The Watch 1505 (also named PHN1505 or Pomander Watch of 1505) is the world's first watch. It was crafted by the German inventor, locksmith, and watchmaker Peter Henlein from Nuremberg, during the year 1505, in the early German Renaissance period, as part of the Northern Renaissance.The oldest watch in the world, YourWatchHub. Retrieved December 7, 2018.Television Report (Video), Westdeutscher Rundfunk, German. Retrieved December 7, 2018. However, other German clockmakers were creating miniature timepieces during this period, and there is no definite evidence Henlein was the first. It is the oldest watch in the world that still works. The watch is a small fire-gilded copper sphere, an Oriental pomander, and combines German engineering with Oriental influences. In 1987, the watch reappeared at an antiques and flea market in London. The initial price estimation for this watch is between 50 and 80 million dollars (May 2014).
History
Watch invention The first timepieces to be worn, made in the 16th century initially in the German cities of Nuremberg and Augsburg, were transitional in size between clocks and watches. Portable timepieces were made possible by the invention of the mainspring. Peter Henlein was the first German craftsman to make ornamental timepieces worn as pendants, which were the first timepieces to be worn on the body. His fame (as the inventor of the watch) is based on a passage by Johann Cochläus in 1511.From Cosmographia Pomponii Melae, 1511 Since then, Henlein is generally known as the inventor of the first portable watches.Reinhard Kalb: Peter Henleins «Dosenuhr» war klein und bequem zu tragen, Nürnberger Nachrichten, German. September 16, 2009.The first modern-day clock was invented by a locksmith, India Today, April 20, 2018, Retrieved December 7, 2018. In the early 16th century, he became the first to install small movements in the capsule of a pomander with olfactory essences.Bisamapfeluhren, renaissanceuhr.de, German. Retrieved December 9, 2018. In 1505, Peter Henlein of Nuremberg was the first to build the portable pomander watch, the first watch of the world.Johann Cochlaeus: Cosmographia Pomponii Melae, Nuremberg 1511.Eduard Weigert: Weitere Bisamapfeluhr im Rampenlicht, Nürnberger Zeitung (newspaper), German. December 3, 2014.Hartmut Voigt: Zank um Zeitmesser - Historische Uhr ist nicht in Henlein-Schau zu sehen, Nürnberger Nachrichten, German. November 14, 2014.Nina Pauler, Jutta Olschewski: Wurde das Henlein- Jubiläum verschlafen?, Nürnberger Nachrichten, German. February 2, 2011.Ruth Hoffmann: Das gespaltene Reich, Stern (magazine), German. 2006, Nr. 47. ISSN 0039-1239Andrew Simms & Ruth Potts: The New Materialism , bread, print & roses, Gudrun Wolfschmidt:Sterne Weisen Den Weg - Geschichte Der Navigation, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Wissenschaft, p. 179, 2009, German. .
The production of this watch was made possible primarily by a previously unseen scale of miniaturization of the torsion pendulum and coil spring mechanism, placed in a technical unit by Peter Henlein, a technological innovation and novelty of the time, operating in all positions.Alex Hebra: The Physics of Metrology, Springer Science+Business Media, 2010, p. 57. .It's About Time, Museum of Printing (Massachusetts), Richard Romano. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
Henlein created the pomander watch while he lived in the Franciscan Monastery in Nuremberg,Heinrich Lunardi: 900 Jahre Nürnberg - 600 Jahre Nürnberger Uhren, Universitäts-Verglagsbuchhandlung, p. 99 - 113, German. Wien 1974. Ulrich Schmidt: Das ehemalige Franziskanerkloster in Nürnberg, Verlag der Nürnberger Volkszeitung, Nürnberg 1913. German. where he gained knowledge of the Oriental world gathered over centuries,Albert Hourani: Der Islam im europäischen Denken: Essays, Fischer Verlag, December 2017. German, Henlein acquired the new techniques and tools which helped him creating the first watch in the form of a gilt pomander.
In his lifetime, Henlein created other or similar types of watches (e.g., drum watches - the later called the Nuremberg eggs).Jürgen Abeller: Zeit-Zeichen - die tragbare Uhr von Henlein bis heute, Harrenberger Edition, p. 14–20, German. Dortmund 1983. Bruton, Eric, The History of Clocks and Watches, 1979, page 109. He also crafted a tower clock for Lichtenau castle in 1541, and was known as a maker of sophisticated scientific instruments.
Rediscovery The story of the watch's reappearance began in 1987, at an antique-flea market in London. The watch sequentially changed ownership between collectors who were unaware of its actual worth, until in 2002 a private collector purchased the pomander watch. A committee assessed the watch in 2014, particularly the assertion that the pomander dates back to 1505, and was signed by Henlein himself.Birgit Ruf: Stunde der Wahrheit, Nürnberger Nachrichten, December 3, 2014.
Aesthetics The design consisted of two small half-spheres, joined by a binding hinge. The upper half of the pomander can be opened to reveal a second – slightly smaller – half-sphere underneath. The top of that inner sphere shows the dial. The upper surface of the dial shows Roman numbers for the first half of the day, and on the outer side of the dial Arabic numerals for the second half of the day. This shows the transition to the new use of numerals at this time in history.
