Amazing to think that probably more than 500 years from now when the pads and smartphones and gadgets that we make today have long broken down due to the ever decreasing quality in workmanship and materials that plagues some technology, these little pocket watches could still be ticking due to the incredible level of labour and love that went into them. Beautiful items.
I'm sure for every such pocketwatch still in existence there are hundred a pile of rust somewhere. In few hundred years they will say "look at that iPhone, it still works, these were the days" and conveniently forget about hundreds of millions of iPhones lying in garbage dumps.
We dont remember all the crap that were made hundreds of years ago because it has fallen into disrepair and is long gone. Chances are that in a couple of hundred years somebody will make that exact statement due to some item that survived from present day.
6 лет назад
Bullshit, no Iphone can withstand the constant update process, it's like trying to bail out a boat as you're rowing.
Amazing craftsmanship and they still function after hundreds of years I rather doubt any of our modern machines of even modest complexity would come close to surviving as long. Thank you for creating this excellent video.
They are very beautiful antique pocket watches, or due to their age I should say functional historic relics. It really gives an insight to the value of items people of the past owned, and the level of craftsmanship which is sadly lacking in today's world. They have withstood the test of time and are in incredible working order. Thank you for sharing these wonderful time pieces and some of their history with us.
That was THE most interesting video I’ve watched ever since I started watching RUclips! I don’t know why, but ever since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by timepieces. I’m in my fifties now and I still feel the same way about mechanical watches.
My Dad used to do clock and watch repairs at home, so there was always random ticking. I still find it lonely not to hear a clock at home - they’re so companionable. I love the mechanics too!
i just picked up a ww1 trench watch and i thought that was old. Interestingly it is engraved with a name and date that narrows it down to about 15 men. One being my great great uncle
I'm a vintage wrist watch collector didn't really have an interest in pocket watches or clocks but last year I found a triple date moonphase pocket watch that caught my eye I payed £120 for it and as I started to look at pocket watches I gained a new interest and now I understand that if i want to own a very old time piece then it will have to be either a pocket watch or a clock,, almost anything old and well made is impressive to me my main love is 1950's - 1960's Swiss wrist watches the brands that I collect are omega, tudor and longines but I am amazed by your pocket watches they are so beautiful and such good condition for their age Thank you for sharing them
There is something truly beautiful about fine mechanical devices. Watches, guns, engines... I love the art of mechanical things. People don't appreciate the skill that goes into old-school machining or in modern manufacturing. What we can do with materials is crazy.
When you consider the craftsmanship that went into making a watch like this it boggles the mind. The extremely tight tolerance of the parts involved is truly amazing considering that every piece was made by hand. No computer controlled machine shop here. No laser cutting either. Just a very skilled man with basic hand tools. No wonder these cost a fortune. The amount of time involved in making one must have been huge. They are true works of art. Thanks much for the show and tell. Amazing. ATB Doug.
That's right they cost a fortune, so to compare todays "cost a fortune" watch you would have to go far more than an IPAD at $500, you would have to compare against todays high end $50,000 watch.
Watches weren't the only things made entirely by hand...all microscopes were usually made by one craftsman; brass tubes, grinding the glass for lenses, cutting threads. Remarkable craft, sadly long forgotten.
I saw a video of a multi-million dollar watch being made. there was a good amount of handwork but there was a lot of CNC machine involvement. the complexity was off the charts though.
Simply amazing and elegant machines. You're so fortunate to possess such divine time pieces that are still functional. You sir, are a gent for sharing some of the splendor of your collection. Thank you! Myself? A bit of a clock and watch nerd... fascinating. Simply fascinating.
They're so beautiful!!! just watching I started to tear up! It's so sad that much any more the cases are melted down or sold of to be melted for the gold.
Stunningly beautiful antique time pieces. Astonishing to think that the men who assembled these marvels of fine engineering and art are dust in their graves. What would they have thought if they knew hundreds of years in the future people would still be admiring their work via the magic of moving images.
