Today’s collectors often view “tool” watches as a 20th century invention with wristwatches from the mid-20th century, however scaled pocket watches have been known since the early 19th century, and it began with Louis Moinet’s (1768-1853) invention, the chronograph, known as the “compteur de tierces” or timer of thirds. A French horologist, painter, and sculptor he was the President of the Chronometry Society of Paris, and became an advisor to Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1811. His interest was in precision timekeeping, and instruments that achieved it. His complicated astronomical clocks were highly sought after by some of the most well-known names of the day, including Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. With the ability to measure time on demand through the chronograph, new measurements were developed including distance through telemetry and tachymetry, and a patient’s pulse through the pulsometer scale. Today, these functions appear on many timepieces, and often their use and function forgotten, but they were rare and used only on tool watches from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The present Ulysse Nardin medical chronograph is a lovely early 20th century example with a pulsation dial marked in red, and its original intended use, marked directly below the 30 minute register, “cronógrafo medical.” The watch is in lovely condition with a clean dial free featuring Breguet numerals from defects, and strong hallmarks on the case. Pocket watches are often seen as an instrument of the past, however it is this past that created the modern, and we see contemporary watch makers looking to horology’s history for inspiration.