Watch Chains

[Marc Chevalier]

I sometimes wear a pocket watch and watch chain. The chain has a 1.2" bar attached to it. (The watch is attached to the other end of the chain.) I put the bar through my jacket lapel's boutonniere buttonhole, thereby anchoring the bar to the outside surface of the lapel. The chain hangs down behind the lapel, and goes into the breast pocket (where the watch rests).

Few people I've run into can figure out what the bar is and what purpose it serves.



Here's FDR wearing one (with a student society key attached):

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Thank you Skeet and Marc. I searched using "boutonniere" rather than "buttonhole," so I missed the post.

The photo of FDR's is closer to the one in the Torchy Blane movies, as his had a round button, rather than a bar. As with FDR's and yours, Marc, the chain ran behind the lapel. I don't know how I'd missed noticing FDR's fob, all these years.


Lee

 

[Ethan Bentley]

I was looking for one to put my Vesta on and have come across one on eBay. But it was only available with a watch. It was very thin, about the size of a thin shoelace with very close links.

 

[Feraud]

Undertaker is correct. Watch chain styles varied along with the types of watch sizes available.

 

[Evan Everhart]

Watch chains, watch chains, watch chains!

I've got quite a few myself! Three antique, and two modern. Of the antique ones, two are rather nice gold models, one with rather elaborate linking that gives some volume and presence without bulk or the feel febrility. The other gold one is an extremely interesting art deco model with fob drop and signet and a rather flimsy looking chain with an interesting button-hole attachment. The final antique model I got at a thrift shop not even realizing what it was until later when I took the time to look at it. A lovely Albert chain with an extremely densely woven cylindrical composition and a fob drop which only had a plumb-line fob drop when I acquired it. I have since refitted it with a sterling t-bar and lobster hook clasping mechanism as well as an Athenian Owl of the post Peloponnesian Period (from just after the Athenian's last defeat by the Spartans) I actually started to write this two or three days ago and have not been able to return till now... I just cannot remember where I was going with this aside from the fact that it involved pocket watches. Work's been too persistent lately!

 

[Chad Sanborn]

How to wear a watch chain?

Another thread about watch chains got me thinking about how exactly they are worn.

I have an extra long watch chain that I am not sure how to use!

One end has a watch. The other end has a circular sliding clasp commonly seen on necklaces. In the center, attached with an extra chain link, is a bar.
It would look like this:

watch0---------------|----------------0

Watch on the left , chain, bar, chain, clasp.


Each section of chain is about 10 inches long. How would I hook this onto my clothing? vest? Pants pocket?

The watch itself is from the late 40's to early 50's I think. It is a naughty watch. It shows an injured soldier in bed and a sexy nurse bending over revealing too much to him. The second hand of the watch is made to look like his 'parts' and wiggles back and forth for each second. It also keeps perfect time! As long as I wind it.

 

[Feraud]

It seems to be a double chain. The bar hooks into a vest button hole and each chain goes into a pocket.

Feel free to p.m. me a picture if it is too naughty to post here. I am interested in all things pocket watch related.

 

["Skeet" McD]

I have an extra long watch chain that I am not sure how to use! One end has a watch. The other end has a circular sliding clasp commonly seen on necklaces. In the center, attached with an extra chain link, is a bar.
It would look like this:

watch0---------------|----------------0

Watch on the left , chain, bar, chain, clasp....The watch itself is from the late 40's to early 50's I think. It is a naughty watch. It shows an injured soldier in bed and a sexy nurse bending over revealing too much to him. The second hand of the watch is made to look like his 'parts' and wiggles back and forth for each second. It also keeps perfect time! As long as I wind it.

Dear Chad,
Back when I was growing up and wearing a pocket watch--the 1960s--the older folks in NY would have called that a "Waldemar" chain. Put the central bar in your vest buttonhole, the watch in one pocket, and whatever you want on the ring at the other end. In the day, it was frequently a cigar cutter, or a small penknife. Hope this helps.

BTW....I think we really NEED to see that watch...

"Skeet"

 

[dnjan]

That would be a tough one to pull off without a waistcoat (as mentioned above). Without a waistcoat, you could try "doubling" the chain by hooking the small circular loop onto the watch. Then you would need to have a buttonhole put into the waistband of your pants (horizontally, under the belt, approximately above the pocket). Put the T-bar into the buttonhole, and allow the watch to hang from the doubled chain into your pants pocket (or watchpocket if that pair of pants has one).

