Manufacture of the pocket watch

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Antony1108

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Manufacture of the pocket watch
 
As the name suggests, a pocket watch is a type of watch meant to be carried in the pocket as opposed to the wristwatch is usually strapped to one's hand. They were at the beginning quite big as they often worn around one’s neck.                                   
 
The initial pocket watch only had the hour arm while those with a minute arm appeared in late 17th century. Until the 18th century, the watches were considered a social status icon because they were used to suggest how high one was in the social strata. Much later, it became common to see many people wearing a pocket watch. W3henever one lost his pocket watch, he could advertise with huge rewards for anyone with information leading to the recovery of the watch. Because the technology involved was quite crude, most of the watches hardly achieved much accuracy. With time, the technology got refined that they slowly became more dependable. This was after the introduction of the lever watches after 1820. The American Watch Company was the first manufacturer to introduce the manufacture of the pocket watch with standardized parts. Were preferred by both the American and Canadian railroads as they made it quite impossible to unintentionally change time . It is common to find pocket watches jeweled. At the beginning this was not taken serious as it required the use of rejected low grade natural jewels. It was common for the pocket watch to be jeweled using ruby, sapphire as well as diamond, garnet and glass. The jewel is important in that it provides a smooth and surface resistant to wear and tear. The amount of jewel on a pocket watch would depend on the market niche it is destined for. Nowadays, the pocket watch is not very popular as opposed the wristwatch. Its popularity started to decline in the 20th century as most men considered more of being feminine and not meant for men. Men started going in more for wrist watches unlike the pocket watch. This was seen more during the First World War when soldiers started to appreciate the wrist watch to the pocket watch although the later continued to be used in the railroad. With the widespread use of the rail transport led to a simultaneous rise in the use of the pocket watch. The watches used by Railroad Company went through stringent quality inspection to ensure standard time pieces. There are two main types of the pocket watch i.e. the hunter-case watch and the open-face pocket watch. The hunter-case pocket watch had a circular lid made from metal that protected from dust, scratches as well as other damage, while the open-face watch did not have any cover over it to protect its crystal face. Both of them had the sub-second dial at the 6:00 o’clock position.
Posted 12 Feb 2022

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