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Pocket watch curio but can you guess what it is ?

wls1971

By wls1971
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wls1971 Distinguished Member

wls1971

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Every now and again Ebay throws up a curio and this watch is one of them, it dates from the 1880's and was used in conjunction with something else to form what could be argued as the worlds first what ?

It looks very much like a ordinary pocket watch of the period but as a number of unusual features,

IMG_2426_zpshnuiji6i.jpg

What is the curios stud on the hour hand ?

IMG_2430_zpsqnoimshr.jpg

 

And the hole in the inner bezel for ?

IMG_2432_zpszpyh7uba.jpg

 

And what is the part of the case made from that the bezel connects to ?

IMG_2428_zpsttzj861a.jpg

It also has the nice feature of a glass back but that has nothing to do with its function,

 

IMG_2427_zpsxzxqv3zk.jpg

 

It is 99% complete as far as the watch goes but it would have been used with something else, I very much doubt a complete example exists outside of a museum.

If you know what it is answers on a postcard please, I shall reveal all later

 

Wayne

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WatchMaker Super WRT Addict

WatchMaker

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With 'avertisseur' as the French for 'alarm' then was the watch then a plug-in for an alarm clock?!

So the watch gets slotted into an accompanying alarm gadget and when the hour hand reaches the allotted time the hour hand stud completes a circuit and the alarm goes off.

Maybe.

Certainly very interesting!

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wls1971 Distinguished Member

wls1971

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32 minutes ago, WatchMaker said:

With 'avertisseur' as the French for 'alarm' then was the watch then a plug-in for an alarm clock?!

So the watch gets slotted into an accompanying alarm gadget and when the hour hand reaches the allotted time the hour hand stud completes a circuit and the alarm goes off.

Maybe.

Certainly very interesting!

Spot on, The watch formed part of the worlds first electric alarm clock, patented in 1885 and invented by Jacub Burmann and made by Henri Jacot Burmann.

The bezel of the watch is rotatable and would have had a pointer connected to a wire where the hole is. The bezel is insulated from the rest of the watch via a ceramic ring. The watch would have been set atop a stand with a bell on top and holder with a clip around the winder and a clip on the bezel, when the arrow came into contact with the hour hand a complete circuit was formed and the bell sounded.

Geo, I think any anarchist of the time could have easily converted it to a bomb timer.

Below is the original patent documents for 1885, if anyone knows any site that has a picture of the complete set up I would be delighted to see it.I do have a book that describes the system but I've never seen a picture of the complete set up in the flesh.

 

US327919-1_zpssysjkvda.jpg

 

US327919-2_zpsqyy6ngep.jpg

 

US327919-3_zps0wtjhzwt.jpg

 

US327919-4_zpsao2bqi2v.jpg

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