Preserved 300-Year-Old Pocket Watch

It looks like some crusty old rock, but this is actually an exquisite 17th century pocketwatch. And now, state of the art x-rays have revealed that its 300-year-old mechanisms are still perfectly intact inside its rusting shell.

The watch was found by a diver off the coast of Scotland in 1970, amidst a shipwreck that is thought to date from 1653. It has been in the National Museum of Scotland’s collection since then, though historians had not been able to glean much about its condition from conventional X-rays. But when the museum’s researchers read about a technique called X-ray computed tomography (CT) that had been used to image a similar artefact, and they thought it might do the trick:

CT involves taking a series of slices through an object at different angles, and combining them using a computer to produce a three-dimensional reconstruction of the object’s internal structure. Andrew Ramsey and his colleagues at the company X-Tek Systems in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK, had developed an improved CT technique using small yet high-voltage X-ray sources, which enabled them to obtain very high-resolution images, even when penetrating dense metal..

Any parts made of steel, including the watch’s single hand as well as the studs and pins that originally held the mechanism together, have corroded away. But most of the components are brass, and in excellent condition. “The results surpassed all of our expectations,” says [Museum researcher Lore] Troalen. “We never thought that so much of the mechanism would have survived.”

Those scans revealed a wealth of detail to researchers, including floral engravings, Roman numerals and even the clockmaker’s signature: “Niccholas Higginson of Westminster”. Historical records show that Higginson was indeed making watches in Westminster, London, circa 1650.




http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/10/x-rays-reveal-perfectly-preserved-300-year-old-pocket-watch/

very cool! They should send it to you Ron and you could re-case it up.

What an amazing find, and an equally amazing watch and x-ray technique !
..This definitely is BEYOND cool imho Ron !!! Thank you very very much for this
link, and article. What is really impressive is how the parts, along with what
seems like most of the case seem to still be there. Now THAT has to be one
EXCEPTIONAL pocket watch. Even if it had never been in the water, and had
just existed for hundreds of years, it would have been surprising enough. Talk
about a quality watch, this must be it ! ..NEAT stuff Ron ! Thank you !!!

That pretty cool!!

Very Cool to see all the gears and mechanisms...

Good work "Niccholas Higginson!"

Extremely cool how they can get that detail without physically having to open it up.

WOW Ron! That is just incredible. This may have been the pocket watch King TUT carried with him........