FOB

The Fob originally referred to the small pocket sewn into a waistcoat, or sometimes inside the waistband of a pair of trousers, intended to hold a watch. By metonymy, the term came to designate the watch itself: this gave rise to the expression Fob watch, then, abbreviated, Fob watch, a phrase today synonymous with pocket watch. Attached to clothing by a chain or cord, it dominated portable timekeeping from the first portable watches of the 16th century until the early 20th century, before being largely supplanted by the Bracelet / Strap watch, popularized by trench watches during the First World War. Traditionally, a distinction is made between the hunter-case watch, fitted with a metal cover protecting the Dial and the Glass (crystal) — its winding Crown historically positioned at three o’clock, opposite the cover’s hinge at nine o’clock —, and the open-face watch, with an exposed Dial, whose Crown is located at twelve o’clock; modern hunter cases have generally adopted this same arrangement at twelve o’clock. A sought-after collector’s item, the Fob watch remains appreciated for its classicism, the readability of its Dial and the refinement of the calibers it houses.