Pair-case watch 1682 - 1683

This gilt metal watch with blackened leather outer case was made by Thomas Tompion, a leading London clockmaker of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The invention of the portable clock had a profound effect on European society. By making time measurable at the individual level, it helped encourage a growing emphasis on the values of punctuality and efficiency. Timekeeping was also essential to England's development as a maritime power and a center for global trade. Precise timekeeping was needed for celestial navigation to determine longitude. The fashion for carrying watches as jewelry also coincided with the birth of consumer society, when the wealthy began purchasing luxury goods as a way to display their status. Through museum collections and archives, we can trace the economic and social conditions that made such an object meaningful.