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mounted in drum or canister-shaped cases with the dial on the tip, and wee placed on a table. Later they appeared in square cases. The earliest watches discovered, however, are in ball-shaped cases. They were made in the first half of the sixteenth century and it is surmised that this kind of watch was invented about 1500. The reason for the ball cases is a combination of logic and fashion. At that time sanitation was crude so pomanders or scent bottles containing musk were worn on a ribbon or chain around the neck. The bottle was a hollow metal sphere with pierced decoration, and an ingenious clockmaker thought of putting a spring-driven movement in a musk apple', as they were called.

On of the first centers of manufacture was Nuremberg, and some years ago the watches were wrongly name Nuremberg eggs' through mistranslation of a passage in Rabelais: Rabelais referred to little living clocks (ueurlein), and the translator mistook this for eierlein, or little living eggs.

The main production at Nuremberg soon became the drum-shaped watch, often with a striking movement. The movement was of iron and the gilt case was at first like a round box with a separate lid. Later the case had a hinged lid that was decorated and pierced to reveal the numerals on the dial. There was no glass at this time. The single stubby steel had showed the time on a 24-hour dial, but it rotated once in 12 hours, so the dial was marked from I to XII and the numbers were repeated in Arabic, 13 to 24. Knobs at the hours enable the time to be felt in the dark.

Nearing the end of the sixteenth century, the box case was disappearing the hinged-lid type was beginning to become more sophisticated, with rounded sides and domed top. The French were now leading the way in design and innovation. To overcome the varying power of the mainspring, the Germans introduced two devices. One simply allowed the spring to operate over only a part of its unwinding.

The other device was a cam turned by the spring. A small wheel on the end of a powerful, short spring pressed on the edge of the cam. The idea was to smooth the power output by extra friction, which decreased as the spring ran down. It was never satisfactory.

As the watch was carried on the person, it was natural for the jeweler or goldsmith to take on the task of case making. An associated craft was box making, which introduced the watchmaker to the already flourishing craft of the enameler. The most important early centers were Limoges and Blois in

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