Many years ago, pocket watches were considered one of the main accessories in men's fashion. This is the oldest type of watch. But despite its age, it still does not go out of fashion. You can still buy it and wear it freely.

There are cases when watches are considered heirlooms because they are passed on from one generation to the next. The presence of such a thing boldly declares to society that your family has always had the finest taste.

Today, pocket watches are convenient for those who are bored with wristwatches. So as not to waste a lot of time searching for this stylish accessory in your pockets, we have prepared for you some tips on how to wear it correctly and with what.

You will need:

Chain

You immediately need to choose a chain for your watch.

Remember: it needs to match the material from which it is made and the color of the watch.

As a rule, the watch itself is attached to one edge, and the keychain is attached to the other. Then you can attach the chain to a button or some kind of loop on your clothing, and leave the keychain in a visible place.

The double chain must be attached to the middle of the chain, leaving the ends free. If desired, you can attach a folding knife or keychain to one edge. It is customary to wear a watch at the other end of the chain and store it in a pocket. Two loops of the chain remain in a visible place.

Keychain

It comes in 2 types:

1. Leather keychains. They can replace the chain.
2. A keychain that acts as a certain load. Absolute freedom of choice begins here. You can take an ordinary coin or some decorative item. A folding pocket knife is often used. Such a keychain can be hung freely if the chain is attached to clothing in advance.

What to wear with

In the old fashioned way, it would be customary to wear such a watch in a special small vest pocket. Nowadays, such an element of clothing is found much less frequently on men, so we will consider other, more modern options.

• The chain is very convenient to carry in the inside pocket of your jacket. Place the keychain in the second pocket. So, when you unbutton your jacket, it will look like an independent attribute of your style.
• Pocket watches can also be worn in a pants pocket. In this case, the chain is attached to the belt. This is how watches are most often worn today.
• If you are, however, wearing a vest, then attach the chain to the button, and put the watch in a special pocket.

Side

Be sure to decide on the side on which you plan to attach the clock.

According to the rules, the side opposite the dominant hand is chosen.

If you are right-handed, put your watch in your left pocket, and vice versa.

Relevance

Although this piece of jewelry is stylish, you should know that wearing it may not always suit the occasion. But where would a pocket watch still be appropriate?

• At a party where the dress code is 19th and 20th century fashion.
• For any event where men must wear tuxedos or tails.

As you know, wear wrist watch together with a tuxedo is considered inappropriate.

• Everywhere and always, if a person is not afraid of being accused of dandyism on display.

Watch care

Every thing needs care. Pocket watches are no exception, especially if they are of great value.

1. Don't forget to wind your watch. Both old and new models need to be started once every 1-2 days. Let it become a habit to wind your watch in the morning, and it will not let you down.
2. Clean them regularly. The procedure should be carried out immediately after removing them. Soft, dry suede is perfect for cleaning. However, use a metal cleaner.
3. Don't forget to polish. This procedure is important if you want your watch to shine. Use a special polish for such surfaces.

Who wears a pocket watch?

Pocket watches are perhaps the oldest type of watch. And as a result, it is one of the oldest types of accessories known to modern fashion. They have been actively used since the Middle Ages, and to this day this mechanism will never go out of use among world fashionistas.

This type of watch is preferred by those who, for one reason or another, do not like to use more familiar ones. to modern man wrist watch. Yes, perhaps many people do not like to wear a watch on their wrist, but rummaging through your pocket every time in search of an urgently needed accessory is also a dubious pleasure. In this case, you need to think about how to wear your pocket watch with maximum comfort.

How to choose a pocket watch?

So, if you have been thinking for a long time about purchasing such an unusual, and it’s fitting to say outlandish, accessory for your collection, you should take care of one more thing in advance. To create your own unique wearing style, purchase a set that will consist of the following items:

• the model of pocket watch you really like;
• interesting and stylish keychain;
• quite a long chain, matched to the material of the watch.

