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France and Geneva in Switzerland. Holland was another key center and Flanders, London and Paris also had their enamelers.

Initially, cases were made in the traditional way of the enameler, by engraving or carving hollows in the metal to take the molten colored glasses, or by soldering on strips to form a pattern of compartments for the enamel. Then, in approximately 1630, Jean Toutin invented a way of painting pictures in color without have to run the enamel into separate chambers, which not only considerably simplified the task of the case maker, but have the enameler much greater freedom of design. Cases of the period are often covered with flowers, although sometimes a scene or a portrait was the theme. The Huaud family of Geneva became particularly famous for the enameled cases.

Early watches had a drilled knob on the side of the case through which a ring passed, at right angles to the watch dial, to take the ribbon or cord without twisting. This was later replaced by a loop parallel to the dial. The key for winding was separate, and was usually attached to the same chain as the watch to avoid its being lost.

The watch was far from accurate but it was pretty, so it was worn more as jewelery than for timekeeping. The technical breakthrough came with the application of a spiral spring to the balance wheel and also the introduction of a minute hand as well as an hour hand. Suddenly the watch became reasonably accurate.

The invention of the spiral hairspring by Huygens in 1675 coincided with a fashion for men of wearing a waistcoat. Instead of being hung round the neck or from the belt, a watch was dropped into a pocket in the waistcoat and was kept safe by attaching a chain to the loop at the top. When the watch disappeared into the waist-coat pocket there was not so much occasion for showing it off, so the case became plainer, and also thinner for comfort. However, decorative enameled watches were still much in favor with the ladies, who wore them on chatelaines.

The escapement remained the verge. In the meantime, other escapements were invented to improve the accuracy of the pocket watch. The cylinder escapement, developed in about 1725 by George Graham, after pioneering efforts by Thomas Tompion, became more popular on the Continent than in England after Julien Le Roy in France enthused over one sent to him by Graham. By a twist of fortune, the duplex escapement, invented by Le Roy's son Pierre, became popular some years later for the better English watches.

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