I have variety of fantastic antique pocket watches ,some of them have 337 years old . All of them are in excellent working condition. My you tube channel is called world of pocket watches . The link for my playlist is ruclips.net/user/results?search_query=worldof+pocket+watches and I will post more videos in the future . I hope you enjoy watching my videos . All my best wishes
I hope to find one one day but that aside it is lovely to see 200 year old craftsmanship.They must have really been craftsman back then,to make something as accurate in timekeeping and hand made.
my wife's grandad had a verge watch from the latter 1600s amongst his antique items he'd collected. Unfortunately, 30 odd years after his death in 1971, this watch wasn't found anywhere in the house, so presumably, one of the several missing items he'd listed I presume that was sold.
How did you find these, I can't imagine how difficult it was to aquire these. Oldest pocket watch I have is 150 years old, I can't imagine having one over 300 years old!
This is a beautiful watch. The inside is just as beautiful..I love all those little gears and the brilliance it took to construct something like this....wow
It's wound from the front through the central pillar because the French liked to be innovative at the expense of complexity. That's why we had the likes of Perrelet or Lepine and his apprentice Breguet. I would love to have an 18th or early 19th century quarter repeating watch one of these days.
Nice lesson on time pieces, i realy liked the eppisode, thank you very much and i too hope to find a gold pocket watch someday in the dirt, all ready found a ladies gold wristwatch and a omega 18k and ss, need a solid gold one to scratch off the list. Gl and hh.
I have 4 antique pocket watches made in the 1730-1760 period they need a lot of help to make them work again. Wish I could find someone to help fix them up. I love to wind them up and just spend hours watching them work.
I love pocket watches! I gave my oldest grandson one for his birthday when he turned 12 years old. He just turned 26 years old 2 days ago. Time marches on, but beautifully with a pocket watch! Loved your video!!! Thanks for sharing!
I would not class myself as an antiques kind of guy but these are extraordinary. The fact they are working is truely jaw dropping. Great content from an obvious watch aficionado. Thanks for sharing things we will most likely never see ourselves. These must be eye-poppingly expensive.
Absolutely fascinating! I love old watches! I've never seen any this old, so this was a whole new adventure for me! Don't think I'll be finding any 17th century noble man's gold pocket watch here in Iowa though.... but you never know....
Wonderful!!! So informative, though there must be horror stories about the child labourers! Gives one a whole new perspective on early society. We take watches so much for granted. Also a whole new perspective on your abilities!!! Luv U.
Love the ticking sound. You could post a soundtrack only vid with just watch ticking much like relaxing rainforest soundtracks. To some of us the sound would be just as soothing.
This is the best weirdest random video I have come accross and I am very delighted I decided to watch this! I'm not even into clocks, yet this was awesome!
@@ChillBill1 This video was posted 6 years ago, and you still reply to comments 5 years later....well done mate! I also enjoyed watching this video, very peaceful and relaxing listening to your voice :)
, watches like this belong in a Museum. absolutely magnificent and breath taking that such precision could have been achieved by hand in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
I remember this vid from a few years ago; nice to see it again. 😀 Simply astounding workmanship, wonderful history, nice reminder of yet another facet of the legendary RUclips personality that is *Chill Bill*... 😏
Just had to give up my old 72 Catalina 27. Got a lil history up at my spot on an old pocket watch fob that I found metal detecting. Quite a cool history on this object, best find yet. Stay safe.
Thanks for a very educational video. I love pocket watches and I have been collecting them for the past 8 years, mostly late 19th and early 20th Century pocket watches. I knew absolutely nothing about the 17th and 18th century pocket watches so thanks for an absolutely fascinating lesson on these beautiful time pieces.
Wonderful video showing pieces created when to own a watch was to be a person of wealth. I would love for you to do a video about "modern-day" pocket watches (say from 1900 to now).
Consider it hearsay as I have no sources to back that up, but it was my understanding that clock making developped in the Alps (both sides of the border between France and Switzerland) because the people living there due to the harsh winters, poor roads and such jumped at the opportunity to earn some cash by making clock parts while they couldn't go farming outside. Everyone in a village (men and children) would specialize on one or a couple of parts, and when Spring freed the roads from ice, watchmakers from the valleys would come and buy the stocks produced during winter in those remote areas to assemble the watches out of those parts. So yes, child's work was involved, but that wasn't Dickens either.