Often, and you may have also observed this, a pocket watch is an accessory that is not worn on its own, but in company with a chain and a special keychain. The oldest and, perhaps, one of the most elegant ways to wear a pocket watch is to purchase a vest, jacket or jacket with a special pocket, which is specifically designed for such watches.

First, choose a suitable chain for your pocket watch. We are guided by the fact that the material of the chain and its color approximately correspond to the material and color of the watch. If you manage to choose a tone-on-tone product, this will be an ideal option for wearing a pocket watch. You need to attach a pocket watch to one end of the chain, and a key fob to the other. You can attach the chain to a button or loop outerwear, but the keychain should be left in plain sight as a decoration.

To wear a pocket watch with a chain, the double chain must be attached to the middle of the chain. The two ends of the hanging chain must be left free. You can attach a pocket knife or a keychain to one of them and store them in your chest pocket. The watch should be worn at the opposite end of the chain, and stored the same way, but in a different pocket. The decoration will remain two loops of the chain.

How to wear a pocket watch - keychain

The next step is to select a key fob. There are two types of such accessories: the first are leather keychains, which are used instead of a chain, and the second, which act as a weight for the chain. If you are a supporter of leather keychains, you can completely avoid purchasing a chain.

If you prefer the second type of keychains, you can use coins and other decorative elements, for example, a tiny folding knife. In this case, when the chain is attached to clothing, this type of keychain usually hangs freely from it.

You need to decide on which side you will wear your pocket watch. Traditionally, any watch, including pocket watches, is usually worn on the opposite side to the dominant side. This means that if you are right-handed, you should wear a pocket watch in your left pocket (a wristwatch on your left hand), but if you are left-handed, wear it in your right pocket. This approach to wearing a watch allows you to write and look at your watch at the same time.

You should carry the keychain and chain in different inner pockets of your outerwear. Thus, unbuttoning a jacket or jacket, the chain will look like a self-sufficient decoration. If you have a vest, you should hide the watch in a special pocket and attach the chain to its button. Pocket watches can also be worn in trousers. In this case, you need to carry the accessory itself in your pocket, and attach the chain to the belt of your trousers.

It would seem that pocket watches are a relic of the past. After all, now there are much more convenient wrist mechanisms. But in the same way, paper letters or a candlelight dinner can be called a relic of the past. But can an ordinary light bulb replace the aroma of burning wax and the sparkle in the eyes, which in such light becomes the most sincere? Or maybe the email will smell like your loved one's perfume? Of course not. Likewise, they will never go out of style. These are the accessories that have a special charm. You can complement your look with an old antique piece that you inherited from your grandfather, or buy a new stylish pocket watch. In any case, your choice will become noticeable and unique. What is the peculiarity of these mechanisms and how to wear them correctly, we will tell you in our modern-historical article.

A look into the past

The decor of the pocket watch deserves special attention. Since their invention, these models have been more of a decoration than a mechanism. They were imprecise, but luxurious. Moreover, using such an accessory it was possible to determine how wealthy man. At first, translucent enamels were used for decoration. Then the school of master Poutin from Blois began to paint samples with colored paints. The operation of the mechanism was visible through the back cover, made of rock crystal. Next were specimens with animal-shaped bodies. Every year the masters improved their works, and today we have high-precision pocket watches. Not only do they look beautiful, but they also tell the time very accurately.

How to wear a pocket watch correctly. Historical aspect

But the products were not always worn in this way. When chain mechanisms were first invented, they were worn... in the hand. They were bulky with extra parts, and it was not easy to fit them anywhere. Already at the end of the 18th century, products became flatter and they began to be hidden in the upper part of pantaloons. By the way, at that time pocket watches were not only on chains, but also on grosgrain ribbons and silk laces.

Towards the middle of the 19th century, a unique culture of wearing pocket models began to take shape. For this reason, even fashion has undergone drastic changes. To make wearing the mechanism comfortable, they began to sew vests with a special pocket just for such purposes. Now the watch was hidden in a special compartment of clothing, and the chain was hung on a keychain, secured in several ways to the outer part of the jacket. The keychain and chain in this case served as a separate decoration. Moreover, they were made of gold, silver or platinum, and decorated with precious stones. Interestingly, poor people who could not afford to buy a watch bought only a simple chain and attached it to their clothes in the same way. As they say, you can't argue with fashion.

