Pocket Watches

One feature that sets pocket watches apart from all others is the fact that they are usually worn without a strap and as the name implies are carried in a pocket rather than worn on the wrist. They are attached to a chain that can be secured to a lapel, waistcoat or even attached to a belt loop.

Perhaps the earliest reference to pocket watches was in a letter written in November of 1462 in which a clockmaker of Italian origin whose name was Bartholomew Manfredi wrote to Marchese di Manta offering a clock that could be kept in a pocket and which was far superior to one in the possession of Duke of Modena. Later, in the fifteenth century these clocks that were driven by springs began to appear in Germany as well as in Italy and a person named Peter Henlein was known to make many useful pocket watches in the year 1510.