Coach Watches and then some

This watch is only abut an inch tall. Remember, it was made about 300 years ago with only hand tools.

After seeing the coaches we were shown to a collection of coach watches – essentially, time keepers that were carried along with the nobility when they travelled. These ranged from the 1600s to 1800s. The sophistication and artistry of some of these early ones is just mind boggling. These watches were gathered together from several private collectors but most of them were owned by Bertrand Seneca. He is and comes from a family of master watch makers.

Checkout the detailed engraving. This watch is only about 1.5 inches in diameter.

We had lunch with he and his wife -see separate Post for that.

After lunch we did a short tour of “old town” Arras (separate post for that)

and then we were treated to some of Bernard’s private watch collection. We saw at least 20 very old watches that were kind f like pocket watches in that they all had cases so were designed for traveling. The watches were amazing prices of craftsmanship and the cases themselves were incredible painted porcelain. When I looked at them using my 10x loupe they were incredibly clear and detailed paintings. Sorry no pictures of these because it didn’t seem appropriate. We were all sitting around a table, we were wearing white gloves to handle the watches.