So what are these methods of attaching the key fob that we mentioned above? In total, there are seven main types of wearing pocket watches.

• A method invented by the husband of the Queen of Britain, Prince Albert. The body of the product was placed in the lower left pocket. The chain with the keychain was threaded through the loop of the vest. Which loop to choose is a matter of taste. Usually they tried to fasten it to a loop above the pocket so that the chain lay in a beautiful curve.
• A method that was popularly known as “double Albert”. Its main essence was a long chain, which was continued to the second, opposite pocket, securing it in a button loop along the way.
• Keychain type of carrying mechanism. In this case, the product was hidden in the vest pocket, and the keychain simply hung over it.
• Military type. This method is due to the clothing style of military and workers. They didn't have vests. Therefore, the watch was simply worn in the pocket.
• Modern. Models are hidden in the top pocket of the jacket, and the other side of the chain is fixed to a loop in the lapel of the jacket.
• Trouser option. Nobody forbids you to carry an accessory in your pants pocket. This was also common in the 19th and 20th centuries. For the mechanism, it is better to choose a special small pocket on your trousers, and fasten the chain directly to your belt.
• Women's way. Women often flaunted the mechanism. The case, the chain, and the keychain were all attached on top of the clothes. Or they used the body as a pendant. Pocket watches in this case were not quite pocket watches. Rather, they served as a noticeable accessory.

If we generalize and try to derive a single optimal modern formula for how to wear a pocket watch correctly, it will sound something like this: the mechanism should be located in the opposite direction to the dominant hand and secured to the loop of the jacket, the lapel of the jacket or the waistband of the trousers. This means that a left-handed person should hide his watch in his right pocket, and a right-handed person should hide his watch in his left. Why is that? Just because it's so convenient. Try it yourself - and you will definitely see it.

Pocket watches and modern fashion

If you ask what is the best way to wear a pocket watch today, you will not get a single answer from anyone. The main thing is that your solution matches the overall style you are trying to create. Moreover, modern fashion offers so many alternatives for chains that pocket models become an attractive accessory for jeans lovers, women in transparent chiffon skirts, and leather wardrobe lovers. Another advantage of these specimens over wrist samples is their always exclusive appearance. Pocket mechanisms are not very popular today, and therefore if you choose such an accessory, you will definitely find yourself in the center of attention. Moreover, there is plenty to choose from. For example, a leather model looks bright and charismatic W73000 from . The dial is simple and easy to read. The model is placed in a leather case and complemented by the same leather cord Brown. This solution is perfect for casual style and will emphasize a slightly brutal masculine character. Also among the pocket options you can find spectacular ones, which a priori cannot look uninteresting. For example, men's pocket watch 50818 AA01 SQ brands are an elite offer for wealthy representatives of the stronger sex. The model is equipped with a sapphire crystal and a transparent case back. Compact models with colored laces look unusual and stylish. For example, a sentence from – model SKW6189 in a black steel case with a sand cord. This accessory can be easily worn just over jeans. They deserve special attention, and among them is the product T82.9.453.34 produced by a well-known company. A lovely mechanical brass piece with a marbled color design on the body. This model would be appropriate both in the form of a pendant and in a trouser or skirt pocket.

Do you know that:

• The Nuremberg Egg is Peter Haenlein's first mechanical pocket watch. The reason for such a popular name for the accessory is still unknown, because Peter’s invention did not look like an egg at all.
• The Leroy pocket watch, created in 1900, is the most complex mechanism in the world. This model showed not only time, but also 13 other data. For example, the accessory displayed the days on a hundred-year calendar, the state of the spring, and even the degree of environmental noise.
• "Salad bowl" is a pocket watch round shape with an oval cross section. At the beginning of the 17th century, the “salad bowls” of the school of enamel masters from Blois were popular. The models were painted with white enamel paints. Mostly they painted spiritual subjects or flowers.
• In the 17th century, you could easily meet a person with several pocket watches at the same time. No, he didn't sell them. It’s just that at that time it was considered a special fashion and an indicator of good taste to wear several different pieces, and not just one model. It was prestigious to wear a pair of pocket watches, a ring watch and a watch medallion at the same time.
• The most expensive pocket watch sold for $11,002,500. It's about about the exclusive Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication, which took 5 years to create! The copy is created from 900 parts and equipped with 24 functions. The highlight of the sample is the dial, decorated starry sky, which looks exactly the same as from the window of the customer Henry Graves' house in New York.
• The most unusual pocket watch is considered to be a piece made of wood by Valery Danevich. This is a skeleton that consists of 48 parts made of birch, hornbeam and bamboo. The balance spiral and spring are made of metal. The watch is started by the key and gives a deviation of 3-4 minutes for 20 hours.

If you have any comments or suggestions for our material, please write in the comments.

The usual things that our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers used from year to year suddenly cease to exist as soon as a new invention becomes more convenient or useful. Please note, we are not talking about beauty - only the more functional and pragmatic one wins the competitive race. Aesthetics turns out to be not a decisive factor in evolutionary selection.

However, no one bothers us, as long as it corresponds to common sense, to calmly continue to use familiar things, completely or partially ignoring soulless new items. We can read paper books, despite the fact that there are electronic ones; we can light candles or a fire in the fireplace if there is little romance in electric lighting; we can use a fountain pen instead of a ballpoint pen; From time to time we can even write and send paper letters. All of the above has one thing in common - it’s nice to do it, even if it’s not always convenient.

Pocket watches belong to the category of precisely those things that have almost disappeared from everyday life - they have been replaced by more practical wrist watches. The latter, in turn, have been losing their former glory as a utilitarian object for decades. Thus, after some time, pocket watches run the risk of turning into a completely hopeless anachronism. However, today a man with a pocket watch does not look as old-fashioned as, for example, a man in a top hat. Moreover, if you approach the matter thoughtfully, there is every chance of creating interesting image, retro elements in which will look organic and modern.

The best way to understand the present is to go back to the origins. Let's see how men wore pocket watches when there were no wristwatches yet?

Around the 30-40s of the 19th century, when watches began to acquire a more or less flat shape and light weight, they began to be worn in a vest pocket (before that they were placed in the upper part of pantaloons on a black grosgrain ribbon, silk cord or chain). That is, throughout the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, right up to the invention of wristwatches during the First World War, this method remained the main method - using a chain of precious metals(gold, silver, platinum) and vest pocket. There were several variations in hanging the chain and using keychains. I'll talk about this below.


In the vast majority of cases, the watch was worn in the lower left vest pocket. One end of the chain was connected to the watch, the other was attached to one of the button loops of the vest (in some modern Internet instructions you can find advice to attach the chain to a button, this is incorrect: the carabiner or jumper was threaded into the loop). Usually the loop was chosen just above the level of the pocket so that the chain forms a beautiful bend:

The inventor of this method is considered to be Prince Albert (1819-1861), the husband of the British Queen Victoria. Apart from this fact, by the way, he did not become famous for anything else in the field men's fashion. In general, not a style icon:

There were two main types of fastening,
1. Carabiner or hook:


2. Metal latch, which also provided a completely reliable connection:

Such a jumper could be located both outside and inside the vest.
Often the main chain was supplemented with a keychain:

Here is what Y.N. Rivosh writes in the book “Time and Things” about Russian watch fashion of the 19th century:

“On the chains hung keys (if the watch was wound with them) and various trinkets (key rings) of the most varied types and materials. These were bottles, figurines, animal heads. Tiny elephants made of ivory or silver (they were believed to bring happiness), models of belt buckles, and hearts were very common. Combinations of three objects were common: a cross, an anchor, a heart - symbols of faith, hope, love. Horseshoes were also very popular - a symbol of good luck. There were keychains with miniature photographs inside.”

