Time to go

Portable timekeepers intended to be worn as accessories appeared in sixteenth century Europe. Very few individuals were able to make them, and just as few could afford to buy them. Therefore, early pendant watches were owned and worn by the rich and famous, symbolizing power—over their own time and the time of others. The examples shown here are models from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when timepieces were mostly worn as pendants. Fashion changed in the 1660s with the appearance of pockets in men’s clothing and with them, the pocket watch.