Waeccen
It’s an Old English word and it means: “To keep vigil,” as night
watchmen did and still do. It is the word from which our word for
keeping vigil is derived … namely: “A Watch,” … that little
mechanical thing we wear on our wrists or in our pockets or on a
chain around our necks or even on our fingers in order to tell time.
Circa 1580. Augsburg … a city in Bavaria in S.W. Germany. Eighty
years after the invention of the mainspring by Peter Henlein in
N=FCrnberg which marked the birth of the invaluable timepiece … the
Waeccen. A Watch Ring is created with such intricacy and beauty as
to boggle the mind.
This is what it has: A mechanism including an alarm nested in the
bezel. A miniature enameled altarpiece with the crucifixion flanked
by wings displaying the instrument of Passion which unfolds from the
lid. Ornate sculpted shoulders represented by caryatid figures
forming the shank and holding up the whole works.
No dimensions are given … nor is the name of the creator of this
magnificent timepiece. Bt it look rather heavy to me … and I would
not be surprised if the wearer had to have a servant around at all
time in order to help him or her hoist up his or her hand in order to
see what time it was. Hans! Hoist! Ah … it is twelve minutes after
noon. Thank you Hans. Please lower the hand slowly as the weight of
the mechanism tends to wrench at my shoulder.
There’s a kicker with this watch folks. The image I have is in black
and white. I was tempted to try to colorize it … but I didn’t have
the century or two of spare time I think would have been required.
Nor … alas … do I think I have the skill to do the job that
would have been required. So … this week’s image is going to be in
it’s original uncolored form. Yet even with that … it’s a stunner.
Go take a look … and oh yeah … Happy Father’s Day to you all.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Tidbits Graphics … and then click on the link that says: Waeccen
… where you’ll see an image of a Watch Ring intended surely to
astound.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all
next week. Benjamin Mark
TYLER-ADAM CORP.–Jewelry Manufacturers
Tel – 1-800-20-TYLER
E-Mail: webmaster@tyler-adam.com