As I said, the bottom pocket was mainly used, but this is a matter of taste - there was also an option with the top one:


A more pretentious variation of the “Albert” was the “Double Albert”, where the chain was longer and the other end was tucked into the opposite pocket. At the other end there could be the same key rings or pocket penknives, signets, medallions, etc. The arc formed by the chain could be a large single one (on a double-breasted vest):


Or double:

It is worth mentioning one more method, although it is quite rare: the watch was placed in the vest pocket, and the keychain, attached to a short chain, simply hung from the pocket.
Let us schematically record the mentioned methods:


Sometimes they ask whether it is possible to carry a pocket watch in a jacket pocket. Nowadays, vests are not very popular, and most men, of course, make do with a two-piece suit.

In principle, this option is possible, but, in my opinion, it is a compromise. For a more authentic look, I would recommend a vest. Indeed, the military used to carry watches in the pocket of their jacket or jacket; railway workers also put them in the pocket of their uniform jacket. Below is a photo of a London Underground worker (1940), his watch is in his so-called “ticket” pocket (it is sometimes found on modern jackets), the chain is attached to the loop of the middle button of a double-breasted jacket:

But let's not forget that where there is a uniform, people are within the strict limits of practical necessity - a military watch should be in maximum proximity to quickly record the time. That is, I repeat, there is nothing unnatural to wear a pocket watch in a jacket, you just need to know that in this case you are following the military style, and not civilian fashion.

So, if you decide not to add a vest to your look, but would still like to wear a pocket watch, then there are two options. The first one is in the photo above (however, I have not found a single example of such wearing in our time). Second: the watch is placed in the breast pocket and with a chain or leather strap attached to a loop in the lapel of a jacket (usually this loop is used for a boutonniere):


Is it possible to wear a pocket watch in trousers? Yes, you can, this was also common in the 19th-20th centuries. True, in this case it is better to put the watch in a special small pocket (many trousers are equipped with it); the chain is attached to the belt loop (or directly to the belt) using a carabiner or clip.

Leon Bakst "Portrait of Diaghilev"

Nowadays:

As usual, I would like to remind you of a sense of proportion. If you're wearing a traditional wool vest, don't buy a chain that's too thick or fold it in half; give up glitter precious stones in keychains; If possible, buy simple but reliable watches. And of course, you shouldn’t wear a wristwatch at the same time as a pocket watch.

About style balance: an aristocratic thin watch with Roman numerals is unlikely to look good with rough jeans. And vice versa, such a watch (photo below), for example, will not be combined with a three-piece suit at all:

Where would a pocket watch definitely be appropriate?
On themed party, where the theme will be fashion of any period of the year before last and the beginning of the last century.

At an event where a tuxedo is required (as you know, a wristwatch is not worn with a tuxedo).
In the image of a man who is not afraid to be accused of ostentatious dandyism. Moreover, such accusations are based on a distorted idea of ​​the essence of dandyism (but this is another, huge topic). And here is a quote from E. Bulwer-Lytton’s book “Pelham, or the Adventures of a Gentleman” (1828), which perfectly illustrates this:

“Then Miss Paulding turned to me: “Tell me, Mr. Pelham, have you already bought a watch from Breguet?” - Watch? - I asked again. - Do you really think that I would wear a watch? I don't have such plebeian habits. Why, pray tell, does a person need to know the exact time if he is not a businessman who spends nine hours a day at his desk and only one hour at lunch? To arrive on time to where he is invited? - you say; I agree, but,” I added, carelessly playing with the most charming of my curls, “if a person is worthy of being invited, he is, of course, worthy of waiting for him.”

Sources:

“Antiques. The most complete history of antiques”, publishing house “White City”, 2001.

L. Belovinsky “Encyclopedic Dictionary of Russian Life and History. XVIII - early XX centuries" publishing house "Olma-Press", 2003.

Y.N.Rivosh “Time and Things”, Moscow, Art Publishing House, 1990

www.gentlemansgazette.com "The GentlThe Story Of How The Boutonniere Buttonhole Came To Be On The Lapel"

articlesofstyle.com “A Guide to Man Jewelry”