Almost all watches of the late 18th century were made without cases. Double and triple cases remained popular only in England. But even there watches with several lids began to appear in the late 1820s, e.g. works by the English firm “Dol-ter”.
At the beginning of the 20th century Swiss watchmakers went over to semi-automatic production. [...]
In the last third of the 18th century a theatre-watch was a very fashionable trinket. They were mostly produced by French and Swiss masters. The museum collection possesses a watch like that. Dancing couples are shown in an architectural interior with mirrors in the background. When music began playing inside the mechanism the pairs began [...]
In the last quarter of the 17th century they began to use a spiral spring in the watch mechanism, which changed its form: it became more concave, onion-shaped.
That was also the time when special cases were made to carry the watches, and greater became the part played by goldsmiths.
Antique timepieces show very well how masters [...]