They also represent something of a bargain, though we’ve noticed that prices have risen sharply over the last five or six years. In everything from pig skin to crocodile, these clocks are often gorgeous items that were produced to remarkably high standards. Those heading for India or Switzerland needed timepieces to take with them and were happy to pay for the same quality in a travel clock that they had come to expect in a wristwatch. The British Empire was still in existence at this time and the wealthy upper class were already travelling to ski resorts in Europe. This made sense, particularly if we look at the social demographic of the people who were likely to be their target market. If we look at period advertising from the inter-war years by almost any of the major Swiss brands, it is very noticeable that they offered a selection of exotic travel clocks alongside the wristwatches for which they are best known today. It is extremely interesting to compare the early wristwatches from the 1910s and ‘20s side by side with their pocket watch ancestors from literally just a few years before. Everything in the vintage wristwatch world is descended directly from the antique pocket watches from this era. A lot of our customers have enjoyed building up collections that chart the technical and aesthetic development of the wristwatch over the last century and we would recommend that a worthwhile starting point when taking this route is actually a very late, post-1900, pocket watch by one of the important brands. In real terms, the first generation of wristwatches, whether by Rolex, Omega, IWC or one of the other key brands, were in essence pocket watches that were reduced in size and to which wire lugs had been soldered in order to affix a strap. Particularly when we look at the very first vintage wristwatches, those produced for use by officers serving in the trenches of World War I, the similarity in styling and construction between the two is instantly obvious. It is important to remember that in evolutionary terms, the pocket watch is the father of the wristwatch. Nobody today is going to use an antique pocket watch as their day to day timepiece, but they can give a lot of enjoyment when taken out of the safe and enjoyed every now and again in an appropriate environment. We see this theme again in the pocket watches currently manufactured at very high cost by Patek-Philippe and the current darling of the new watch scene, Richard Mille. They associate the pocket watch with relaxation and opulence rather than utility, which adds to their pleasure on these special occasions. We have several long term customers who, despite owning large numbers of rare vintage wristwatches, choose to wear antique pocket watches when enjoying fine dining in good restaurants or an evening at the theatre. The pocket watch simply isn’t suited to modern routine life, but comes into its own as an indulgent object in certain situations. A wristwatch can be worn in most everyday situations as a convenient way of telling the time, whereas the pocket watch, resting deep in a pocket on the end of a chain, requires effort before it can be consulted.
Today, the pocket watch is an object of sheer luxury, largely due to its impractical design.
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