Abstract
This large and amply illustrated book provides a list and classification of all currently known “portable watches” up to 1550. Portability means the possibility of wearing clocks on the owner’s garment or body. Matthes sorts the watches into three categories by shape: pomander watches, drum-shaped watches, and flat watches worn around the neck (Bisamapfeluhren, Dosenuhren, Halsuhren).
The first two chapters of this weighty book provide general background on the development of miniature horological mechanisms, including larger table clocks and other spring-driven clocks (Tischuhren, Kutschenuhren). Archival sources and glimpses of contemporaneous iconography suggest that this development arose from exchanges of technology and luxury fashion among France, Italy, and Germany and other regional centres. The following three chapters are dedicated to the three categories of watches, with the longest on the drum-shaped watches, covering 50 pages. It further divides this set into sub-categories (group HS – Henlein Steinmeissel, group C and M – according to a pounced “C” and “M,” group Z – Zech), based on either identified workshops or characteristics of the mechanical realization.
Matthes has chosen not to explore why the wealthy, in Europe as in the Near East, began wearing watches. Instead, he offers his survey and categories as a prerequisite for a better understanding of the social roles of these objects. Nevertheless, the passing of time certainly was one of the aspects that captivated the imagination of early watch owners. Chapter 6 treats the various indications of hours, minutes, and even seconds and astronomical information on the watches (the chronological scope is expanded here to the end of the sixteenth century). This chapter contains a short digression on the use of spring-driven clocks in astronomy, sometimes with a seconds hand (mentioned in Fabricius’ Encomion sanitatis, 1557; in the 1586 observation records in Kassel under the auspices of Landgrave Wilhelm IV; and third, the 1587 inventory of the Dresden Kunstkammer). Matthes calls these “precision” clocks, but they are quite different from the portable devices that this book examines. The latter sometimes show indications of the zodiac, calendar, astrolabe rete, or lunar phases and aspects, yet the portable clocks were certainly unrelated to astronomical practice. Nonetheless, as with sundials, heavenly movements remained the chief reference for passing time with mechanical clocks. The only way to calibrate them was to use the sun or a reference star.
Chapter 7 stands out as a case study of Peter Henlein (c. 1480–1542), a well-known Nuremberg clockmaker. Building on the latest publications on this iconic figure (in particular Th. Eser, D. Matthes, and G.U. Großmann, Die älteste Taschenuhr der Welt? Der Henlein-Uhrenstreit, Nürnberg 2018), Matthes includes the detailed results of his examination of archaeological finds at the probable location of Henlein’s workshop. Although it does not become entirely clear what these results add to our understanding of the watches themselves and many elements remain speculative, this information enriches our idea of the workshop environment of early clock-making in Nuremberg. Matthes here may be challenging some of the more controversial attributions of watches to Henlein, yet as a non-specialist, this reviewer cannot evaluate the validity of Matthes’ claims. This chapter also interestingly presents seven preserved clocks by an anonymous, nearly contemporaneous maker, the “master with the arrow punch” (pp. 275–277).
Chapter 8 reviews the material realization of an early clock at the British Museum (inv. nr. 1888, 1201.105). Chapter 9 collects depictions of watches in early paintings and reproduces small details, nicely illustrating the display of timepieces as status symbols. Chapter 10 provides numerous images of cases, keys, and hands from the portable clocks and explores their morphology. Chapter 11 excerpts and translates material written and published in English by M. Wayman and J. Leopold in The ferrous metallurgy of early clocks and watches, London 2000. Matthes supplements this material with further metal analysis of various parts of three clocks.
The concluding Chapter 12 is an updated, illustrated version of the chapter “Corpus der tragbaren deutschen Dosenuhren des 16. Jahrhunderts,” published in the above-mentioned 2018 book edited by Eser. It constitutes the backbone of this book, by its sheer volume (over 130 pages) and by providing systematic and concise data about 50+ earliest drum-shaped watches currently known. The chapter also lists the “corpus of larger clocks” (table clocks) and 57 textual references to spring-driven clocks dating from 1404 to 1550.
The wealth of information and visual material, clearly the result of years of work by this connoisseur of early clocks, is truly overwhelming. The book does not pretend to be an introduction to the topic. At times, the technical terminology makes the book a tough read for non-specialists. Its many acute observations of details will undoubtedly spark discussion among clock specialists.
Awkward layouts and repetition occasionally detract from the rich material of this book. Some images appear disconnected from the text or tell stories that go beyond the text. For example, the watch worn around the neck at the Vienna Kunstkammer (inv. nr. KK 1572), a rare piece indicating the time to minutes, is presented on four full- or half-page colour photos on pp. 207–210, yet the text refers to this object only on p. 213, or the large table of results of X-ray fluorescence of the archaeologically retrieved tools appears before the short paragraph appended to the Henlein chapter that refers to it as the table “below” (p. 284). The select bibliography in the appendix contains only monographs. Its function in the book is not clear: Further reading? Full references of abbreviated titles occurring in the footnotes? Frequent typos and inconsistent orthography of names (Louix/Louis, pp. 29–31; Petter/Peter, pp. 220–287) and citation styles might annoy some readers.
The rich presentation of photos, reproductions of paintings, and especially the CT-scans of watches that cannot be disassembled, prepared by the Institut für Kunsttechnik und Konservierung of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, are very impressive. Matthes’ great attention to material culture, the minute details of the construction of frames and style of cases, as well as his inclusion of archival and iconographic records make this book a valuable compilation and a rich source of information for anyone interested in the early history of small clocks and watches. 1