Im sure that could be true, but the English were the first world power in watch making but the Swiss took over during WWI when the watchmakers were taken off to make other things.
Well I finally found a source. It's from an elementary French school book for pupils circa 7 or 8 years old, dated 1893 (late XIXth century). The book is titled "Le tour de la France par deux enfants" and it follows the journey of two brothers in the various parts of France. A very interesting book, because it touches about every practical aspects of the life in that period, as well as history and geography. It points every regional specialty, there are advices for farming, taking care of cattle etc. It's an all-in-one ressource told from a child point of view. Anyhow, p. 81 in my edition, the two orphans (did I mentionned they were orphans ? Well that's the basis of the story - they have to leave their home to find a distant uncle with whom to live) spend the night in the Jura at a farm. "When the night was complete, the farmer's wife lit up two lamps. Close to one, both her eldest sons took a place. They had set in front of them all kind of tools, a small anvil, hammers, clippers, files, rubbing powder. They grabbed between their fingers light ribbons of steels they were rolling on themselves after hammering them on the anvil. André came closer very surprised ; their work, which reminded him of the fine locksmithing, interested him. - What are you doing, he asked ? - See, we're crafting watch mainsprings. Up in the mountains we craft the different pieces so that in Besançon they only have to assemble them to build the watches themselves. I build the mainsprings, others do the tiny wheels, the small chains, some others do the faces where the hours are painted, others the arms which will mark the hours ; others lastly, craft the bodies in silver or gold. [...] with one pound of steel, we can make up to 80 000 springs, and they are worth 10 Francs apiece if they are good. - 10 F each spring ! said André. If there are 80.000 that's 800.000 F, and all coming from a pound of steel that's so cheap ! My locksmith master was very right to teach me that the worth of things is mostly up to the labour and intelligence of the worker". Leaving aside the rhetoric of the times, it depicts quite a vivid image, I think.
Absolutely fantastic! RUclips does throw up a gem now and then! I use my gg grandfathers watch daily. Solid gold case, a couple of pieces of the inner workings are gold as well and it’s over 19 jewels I believe. The really gem is the assay mark! It’s Birmingham, known for the silver usually but the assay office for the A.L.D watches burned down. So they moved into Birmingham for a short while, only a couple years I believe. Just like that one there is a beautiful ticking sound and it keeps time very well still. Excellent video :) great watch.
Every now and then you come across an absolute gem of a video - this is one.
I could listen to this all day!!!
Agreed! Love antique timepieces!
Amazing to think that probably more than 500 years from now when the pads and smartphones and gadgets that we make today have long broken down due to the ever decreasing quality in workmanship and materials that plagues some technology, these little pocket watches could still be ticking due to the incredible level of labour and love that went into them. Beautiful items.
The were the Ferrari of their age.
Oh well said, Ireland Deity
I'm sure for every such pocketwatch still in existence there are hundred a pile of rust somewhere. In few hundred years they will say "look at that iPhone, it still works, these were the days" and conveniently forget about hundreds of millions of iPhones lying in garbage dumps.
We dont remember all the crap that were made hundreds of years ago because it has fallen into disrepair and is long gone. Chances are that in a couple of hundred years somebody will make that exact statement due to some item that survived from present day.
Bullshit, no Iphone can withstand the constant update process, it's like trying to bail out a boat as you're rowing.
The 3 people that disliked this video clearly lost their pocket watch in a field.
trying to down vote it out of suggested videos most like.
Lord, that or their marbles. ;-)
36 as of the moment i made this comment!
37 cats disliked this, i really thought this was a wonderful video travelling back into time!!..these people are ignorant cats!
Or use their phone to know the time
It is fascinating that this was created all by hand, without any precision machinery. The amount of skill and passion that must have taken is amazing.
Amazing craftsmanship and they still function after hundreds of years I rather doubt any of our modern machines
of even modest complexity would come close to surviving as long. Thank you for creating this excellent video.
