The Complication

COMPLICATION V — THE CASE

The Cabinet

The watch as object — skull watches, book watches, painted enamel — in open-access museum photography.

The Celestial Globe with Clockwork — 1579 — Celestial globe with clockwork, Vienna, Gerhard Emmoser, imperial clockmaker, 1579

1579

The Celestial Globe with Clockwork — 1579

A silver Pegasus carrying the engraved heavens.

The Skull Watch — c. 1650 — Memento-mori watch in a silver skull, Isaac Penard, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Skull Watch — c. 1650

Time and mortality in one object, literally.

The Book Watch — c. 1580 — Watch in the form of a book, Diet Maye, c. 1580

c. 1580

The Book Watch — c. 1580

A watch disguised as a tiny devotional book.

The Astronomical Clock Watch — c. 1605 — Astronomical clock watch, Jan Jansen Bockeltz, c. 1605

c. 1605

The Astronomical Clock Watch — c. 1605

Moon, zodiac, and sundial in one palm-sized face.

The Painted-Enamel Watch — c. 1650 — Painted enamel watch, Jean Rousseau the Younger, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Painted-Enamel Watch — c. 1650

Geneva enamel at jewel-box intensity.

Tompion’s Traveling Clock Watch — c. 1680 — Traveling clock watch with alarm, Thomas Tompion, c. 1680

c. 1680

Tompion’s Traveling Clock Watch — c. 1680

Pierced silver by the father of English clockmaking.

The Repeating Watch — c. 1770 — Gem-set repeating watch, Francis Perigal, c. 1770

c. 1770

The Repeating Watch — c. 1770

The watch that strikes its hour on demand.

The Nécessaire with Watch — c. 1745 — Nécessaire with watch, Unknown maker, probably English, c. 1745

c. 1745

The Nécessaire with Watch — c. 1745

Time presiding over a portable world.

The Cross-Form Watch — c. 1600 — Watch in the form of a cross, attr. Robert Dieu, c. 1600

c. 1600

The Cross-Form Watch — c. 1600

A rock-crystal crucifix that is also a watch.

The Watch of the Love Stories — c. 1650 — Enamel watch with mythological scenes, J. Vrijthoff le Jeune, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Watch of the Love Stories — c. 1650

Four myths painted around one watch case.

The Engraved Egg Watch — c. 1590 — Egg-form watch, Paris, Denis Martinot, c. 1590

c. 1590

The Engraved Egg Watch — c. 1590

Portable time, hatched in the French Renaissance.

The Chatelaine Watch — mid-1800s — Watch with chatelaine, Unknown maker, mid-19th century

mid-19th century

The Chatelaine Watch — mid-1800s

Time worn as a waterfall of jewelry.