Muskrat watch

The Melanchthon clock from 1530

A muskrat watch , also called a muskrat , is a very early pocket watch with a spring mechanism and a spherical shape.

origin of the name

A muskrat is originally a smelling apple. In the Middle Ages, these spread across Europe from the Orient and were worn in cities due to the poor hygienic conditions. They were spherical with one or more central compartments into which the olfactory substance (muskrat or other) was filled. Preserved smelling apples also have openings in the outer shell so that the smell could escape better.

In the early 16th century, Peter Henlein in Nuremberg was 'the first one' to install small clockworks in these olfactory essence containers. The shape was a lower half of the sphere to which the upper half of the sphere was attached with a hinge. The upper half of the sphere could be opened - underneath there was another - smaller - half of the sphere, on the upper side of which the dial is engraved. There are 12 buttons around the dial.

The oldest fully preserved pocket watch in the world is a muskrat watch that is said to have belonged to Philipp Melanchthon and is dated 1530. It was on display at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in 2014/2015 on loan from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Two other guaranteed authentic muskrat watches are known, but with an incomplete or without a clockwork.

See also

• Nuremberg egg

literature

• Ernst Bassermann-Jordan : A muskrat apple from Peter Henlein's time. In: The watchmaker week. 1924, No. 24, pp. 301 f .; and a second muskrat apple from Peter Henlein's time. In: The watchmaker week. 1924, No. 44, p. 627 f.
• Eric C. Rodenberg: Intricate pomander clock may be first pocket watch. In: Antique Week. The Weekly Antique Auction & Collecting Newspapers. Volume 46, No. 2326, 2014, pp. 1-3.

Web links

Commons : Melnachthon clock  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Henlein time clocks

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maia Wllington Gahtan, George Thomas: Philip Melanchthon's Watch Dated 1530. In: Antiquarian Horology. Volume 26, 2001, pp. 377-388.
2. ↑ The oldest pocket watch in the world. (No longer available online.) Ruhrnachrichten.de, December 2, 2014, archived from the original on March 13, 2017 ; accessed on November 2, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.