They are very beautiful antique pocket watches, or due to their age I should say functional historic relics. It really gives an insight to the value of items people of the past owned, and the level of craftsmanship which is sadly lacking in today's world. They have withstood the test of time and are in incredible working order. Thank you for sharing these wonderful time pieces and some of their history with us.
That was THE most interesting video I’ve watched ever since I started watching RUclips! I don’t know why, but ever since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by timepieces. I’m in my fifties now and I still feel the same way about mechanical watches.
My Dad used to do clock and watch repairs at home, so there was always random ticking. I still find it lonely not to hear a clock at home - they’re so companionable. I love the mechanics too!
The children making the small parts probably haunt these machines. Their living situations made modern sweat shops look like Disneyland.
NOPE!!, God declares the dead know nothing. And to be absent from your body is to be present with the LORD!
AMEN TO GOD ON HIGH!
This makes the 110 year old pocket watch I carry every day seem barely broken in!
You wear it every day?
What watch is it? I'm always learning new things about these gems!
i just picked up a ww1 trench watch and i thought that was old. Interestingly it is engraved with a name and date that narrows it down to about 15 men. One being my great great uncle
This is precious
My heart skipped a beat as soon as I saw that second watch. Simply beautiful both inside and on the outside.
I'm a vintage wrist watch collector didn't really have an interest in pocket watches or clocks but last year I found a triple date moonphase pocket watch that caught my eye I payed £120 for it and as I started to look at pocket watches I gained a new interest and now I understand that if i want to own a very old time piece then it will have to be either a pocket watch or a clock,, almost anything old and well made is impressive to me my main love is 1950's - 1960's Swiss wrist watches the brands that I collect are omega, tudor and longines but I am amazed by your pocket watches they are so beautiful and such good condition for their age Thank you for sharing them
There is something truly beautiful about fine mechanical devices. Watches, guns, engines... I love the art of mechanical things. People don't appreciate the skill that goes into old-school machining or in modern manufacturing. What we can do with materials is crazy.
!00% spot on. I also love well made mechanical things such as watches etc.
i can imagine the blood and tears from those children, beautiful!
Why would there be blood and tears? They probably enjoyed making those little chains as it gave them a sense of pride.
"very easy to break"
*slams face closed*
😂
gofercpt would hardly call that a slam.
Lol
SARedneckGoodTimes do you know the definition of “slam?”
@@hochspannunglebensgefahr5339 i believe it’s an accronym for “shut like a man”.
When you consider the craftsmanship that went into making a watch like this it boggles the mind. The extremely tight tolerance of the parts involved is truly amazing considering that every piece was made by hand. No computer controlled machine shop here. No laser cutting either. Just a very skilled man with basic hand tools. No wonder these cost a fortune. The amount of time involved in making one must have been huge. They are true works of art. Thanks much for the show and tell. Amazing. ATB Doug.
That's right they cost a fortune, so to compare todays "cost a fortune" watch you would have to go far more than an IPAD at $500, you would have to compare against todays high end $50,000 watch.
Watches weren't the only things made entirely by hand...all microscopes were usually made by one craftsman; brass tubes, grinding the glass for lenses, cutting threads. Remarkable craft, sadly long forgotten.
Doug McArtin A very skilled man backed up by a team of hungry orphans. I hope they got to learn to make the watches or to read at least.
the design and math involved is amazing too.
I saw a video of a multi-million dollar watch being made. there was a good amount of handwork but there was a lot of CNC machine involvement. the complexity was off the charts though.
Simply amazing and elegant machines. You're so fortunate to possess such divine time pieces that are still functional. You sir, are a gent for sharing some of the splendor of your collection. Thank you! Myself? A bit of a clock and watch nerd... fascinating. Simply fascinating.
I think I'll be doing another in the coming months.
Don't tell me you're an 11 year old furry...
Thanks everyone for the terrific feedback.
How many watches do you have?
They're so beautiful!!! just watching I started to tear up! It's so sad that much any more the cases are melted down or sold of to be melted for the gold.
is that a masons hat?
caleb wiggins they worth more as scrap
ItsMe NoName that's whay so many tubs down, the heat is rediculous
That was a wonderful history lesson on watches. It was so interesting to watch.
