton 992 Railroad grade pocket watch

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  Waltham model 1899 pocket watch movement

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  Movement of a gold Elgin pocket watch, c. 1919

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  An 'Hebdomas' 8 day pocket watch, circa 1920, Musée d'Horlogerie of Le Locle, Switzerland. Patented in 1889, discontinued a number of years and reintroduced in 1968 is still manufactured. An example of the decline and resurgence of the pocket watch.

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  Colibri pocket watch, manufactured mid-1990s. The back case has an extra hinged cover that can be folded out to allow the watch to stand upright on a table.

See also

In Spanish: Reloj de bolsillo para niños