Victorian watch cock necklace

Anonymous says: "It's an old watch, asploded into a necklace. How was this not on BB already? Plus it costs close to a G, so all of the commentors will flip the hell out. Hooray!" Victorian Watch Cock Necklace

[#1 posted by Anonymous , December 4, 2008 1:33 PM]

Perhaps you still had the previous post on the brain when you wrote this headline?

[#2 posted by desiredusername , December 4, 2008 1:39 PM]

I love it when you talk dirty to me Boing Boing!

;-)

[#3 posted by Joel Johnson , December 4, 2008 1:41 PM]

I could change the title but I don't want to.

[#4 posted by k386 , December 4, 2008 1:50 PM]

And hell, thats what the website itself calls it

[#5 posted by Antinous , December 4, 2008 1:54 PM]

I've been keeping a cock watch for about forty years now.

[#6 posted by SuperRob , December 4, 2008 1:57 PM]

Can I have a vagina bracelet to go along with this? kthxbye.

[#7 posted by Anonymous , December 4, 2008 1:58 PM]

I'm sorry, how much? And you say this is just to watch?

[#8 posted by Clayton , December 4, 2008 2:02 PM]

Victorian era, hm? That would make it steampunk, right? Or does it need round glasses and a leather cap?

[#9 posted by OM , December 4, 2008 2:02 PM]

...Watch cock?

Egads.

[#10 posted by escowles , December 4, 2008 2:11 PM]

In my day, all we had were cock rings, and we liked 'em! Now they've got cock necklaces...

What's next for kids these days, cock tiaras?

[#11 posted by tallpat , December 4, 2008 2:17 PM]

I am so flippin' the hell out over this! This is an outrage! Rawrrr!

[#12 posted by Suburbancowboy , December 4, 2008 2:31 PM]

This is different from a Pearl Necklace.

A cock is similar to a clock when it has two hands and a face on it.

[#13 posted by Avram , December 4, 2008 2:50 PM]

A watched cock never boils.

[#14 posted by TheophileEscargot , December 4, 2008 2:54 PM]

It's not a typo: watch cock seems to be what this component is called: "the elaborately engraved plate (usually of brass, sometimes gilded) which supports the balance-staff pivot and protects the balance wheel..."

[#15 posted by Anonymous , December 4, 2008 3:40 PM]

#14, thank you! I'm a watch repairer, and a "cock" is a piece that holds the axle (or pinion or staff) for a wheel (or gear) that is fixed to a plate on only one end. Watchmakers have a whole language, just like any other specialty. By the way, a cock that's held on both ends is called a "bridge". Rolex moved to balance bridges from balance cocks in the '80s to make the movements stronger.

[#16 posted by MadFist , December 4, 2008 3:49 PM]

What, what?!? Close to a G?!? I'm flipping the hell out over that!

[#17 posted by zuludaddy , December 4, 2008 4:21 PM]

#12 suburbancowboy FTW

[#18 posted by Clayton , December 4, 2008 4:25 PM]

#!6: really. you can get junky old pocket watches for cheap. they look like crap but i'm sure their brass cock is still intact. though i do think this piece is nice and the craft is certainly worth something as i know i could not make something like this. but still, that's a lot of money.

[#19 posted by oohahh , December 4, 2008 4:41 PM]

I was led to believe there would be cocks here...

[#20 posted by Anonymous , December 4, 2008 5:01 PM]

I just assumed that each circular piece represented a microtome thin-section of someone's steam punk cock. If'n you stack enough of them up, you'd have a reasonable facsimile - albeit metal.

[#21 posted by linea5 , December 4, 2008 5:20 PM]

They're not really from junky pocket watches - these pieces come from fusee watches. If you look closely you can see little faces engraved on some of the pieces. Fusee moments are notoriously temperamental and the faces were meant to scare off bad spirits that might keep the watch from stopping. Didn't really work out so well, hence the jewelery!

[#22 posted by pjcamp , December 4, 2008 6:29 PM]

A necklace for my what?

[#23 posted by sammich , December 4, 2008 6:34 PM]

indeed! - these really are cocks, they have a couple of nice ones at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich -
"The cock is pierced and engraved with a profile portrait depicting Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson..."

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=JEW0017

[#24 posted by sammich , December 4, 2008 6:39 PM]

One of my great-great-grandads was a watch and clock maker. He must've had his hands on a lot of cocks over the years.

[#25 posted by DeWynken , December 4, 2008 7:42 PM]

I need sum bling for mah cock!

[#26 posted by retrojoe , December 4, 2008 8:08 PM]

Each of those pieces came from a single watch that was almost entirely handmade. They didn't necessarily come from a fusee watch but, most likely did. The also almost certainly came from a verge escapement which was supplanted by lever escapements in the early 19th century. As people switched to the more accurate levers it was common to strip them down and make these into rings, necklaces, broaches, etc. Very much like how current "steampunk" artists treat watches today. If each of these were still attached to their movement (neverminding that the cases were all at least made of silver) each one would be worth at least $1k.

[#27 posted by noen , December 4, 2008 10:11 PM]

"By the way, a cock that's held on both ends is called a "bridge"."

There are other names for that.

[#28 posted by Takuan , December 4, 2008 10:15 PM]

la
http://blogs.abcnews.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/03/27/cockfighting2_nr.jpg

[#29 posted by eti , December 5, 2008 6:26 AM]

Mmm...that new steampunk smell.

[#30 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , December 10, 2008 3:55 PM]

Escowles @10, I understand the new thing is costumes for your thingie, so you can dress it up as The Little Prince or Godzilla or a Boston Terrier.