Linda Martin nice pun
Stunningly beautiful antique time pieces. Astonishing to think that the men who assembled these marvels of fine engineering and art are dust in their graves. What would they have thought if they knew hundreds of years in the future people would still be admiring their work via the magic of moving images.
I have variety of fantastic antique pocket watches ,some of them have 337 years old . All of them are in excellent working condition. My you tube channel is called world of pocket watches . The link for my playlist is
ruclips.net/user/results?search_query=worldof+pocket+watches
and I will post more videos in the future . I hope you enjoy watching my videos . All my best wishes
Years later, scientists do not understand how it's humanly possible. It must've been aliens 💀
I hope to find one one day but that aside it is lovely to see 200 year old craftsmanship.They must have really been craftsman back then,to make something as accurate in timekeeping and hand made.
my wife's grandad had a verge watch from the latter 1600s amongst his antique items he'd collected. Unfortunately, 30 odd years after his death in 1971, this watch wasn't found anywhere in the house, so presumably, one of the several missing items he'd listed I presume that was sold.
How did you find these, I can't imagine how difficult it was to aquire these. Oldest pocket watch I have is 150 years old, I can't imagine having one over 300 years old!
"A bare lady being approached by some gentlemen". This was such a genteel, thoroughly English phrase I laughed out loud.
Maybe the gentleman was bringing her a jumper to keep her warm!
clearly a wood nymph luring some hunters to some kind of downfall. The nudity is symbolic :P
This is a beautiful watch. The inside is just as beautiful..I love all those little gears and the brilliance it took to construct something like this....wow
even today it will be a challenge to construct these clockwork mechanisms as an individual experimenter
It's wound from the front through the central pillar because the French liked to be innovative at the expense of complexity. That's why we had the likes of Perrelet or Lepine and his apprentice Breguet.
I would love to have an 18th or early 19th century quarter repeating watch one of these days.
Fascinating historical look at what elegant machines these pocket watches were. Wonderful for you to provide us this excellent video.
Nice lesson on time pieces, i realy liked the eppisode, thank you very much and i too hope to find a gold pocket watch someday in the dirt, all ready found a ladies gold wristwatch and a omega 18k and ss, need a solid gold one to scratch off the list. Gl and hh.
Wow...just...wow, to hear the sounds of the 16th century. Truly ancient machines.
TestTubeBabySpy
17th century you mean
Close its the 17th century
And we still pull things out of our pocket to check the time, it's just much more advanced.
Absolutely breathtaking. A joy to look at forever.
The watches are absolute treasures.
The entirety of this video is nothing short of pleasant.
I have 4 antique pocket watches made in the 1730-1760 period they need a lot of help to make them work again. Wish I could find someone to help fix them up. I love to wind them up and just spend hours watching them work.
Bill, thank you for this wonderful journey into the past.
Loved the video, very informative. Love the craftsmanship and artistry that went into making one watch. Truly amazing.
How were the working parts manufactured back in those days? Would love to see a video on the 17th Century tooling and manufacturing process.
It's crazy that watchmaking/clockmaking has been a tradition in Europe for over 500 years.
See craftsmanship still can work if you think hard enough, Imagine after like 340 years it still works.
I love pocket watches! I gave my oldest grandson one for his birthday when he turned 12 years old. He just turned 26 years old 2 days ago. Time marches on, but beautifully with a pocket watch! Loved your video!!! Thanks for sharing!
I hope you buy him a waist coat for him at some point.
Had to look that up..."waist coat" but I was right when I thought you were writing about a vest. He would look very smart in one, so yes I must.
On my sons 10th birthday I gave him a top hat and monacle, along with a walking cane.........he hasn't spoken to me since!
These are beautiful pieces of machining. Stunning
Today went to see a clock with 200 years old, and i was impressed mechanically.So smooth. and precise.
Spectacularly inciteful. Magnificent. Thank you for sharing you historical insights and knowledge!
