American Timepiece Cuff Links, Gold Overlay

Description

A charming trade catalogue in the Museum’s collection is the basis for our unique timepiece cuff links with functioning watches. Our handsome cuff links are developed from a clock pictured in the Illustrated Catalogue of Clocks, published about 1880 by the F. Kroeber Clock Company of New York.

Gold overlay case, with steel snap back (to replace battery). Quartz movement. 3/4'' diam.

Art History

The nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution in England and America spurred a host of innovations in manufacturing and distribution. To entice a widespread and growing clientele with their mass-produced consumer goods—hardware, ceramics, textiles, furniture, and more—merchants and wholesalers circulated trade catalogues illustrating their wares. Among these newly affordable products were pocket watches and alarm clocks, needed by middle-class citizens to synchronize their lives to Standard Time, instituted in the U.S. in 1883.