A guide about the keychain pocket watch models origins

The latest keychain pocket watch is anything as the most traditional model. The oldest part of the clock mechanism and astronomical dial dates from 1410 and are the work of the clockmaker Mikulas of Kadane and Professor Jan Sindel. Around 1490 perpetual calendar was added and added Gothic sculptures that decorate the facade of the clock. In 1552 it was repaired by Jan Taborsky and from this date worked intermittently. Legend has it that the builder put out his eyes to prevent similar might make a clock in another country. After this bloody episode, the clock stopped working and nobody was able to repair it for centuries.

In the seventeenth century statues were added after the major mobile and 1865-66 restoration added the figures of the apostles. During the Second World War the clock was badly damaged, especially the May 8, 1945 during the Prague Uprising, when the Germans opened fire from several armored vehicles and anti-aircraft battery to the southwest side of Old Town Hall Square. The attack caused the fire that destroyed several nearby buildings, the wooden figures of the clock and calendar field work of Josef Manes. The keychain pocket watch machinery was repaired and restored later. The biggest models were reactivated in 1948 after a major effort.

The keychain pocket watch reproduces the form of mechanical astrolabe. It can also be interpreted as a primitive planetarium shows the current appearance of the universe.

The astronomical dial has a background that represents the Earth stationary and the local view of the sky. The center circle represents the Earth and the blue top is the part of heaven that is above the horizon. The red and black areas indicate the parts of the sky that are below the horizon. During the day, the sun is over the blue background and overnight in the black zone. At sunrise and sunset is over the red.

Ask your grandfather so you can look at a traditional watch model. On the outer edge of the dial, most keychain pocket watch models shows 24 hours a day in gold numbers. Within the large black outer circle lies another moving circle marked with the signs of the zodiac indicating the position of the sun on the ecliptic. Signs appear in the opposite direction clockwise. There is a ring, which moves back and forth during the year so that conforms to the time of the sunset.