# Oldest Watch In The World (Melanchthon's Watch)



## Tazmo61 (Oct 3, 2016)

A short video of the oldest watch in the world


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## scottswatches (Sep 22, 2009)

@Karrusel's birth year watch :laugh:

(just pulling ya leg Alan :thumbsup: )


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## Tazmo61 (Oct 3, 2016)

Tazmo61 said:


> A short video of the oldest watch in the world


 I should have said one of the oldest :thumbsup:


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## Karrusel (Aug 13, 2016)

scottswatches said:


> @Karrusel's birth year watch :laugh:


 Oy!

I resemble that remark. :biggrin:

Nothing worse than cheeky kids & warm beer...

:tongue:


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## r-macus (Jun 7, 2018)

Not as old as the sun.


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

As above...


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Thanks for that little video, Rog @Roger the Dodger. The pomander watch shown in the clip is one of a tiny group of surviving examples of this type of very early watch. These watches were carried around the neck, then in order to obtain a stable period of timekeeping they were set on a table or other firm flat surface as they didn't "like" being moved around. Melanchthon's watch, shown in the video clip above, is dated 1530 and has been attributed to Peter Henlein of Nuremberg but with no certainty that he was the actual maker. Melanchthon's watch ran for 12-16 hours with a single winding and told time within the nearest half-hour.

The oldest kown watch in the world is now thought by some to be another pomander watch rather similar to the Melanchthon watch and apparently also made by Peter Henlein, in 1505, though experts differ on both attribution and date for this piece which has been dubbed "Watch 1505." This pomander watch only surfaced relatively recently, in the 1987, and is still the subject of some controversy in spite of the positive note expressed by an expert committee which examined the watch in "forensic" detail. I did some preliminary research myself into the oldest watches known and the evidence for and against Watch 1505 being genuine, with the intention of writing a Forum article. Ultimately, I decided that this whole subject, including Peter Henlein himself, is too complicated and problematic to be fitted into an article of reasonable length, but those who are intrigued by this area of antiquarian horology are fortunately quite well-served online.

A series of pictures from Quill & Pad showing "Watch 1505" - the case, of gilded and silvered copper measures 45mm in diameter (pics from quillandpad.com):


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

That was Bernie's clip, not mine, Honour...(@Always"watching")...my contribution was the tongue-in-cheek pic of a sundial watch...


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