Watch

Watchmaker: Abraham Vacheron Swiss
Firm of A. Vacheron Girod Swiss
later renamed Firm of Vacheron and Constantin Swiss

Not on view

In the nineteenth century, Swiss watchmakers routinely used gemstones with holes drilled in them to pivot the arbors of the wheels in watch movements that were subject to the greatest wear. Most significant, this watch is engraved on the inside cover of the movement with the number of rubies employed for this purpose: four. Developments in technology enabled pocket watches to become thinner and flatter in the nineteenth century, with Swiss firms at the forefront of their production.

Watch, Watchmaker: Abraham Vacheron (Swiss, 1760–1845), Case: partly gold, enamel, and silver; Movement: brass and steel with ruby endstones, Swiss, Geneva

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