Pocket watches began to appear in the 16th century and were actually know as pocket clocks at that time. These early versions of the pocket watch were pretty much useless as a timepiece and they could loose hours in one day, so they became more of a fashion statement for the more affluent of society.
It wasn’t until the mid 17th century that the pocket watch became a useful timepiece when the Fusee pulley was used to dramatically improve the timekeeping of pocket watches. The Fusee is attached to the mainspring barrel with a small chain and keeps an even reduction as the mainspring wound down. Although the Fusee mechanism had been used for years before in clocks it wasn’t until the mid 1600s that a Fusee could be made to fit in to a pocket watch and even then these kinds of watches although relatively accurate were bulky.
By the mid 1700s the Fusee was replaced by the Going Barrel by the French and adopted by the Swiss in the 1800s. The English however continued with the Fusee up until the 1900s
The picture on the right show the mechanism of a pocket watch and you can see the Fusee at the top left and the mainspring barrel at the bottom right.
There are many fine examples of early Verge Fusee Pocket Watches for sale on eBay and many are in perfect working order.
Pocket Watches For Sale
Pocket Watches (Category: Watches )
A.LANGE & SOHNE 14CT GOLD POCKET WATCH – RARE -WITH BOX
 |
£12,995.00 Sale Ends: Friday Aug-06-2010 13:02:19 £12,995.00 |
ZENITH ENAMEL and GOLD POCKET WATCH OUTSTANDINGLY RARE
 |
£12,500.00 (0 Bid) Sale Ends: Wednesday Aug-04-2010 22:03:23 |
Mint Silver Fusee Sully Escapment Pocket Watch 1820
 |
£5,995.00 Sale Ends: Tuesday Aug-03-2010 23:40:00 £5,995.00 |
5 MINUTE REPEATER POCKET WATCH WALTHAM SOLID GOLD RARE
 |
£5,250.00 (0 Bid) Sale Ends: Sunday Aug-01-2010 22:00:19 £5,995.00 |
GRUEN PENTAGON 50th ANNIVERSARY POCKET WATCH No 131
 |
£4,250.00 (0 Bid) Sale Ends: Sunday Aug-01-2010 21:52:13 £4,750.00 |
Superb Early Oignon Verge Pocket Watch c1710
 |
£3,950.00 Sale Ends: Saturday Jul-31-2010 18:30:29 £3,950.00 |
RARE SWISS SOLID SILVER OMEGA CHRONOGRAPH POCKET WATCH
 |
£3,500.00 Sale Ends: Tuesday Aug-17-2010 15:17:05 £3,500.00 |
Antique 18k GOLD QUARTER REPEATER CHRONO POCKET WATCH
 |
£3,200.00 Sale Ends: Monday Aug-23-2010 19:05:25 £3,200.00 |
QUARTER REPEARTER ENAMEL POCKET WATCH
 |
£3,106.58 Sale Ends: Sunday Aug-01-2010 15:09:28 £3,106.58 |
massive super 18ct pocket watch chronogragh very heavy.
 |
£2,950.00 Sale Ends: Thursday Aug-19-2010 11:34:53 £2,950.00 |
Tags: Antique Gold Pocket Watches, Antique Ladies Pocket Watches, Antique Pocket Watches For Sale eBay, Antique Pocketwatch, Antique Silver Pocket Watches, Antiques Pocket Watches, Gold Pocket Watches, Pocket Watches For Sale, Pocketwatches, Silver Pocket Watches, Silver Pocketwatch, Solid Silver Pocket Watches, Sterling Silver Pocket Watches