Even with a waistcoat, it may require a certain "presence" to wear the watch and chain instead of having the chain wear you. I have been wearing pocketwatches continually for over 30 years, but only rarely have the courage to wear it in a waistcoat pocket rather than my pants pocket.

 

[Shangas]

Double-Albert watch-chain. Yes, it would be pretty hard to wear one of these without a waistcoat (unless you have a button-down shirt with two breast-pockets?)

The watch goes on one chain, and a watch-fob (a match-case, a pocket-knife, fountain pen, etc etc, even keys!) go on the other.

Your pocket watch goes into one pocket of your waistcoat and the fob goes into the other pocket. You flatten the T-bar of the chain so that it's paralell to the chain, then slide it through the buttonhole and twist the T-bar so that it's perpendicular to the buttonhole. After that, button up your shirt or coat, and that'll stop the chain coming out.

 

[Shangas]

The chain I'm wearing right now is just 5mm wide.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I *think* the bar stays on the underside of the vest buttonhole, with the rest of the chain and watch on the other, so that when you pull the watch out, the chain stays "even" across the vest-front. In other words, the bar stops too much chain from pulling through the button hole when you flip out the watch to check the time...or show off the wobbling / vibrating second hand.

And I think I third or fourth or however many the motion to post a pic. The description has everyone intrigued and not just for some purient (?) reason. I'm sure we all know as racy or racier things were painted on WWII bombers, and in the cause of understanding comedy down through the years as it pertains to timekeeping.... [huh] lol

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I *think* the bar stays on the underside of the vest buttonhole, ...

These days, yes. But up until the 1880s or so, it was far more typical to wear the bar on the *outside* of the vest's buttonhole. Myriad photos of Abraham Lincoln show him wearing it this way.

.

 

["Skeet" McD]

These days, yes. But up until the 1880s or so, it was far more typical to wear the bar on the *outside* of the vest's buttonhole. Myriad photos of Abraham Lincoln show him wearing it this way.

Absolutely true...Very, very typical of mid-19C, but petering out through the 2nd half of the century. The chains (or watch-guards, as they were more commonly called at the time) can be identified by how ornate the cross-piece is; I thought about mentioning all this in my earlier post...but it's clear that your chain wouldn't/couldn't be one intended to have the visible crossbar...because the rest of the chain needs to go across the vest.

Here are two chains, both probably from the later half of the 1860s or the 1870s. The first is intended to be worn with the crossbar showing:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100014/DSCF1703

And the second, probably not:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100014/DSCF1705&bgcolor=black

"Skeet"

 

["Skeet" McD]

Probably time to do this...

Before someone trots out the USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES...two thin chains, most likely 1930s, from my collection.

The first is a family piece, my wife's grandfather's watch and the chain he wore it with:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100014/DSCF1712&bgcolor=black

And the second part of a cheap set of men's jewelry comprising matching tiechain, cufflinks, and watchchain; this is intended to be worn over the belt and into the trowser pocket, I believe:
http://gallery.me.com/finiancircle#100014/DSCF1708&bgcolor=black

"Skeet"

 

[Tomasso]

It is a naughty watch. It shows an injured soldier in bed and a sexy nurse bending over revealing too much to him. The second hand of the watch is made to look like his 'parts' and wiggles back and forth for each second.

Oh, the Naughty Night Nurse pocket watch.

 

[Shangas]

I always wear my Albert with the T-bar going into the buttonhole from the front so that it can't be seen. I wasn't aware that people used to do it the other way around as well. I reckon everything looks so much neater if you can't see the bar.

 

[Anthony Jordan]

I always wear my Albert with the T-bar going into the buttonhole from the front so that it can't be seen. I wasn't aware that people used to do it the other way around as well. I reckon everything looks so much neater if you can't see the bar.

That is how I tend to wear mine, though I have a fob on mine, which is on display. It was not uncommon for Victorian watch chains to have a bar which also doubled as a watch key or had some other useful function, which may also go to explain why they were worn outside the waistcoat.

 

[Chad Sanborn]

Well I wore the bar under the button hole. Just seemed to look better that way.

 

[Feraud]

Well I wore the bar under the button hole. Just seemed to look better that way.

Do you mean under as in not visible?

A few of my watch chains have elaborate "T" bars. I wear them from the rear pointing out to show off the bar.