Scot's King's watch

[rod]

Dipping into Scotland's past, here is a photo of an 'egg' watch made in Scotland for the Stewart king, James VI, who later went south upon the death of Elizabeth, to be the first king, James I, of Scotland and England in 1603. I studied the watch in Edinburgh. It is one of my favorite objects in the Museum of Scottish Antiquities, and is pretty nice work from the late 1500's

Rod

 

[Tim Wells]

I just slobbered all over myself.
Sam, better look at this... I just love this stuff. Where did you find this photo?

 

[Dave London]

Rod
Just one word amazing, thanks for the information and photo. Dave

 

[monk]

what's the round hole-- lunar phase ? that thing must weigh a couple pounds ! kinda cute , too !

 

[WDA]

Rod,
Wonderful post! All of us watch buffs are drooling. Engraving , watch collecting and repair,
music instruments, it's driving my wife crazy! I love the art world, and that watch certainly
is a piece of art. It's great when a piece like this brings history alive. Thanks for sharing this.

Bill

 

[Bill Tokyo]

Nice, but.....

I looked at the watch for a while to try to get an idea of the functions built into it. One thing that struck me is that the curators seem to be a bit remiss as they have allowed discoloration on the bottom dial.

It looks to me like the bottom dial tells the time and the upper dial is for setting an alarm. There is a moonpase in the round hole and the day on the other side (I think) and maybe the date right about the round hole you see the moon phase in.

I can't figure out what the rest of the stuff is in upper dial where the alarm dial is. I thought at first that the upper dial was a secondary 24 hour dial, but who needed two times zones in the 17th Century? In fact, who even knew they existed. That and there are all sort of little knobs and protubrances that would keep the hand from going around, which is why I think it's an alarm watch.

BTW, you might notice that this watch doesn't have a minute hand. The verge fusee type movement was accurate enough during this ear to carry one.

 

[KCSteve]

Good thing they kept it simple and elegant.

I think the upper dial is for the date - it looks like it's showing the month & day (either August or October 24th, I think)

Wonder what the triangular cut out is showing.

 

[rod]

Thank you for the enthusiastic responses, Y'all!

I show here another black and white picture the Edinburgh museum had on file and let me walk away with. This is the other opened half of the egg lids with the king and his lady in their bedchamber in Hollyrood Palace.

These engravings are cut inside the almost half inch deep lid which is like the inside of a table spoon.

You have sparked my interest to go and see it again and get a description of the mechanisms. As an amateur astronomer living in the 'black box' high tech world, I have a love of newtonian mechanics where once a young person could experience a watch mechanism or for that matter smell the steam of the locomotives that took me to school and see the mechanisms at work and all of the cranks and valves doing their jobs. As Joseph Campbell once said, sure there is a hierarchy of archangels inside those electronic black boxes, but today it is difficult for a kid to appreciate how it is all working inside. In the old days you could look and learn.

Having got that off my chest, I will now surrender to Quantum Mechanics to get this message onto your screen!

best

Rod

 

[rod]

Tim,

I could not get a good photo in real life during my visit, so the color picture is a postcard ...available in the gift shop.

Rod

 

[rod]

Dave,

Here is another Scot's example of engraving from the 1600's.

The brooch is brass and found a few miles from my uncle's parish...he was a priest in the Highlands and I used to cycle several hundred miles to visit him on a one speed bike when I was 14. It was found in Tomintoul. The brooch is about 2.25 inches diameter, and is the real thing as opposed to many fanciful modern celtic interpretations. I think the design balance is quite good.

Rod