Chain Pocket Watch

Memories Of A Chain Pocket Watch

Many people these days, especially the younger generation, would probably question the propriety and practicality of a chain pocket watch from the days of yore.  After all, we live in an age where wrist watches are the norm, as such is the more convenient usage of watches.  Better yet, a lot of people in this day and age don't even wear watches at all.  They simply use their mobile phones or personal digital assistants to tell the time.

But a chain pocket watch did serve its purpose during the 16th century.  It was at this time when watches emerged as highly desirable commodities.  A watchman would spend months in creating a pocket watch.  Watch making back then was one of the most difficult, but most respected profession (some say it was a vocation), and given the craftsmanship behind every pocket watch, a piece was sold at quite an expensive sum.  Often, to represent the work behind every piece, a pocket watch was encased in gold, adding more value to the same.  Needless to say, only the rich were able to afford a pocket watch.

But why a chain pocket watch, you might ask?  Why the chain?  Why not a wristwatch, which is more pragmatic?

There are two reasons for this.

First, because the idea of a wristwatch was unheard of during those days, and the idea f one was far from the watch maker's mind.  Why?  It's because watches back then were specially made with the rich people in mind.  And the rich people in Europe, where the pocket watch originated from, never exposed their arms in public.  Such was the fashion of the masses, they believed, and they had to distance themselves from them and adhere to the fashion dictates of their hierarchal class.  Only laborers exposed their arms, given the fact that they had to do the menial jobs.

It is for this reason that the value of a chain pocket watch has endured, and flourished, throughout the years.  It still carries with it the elegance of the upper class from the days of yore.  Its history is so rich that the mere possession of such a piece of work can enrich the blessed few who will be able to afford the same in this day and age.

The next time you'd see such a pocket watch being sold at eBay, never wonder why it fetches a high price.  Instead, wonder why such a prized piece of history is not displayed in an established museum.