I would not class myself as an antiques kind of guy but these are extraordinary. The fact they are working is truely jaw dropping. Great content from an obvious watch aficionado. Thanks for sharing things we will most likely never see ourselves. These must be eye-poppingly expensive.
Fascinating, one of the better educations I have seen in a long time.
Absolutely fascinating! I love old watches! I've never seen any this old, so this was a whole new adventure for me! Don't think I'll be finding any 17th century noble man's gold pocket watch here in Iowa though.... but you never know....
Amazing craftsmanship and made to last .. beautiful
This is an absolute gem I love watches and coins and any old relics
Incredible, informative video! The gentleman obviously knows timepieces. But RUclips, four commercial interruptions??? Seriously???
what lovely craftsmanship thanks for sharing. this really made me smile
I wonder who owned these watches?
I'm pretty sure and 1680 people mistake that watch as an onion
Love the early watches. If i could my whole collection would be pre 1800.
great video!
Even though it's super early The Verge escapement still says clip clop as opposed to the lever escape in which says chick chick
Thank you for your technical description :)
The Algorithm: "its 3 am and speaking of time, here's a video on victorian watches"
Normally for handling watches they wear gloves. Very nice to listen to!
Great video of an amazing piece.
The first Grandfather Clock Was Made in 1680
Survived quite a few wars and millions of lives lost. Very cool indeed.
I'm a total watch fanatic have been pretty much my whole life your video just about blew my head off the best I've ever seen God bless you thank you
Wonderful!!! So informative, though there must be horror stories about the child labourers! Gives one a whole new perspective on early society. We take watches so much for granted. Also a whole new perspective on your abilities!!! Luv U.
i wonder if my AD has some of these.......
Thank you so much Chill Bill ! I collect wristwatches and pocket watches never seen the inside of that old of a watch before! A real treat ! 🙂
Just stumbled across your channel, Cosy and traditional love a bit of late night history 👌 😀
Awesome! Thank you!
Love the ticking sound. You could post a soundtrack only vid with just watch ticking much like relaxing rainforest soundtracks. To some of us the sound would be just as soothing.
What no gloves ! I would not never . Priceless beauty .
I would love to have even just a replica of one of these because that sound is incredible
Too complicated to replicate
How it works so effortlessly without electronic parts is like magic
This 'old' video is a diamond,
would love to see in higher res, 60fps
please redo, there history in each of those time pieces
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing three awesome pieces of mechanical art.
Very nice collection of pocket watches Bill. Thank you for the lesson, love to learn.
This is the best weirdest random video I have come accross and I am very delighted I decided to watch this! I'm not even into clocks, yet this was awesome!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@ChillBill1 This video was posted 6 years ago, and you still reply to comments 5 years later....well done mate!
I also enjoyed watching this video, very peaceful and relaxing listening to your voice :)
do you own these watches?
Absolutely amazing. I'm honestly surprised that they still work. I'd be to afraid to even wind them up. Bravo that you still let them run.
Amazing pieces of horological history!! I wonder how much those would go for today.
Very elucidating study of early picket watch fine mechanics! I just love that hat too!
beyond incredible they were able to manufacture all the tiny precision parts!
I learned more interesting facts about old watch's from this videos than some TV documentary.
Absolutely gorgeous little wonders of engineering. Thanks for the tour and explanations.
Unbelievable.. this watch still tells time, and almost 4 centuries of history..
This is just fascinating. Love this video. Thanks!
, watches like this belong in a Museum. absolutely magnificent and breath taking that such precision could have been achieved by hand in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
I remember this vid from a few years ago; nice to see it again. 😀 Simply astounding workmanship, wonderful history, nice reminder of yet another facet of the legendary RUclips personality that is *Chill Bill*... 😏
Just had to give up my old 72 Catalina 27. Got a lil history up at my spot on an old pocket watch fob that I found metal detecting. Quite a cool history on this object, best find yet. Stay safe.
Thank you. Greatly informative, with a wealth of contextual detail.
Thanks so much for sharing these exceptional pieces with us.
