Our next illustration is of one of the earliest examples of a round watch made in England, the date being 1593. It contains not only a dial showing the hour, but a sort of general calendar in miniature.
English Round Watch, 1593.
Of much about the same date is the following example in silver and brass. It is of the same style of time-keeper, and shows how our forefathers liked to know not only the time of day but the period of the month; and how they watched the moon's changes, and in a word made an almanac of their watches.
Oval Watch, 1593.
It was not an unusual thing for religious persons who used rosaries at their devotions, to add to their beads a miniature skull, with a view it may be to remind themselves of the frailty of life by way of stimulus to the preparation for the future state. When watches were invented the Memento Mori death's head was made into a watch-case, as in the illustration on page 44.
Ancient Ornamental Watch.