During my casual visiting of the vintage watch shop, I came across this watch, a Quarter repeater trench watch made by J. Ullmann & co.
Jacques Ullmann (1850-1909) left Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland for Hong Kong in the year 1871 and established his firm in the British colony Hong Kong the same year. Like Bovet, his watches are sold in HK and China.
The estimate date of production is between 1910-20 where pocket watches have started to evolve to become wristwatch especially during the WW1 period where hinges were added to the pocket watch for ease of usage. As such, WW1 was the first major historical event where timekeeping migrated from the pocket watch to the wrist. What made this watch special is its repeater function where the repeater isn't like a grandfather clock that chimes at regular intervals. Instead, the wearer pulls back on a slider that tenses up the spring mechanism inside the watch. These powers the two hammers that strike against the gong and varies in sound based on the thickness and shape of the metal.
The repeater also proved useful, before the age of luminous iPhone screens and electric lights, to those who wanted to check the time after dark. The visually impaired were also grateful for watches that chimed out or vibrated the time. The quarter repeater strikes the number of hours, and then the number of quarter hours since the last hour. The mechanism uses 2 chimes of different tones. The low tone usually signals the hours, and the high tone the quarter hours. Have managed to close the year 2022 with this real antique watch…looking forward to more good years ahead!
Please read :
J. Ullmann (烏利文) – Swiss Watchmaker and Jeweler in HK and China
https: //industrialhistoryhk.org/j-ullmann-烏利文-swiss-watchmaker-and-jeweler-in-hk-and-china/
https: //industrialhistoryhk.org/j-ullmann-烏利文-swiss-watchmaker-and-jeweler-in-hk-and-china/
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