Antique Sterling Silver Pocket Watch with Albertina Chain
A fine antique sterling silver cased pocket watch with fusee movement, engraved silver dial and gold Roman numerals. Accompanied with an ornate Albertina chain adorned with pink and blue stones, a fob seal and, antique silver watch key, and a pocket toothpick, 19th century, 1.97 in. wide
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- Movement - The technical name for the workings of a clock or watch, and does not include the dial or case.
- Fusee - The fusee movement was used in clocks and pocket watches from the mid 17th century. The fusee is a cone shaped drum within the works that is linked to the barrel of the spring, usually by a length of chain.
As the mainspring loses its tension over time, the cone shaped barrel compensates for this by increasing the tension, by pulling the mainspring tighter, thus ensuring the time remains constant.
Use of the fusee in clocks was superseded by the "going barrel" in the mid 19th century and for pocket watches at the beginning of the 19th century.
The fusee continued to be used in marine chronometers until the 1970s. - Sterling Silver - Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of another metal, usually copper. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is relatively soft and the addition of the very small amount of copper gives the metal enough strength and hardness to be worked into jewellery, decorative and household objects.
This item has been included into following indexes:
- pocket watches, case type
- toothpicks and toothpick cases and holders - silver and gold 53
- watches - fob 404