The pomander watch displays small engravings of the city of Nuremberg at the beginning of the 16th century, e. g. the Henkerturm built in the year 1320, which can still be visited today or the still standing Weinstadel. Other symbols are also engraved on the watch, such as sun, serpents or laurels engraved on the watch.Elizabeth Doerr: Is This The World’s Oldest Known Watch? A Peter Henlein Mystery From 1505, Quill & Pad, December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 9, 2018
Technical description The casing consists of copper, fire gilded on the outside and fire silver-plated on the inside of the watch. Apart from a renewed brass sprocket, the movement is made completely of iron. The detailed dimensions are:
Casing diameter: 4.15 cm x 4.25 cm (with equator ring 4.5 cm) - Weight 38.5 g Movement diameter: 3.60 cm x 3.55 cm - Weight: 54.1 g
A key is used to wind up the watch movement. The Watch 1505 produces a calculated running time of 12 hours.
Inscriptions On the watch housing, an old Latin banner is engraved. The inscription is: DVT ME FUGIENT AGNOSCAM R. The possible two translations are:The 1505 pomander watch - Research material. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
1505 - The time will escape me (Henlein), but I (the watch) will recognize the correct time In the year 1505 – My watches will flee (run), and recognize the correct time.
The letters „MDV PHN“ are engraved under the examined silver plating and were found on the inside of the casing underneath the outer face of the clock. The hypothetical indication of the engraving is: 1505 Peter Henlein Nuremberg. Tiny PH-letters, often smaller than half a millimeter, were also found. Peter Henlein was a locksmith and had no qualification as a watchmaker, as there were none (there was no existing occupation or guild). He was not allowed to sign his work officially, as he was not a member of the locksmith's guild. In the early days of watchmaking, locksmiths often were involved in the production as they were accustomed to making small metal components.
Symbolism
The Pomander (derived from the French pomme ‘ambre in German Bisamapfel) also called Riechapfel, was a status symbol from the Orient, and often represented first encounter by the Europeans with the fragrances of the Orient. It became as a valued symbolic gift of diplomatic exchange between leading personalities in from the East to the West, and was believed to have a healing and protective effect.Bisamäpfel, Forschungsstelle Realienkunde. German, Retrieved December 12, 2018 For example Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen created 1518 a portrait of Jan Gerritz van Egmond van de Dijenborgh, the elected major of Alkmaar, in 1518, with a pomander in his hand. Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen, Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved December 12, 2018 The pomander form was spread in the Middle Ages from the Orient throughout Europe. The watch itself can be seen as a cultural encounter between the European engineering and the Oriental form.Bisamapfel , Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Cologne), Renate Smolich, 1983, German. Pomanders were worn due to the poor hygienic conditions in the cities. The musk-perfume inside the pomander had a disinfectant and odor resistant effect.Ernst von Bassermann-Jordan: Alte Uhren und Ihre Meister, page 47 - 51, publisher: Wilhelm Diebener Leipzig, 1926. German,
Financial worth A paper from 1524 records that Heinlein was paid 15 florins (one florin is approximately between 140 and 1000 modern US dollars) for a gilt pomander watch. The initial price estimation is around 50 - 80 million dollars, according to the AntiqueWeek magazine (May 2014).Eric C. Rodenberg: Intricate pomander clock may be the first pocket watch In: AntiqueWeek. The Weekly Antique Auction & Collecting Newspaper 46, Nr. 2326, 2014, p 1, 3.
Examinations and confirmation
Several examinations (micro- and macro-photographic and metallurgical examinations, as well as a 3D computer tomography3D animation of the Pomander Watch from 1505, the world's oldest known watch (Video), TPW Prüfzentrum, retrieved December 7, 2018.) were made to proof the authenticity of the watch. The general examinations-result showed that the pomander watch was created by Henlein in the year 1505.Wiebke Neelsen: Das Taschenuhr-Rätsel ist gelöst - Untersuchung Älteste Bisamapfeluhr in einem Neusser Labor, Westdeutsche Zeitung, October 20, 2014, German.Jülich: Vermutlich älteste Taschenuhr der Welt aus dem Jahre 1505 entdeckt, City of Cologne, German. September 13, 2007.
There is also a confirmation of the date of invention, verifying that the engravings lie beneath under the layer of a medieval method of fire gilding. The invention was celebrated at the 400th anniversary of the German Watchmakers’ Association in 1905.Horolosieal Exposition at Nuremberg, Scientific American, Volume 92 Number 18 (May 1905). On this occasion, a monument fountain dedicated to Peter Henlein was built in Nuremberg.Der Peter-Heinlein-Brunnen in Nürnberg, Nürnberg.Bayern-online.de, German. Retrieved December 9, 2018.Nürnberger Kunststücke, Traumwanderungen.de, German. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
Also Johann Neudörfers also wrote in 1547 that Henlein invented the pomander watches (die bisam Köpf zu machen erfunden).
The Walhalla in Donaustauf, which is a memorial for "politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the German tongue",Official Guide booklet, 2002, p. 3 honors Peter Henlein with the words inventor of the watch.Adalbert Müller: Donaustauf und Walhalla, German, 1844.
Other pomander watches by Peter Henlein
Nowadays, there are only two preserved pomander watches in the world. The one from 1505 is in private ownership, and the Pomander Watch of Melanchthon, from 1530, which is owned by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. It was most probably a gift by the City of Nuremberg, to the Nuremberg Reformer Philipp Melanchthon and Peter Henlein was commissioned to create this personalized watch. Also an empty housing of a pomander watch can be found at the Wuppertal Watch Museum.Spherical Table Watch (Melanchthon's Watch), Walters Art Museum. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
The former watchmaker and art collector Jürgen Abeler from the Wuppertaler Watch Museum concludes about pomander watches in his book: „So if any one of the preserved watches at all should be linked with the person of Peter Henlein, it can only be this watch in the pomander.“Jürgen Abeler: In Sachen Peter Henlein, Wuppertaler Uhrenmuseum, 1980. German. .
See also
Nuremberg eggs History of watches History of timekeeping devices List of German inventions and discoveries