Nice image of the fusee. You can see it so clearly
the scene on the back of case was probably Actaeon and Diana, from Ovids Metamorphosis :D
Very interesting.... why you would have that myth on your pocket watch I don't know! :)
What a well presented and interesting video. The word Great doesn't convey enough. Many thanks.
Thanks for a very educational video. I love pocket watches and I have been collecting them for the past 8 years, mostly late 19th and early 20th Century pocket watches. I knew absolutely nothing about the 17th and 18th century pocket watches so thanks for an absolutely fascinating lesson on these beautiful time pieces.
What a beautiful video. Wonderful job.
Wonderful video showing pieces created when to own a watch was to be a person of wealth. I would love for you to do a video about "modern-day" pocket watches (say from 1900 to now).
Thanks for the suggestion, I'm planning another ancient pocket watch video
Please make another video of thease masterpieces
Consider it hearsay as I have no sources to back that up, but it was my understanding that clock making developped in the Alps (both sides of the border between France and Switzerland) because the people living there due to the harsh winters, poor roads and such jumped at the opportunity to earn some cash by making clock parts while they couldn't go farming outside. Everyone in a village (men and children) would specialize on one or a couple of parts, and when Spring freed the roads from ice, watchmakers from the valleys would come and buy the stocks produced during winter in those remote areas to assemble the watches out of those parts. So yes, child's work was involved, but that wasn't Dickens either.
Im sure that could be true, but the English were the first world power in watch making but the Swiss took over during WWI when the watchmakers were taken off to make other things.
Well I finally found a source. It's from an elementary French school book for pupils circa 7 or 8 years old, dated 1893 (late XIXth century). The book is titled "Le tour de la France par deux enfants" and it follows the journey of two brothers in the various parts of France. A very interesting book, because it touches about every practical aspects of the life in that period, as well as history and geography. It points every regional specialty, there are advices for farming, taking care of cattle etc. It's an all-in-one ressource told from a child point of view. Anyhow, p. 81 in my edition, the two orphans (did I mentionned they were orphans ? Well that's the basis of the story - they have to leave their home to find a distant uncle with whom to live) spend the night in the Jura at a farm.
"When the night was complete, the farmer's wife lit up two lamps. Close to one, both her eldest sons took a place. They had set in front of them all kind of tools, a small anvil, hammers, clippers, files, rubbing powder. They grabbed between their fingers light ribbons of steels they were rolling on themselves after hammering them on the anvil. André came closer very surprised ; their work, which reminded him of the fine locksmithing, interested him.
- What are you doing, he asked ?
- See, we're crafting watch mainsprings. Up in the mountains we craft the different pieces so that in Besançon they only have to assemble them to build the watches themselves. I build the mainsprings, others do the tiny wheels, the small chains, some others do the faces where the hours are painted, others the arms which will mark the hours ; others lastly, craft the bodies in silver or gold. [...] with one pound of steel, we can make up to 80 000 springs, and they are worth 10 Francs apiece if they are good.
- 10 F each spring ! said André. If there are 80.000 that's 800.000 F, and all coming from a pound of steel that's so cheap ! My locksmith master was very right to teach me that the worth of things is mostly up to the labour and intelligence of the worker".
Leaving aside the rhetoric of the times, it depicts quite a vivid image, I think.
Modern "Smart Watches" will not stand the test of time like these :) fascinating video thanks
Bill, you are a class act my friend!! You show up to go Mudlarking in a spotless white shirt...!!
This is beautiful.
A beautiful collection of stunning timepieces, thank you for sharing.
Absolutely fantastic! RUclips does throw up a gem now and then! I use my gg grandfathers watch daily. Solid gold case, a couple of pieces of the inner workings are gold as well and it’s over 19 jewels I believe. The really gem is the assay mark! It’s Birmingham, known for the silver usually but the assay office for the A.L.D watches burned down. So they moved into Birmingham for a short while, only a couple years I believe. Just like that one there is a beautiful ticking sound and it keeps time very well still. Excellent video :) great watch.
Where did you find all of these beautiful pocketwatches?
Absolutely wonderful video, beautiful watches with a lovely level of information added! fantastic.