WatchUSeek Watch Forums banner

Exhibition back: who was the first?

13K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  MEugene 
#1 ·
Does anyone have any ideas as to which company was the first to use a display back in serial watch production? Or perhaps the first to introduce the piece?
 
#2 ·
Interesting question. I also wonder, do I like exhibition casebacks? It begs the question: what's the point of high-end finishing on a movement that's not to be seen? (I don't think the answer is that there is none, I'd just like to see it articulated.)
 
#9 ·
There is certainly something valuable about high-end finishing, even if it is not to be seen. For example, even on high-end movements that DO have exhibition backs, top tier manufacturers will often finish the entire movement, not just the part that you can see through the case back. I think that watches have a bit of an emotional or even esoteric dimension; whereby the IDEA of what goes into a watch is often as important as what you can see and touch. For example, the fact that a movement was developed and manufactured in-house carries higher value to most enthusiasts- but why? Because people like the idea of thought, skill, and craftsmanship going into their watch. In the same way, I would prefer a Lange Datograph with a solid case-back to any Valjoux 7750 with a display back. You know what I mean? Sure I'd rather see the movement of the Datograph, but I still know it is there even if the back is solid and that is valuable to me. Just some thoughts.

As to the question at hand, I really have no idea who was the first.
 
#3 ·
For the majority of the years of American dominance of the watch industry, most watches were made in standard sizes and sold as movements only(with dial and hands) and cased by the retailer at the time of sale to suit the customer's taste and budget.

As such, it was standard practice to ship movements from the factory in glass-backed shipping tins that allowed both the dial and the movement to be viewed.

Nearly as common were so-called salesman's sample cases, which were fully functional cases(with a stem, crown, and bow) with glass front and back covers to allow easy viewing of the movement. Normally, the movement would be removed from these at the time of sale and placed in a regular case. These are commonly also called glassbacks, although they would be exhibition backs to use modern terminology.

There are pocket watch cases that have what is commonly called an "exhibition back", although these have a very specific form. Basically, they are standard fully-functional hunting cases or hinged back and bezel open face cases. The standard case of this format will have two back covers, a heavy outer cover for protection and a light gauge inner cover(called the cuvette) that snaps tightly directly over the movement and provides a dust seal. The exhibition case replaces the cuvette with a glass crystal set into a bezel, much as is done for the dial side of a hunting case.

So, I think that any of these might meet your criteria. These all date to at least the 1880s.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I don't see the word "wristwatch" anywhere in the opening post

Despite what some here may thing...horological history didn't begin 50 years ago. Most "modern" watch designs have a precedent.

And, just what exactly do you mean by a "real" watch?
 
#7 ·
Ben,

Thank you for the interesting reply about pocket watches. I have several, but none with a glass back, although I have seen it. I'd assumed, however, it was a later addition, because it was a screw-on glass on a standard case rather than a snap on under a hunter case as you describe. Do you know was it ever the custom to sell pocket watches to the public witha glass back? I've seen the movement presentation tin you talked about for sales to watch companies, but what about visible movements as a sales pitch to the end user of a pocket watch?

I had in my original post been thinking about glass backs on wristwatches, although I realize I wasn't clear on that. I'm still curious to learn about that, because it does seem to be a recent feature, and as Colin notes, it would be interesting to know if it was the foundering of the mechanical watch industry in the '70s that precipitated the feature, did it emerge after the resurgence, or even did it exist at the dawn of the wristwatch? Obviously, decoration of movements had been going on pre-wristwatch, so a reason to proudly display a movement was there, bit what was the impetus to take it public?

Whatever the case may be-- pardon the pun!-- I'm also curious to know who was the insightful watchmaker that began to use a glass back as a marketing element (i.e. point of distinction) on their regular wristwatch production?

Finally, just as an aside, I happen to believe that movement decoration reached its zenith in pocket watches. Maybe it is the size of the canvas and the scrolling often found, but to my eye, pocket watches movements are the most beautiful I've seen, but that's really another thread topic!
 
#8 ·
Hi,

I beleive Chronoswiss is one of the first "modern" manufacturers to have an exhibition back as standard.

And to answer Bronte's question, A lot of the "decoration" is actaully for functional purposes. For example, in higher-end brands, a lot of the edges of bridges are anglaged to make the part run smoother and to prevent rought edges from chipping away at other parts. However, you will not actually be able to see this "decoration" from an exhibit caseback. The finishing that you see on the "outside" accounts for actually very little of the total "finshing" work in terms of time and money. (I suppose this ties in a bit with the other post about the difference between higher end watches and lower end ones.)

Have a look at Walt Odet's "The Horologium" at timezone.com. very informative.

Cheers,
Bruce
 
#12 ·
Are the terms finishing and decoration synonymous? I think of finishing as more comprehensive than, but including, decoration, which I think is purely the decorative part of the finishing process. Is that a generally accepted distinction?
 
#13 ·
Aside from Ben's answer - which in my view is the definitive one - I really don't remember exhibition casebacks as a general rule on wristwatches until the 21st century. Maybe a few exceptions were around in the 1990s.
 
#14 ·
Not to pick a fight, but I'm curious in which sense you think Ben's reply was definitive? To my reading, there was nothing definitive about it all all, no dates, no producers, no answer to my questions...interesting and insightful, yes, but I don't think definitive is applicable, unless I misunderstood the content of his post.
 
#15 ·
My first watch with a Crystal caseback is JLC from 2001.

I do not think that crystal casebacks were very interesting for the manufacturers. They tried to make as slim watches as possible, and a crystal caseback is allways much thicker than a solid one.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Definitive in the sense that the first display backs appeared on pocket watches. You want some names? Elgin, Waltham. He gave a date of 1880s which is general but probably close enough. I doubt you are going to see any of these glass display backs before the advent of stem winding.
 
#19 ·
In fairness, the pocket watch examples he cites, the "display cuvette," if you will, were under a solid case cover, so not really the same thing as an exhibition back in the modern sense, which is literally the back of the watch case.

Granted, the pocket watch usage environment was different from a modern wristwatch's, but the fact remains those are different things, and while, as I said, his reply was interesting and insightful, it didn't meet any of my criteria for a satisfying answer to my questions, and was certainly not definitive.

To be sure, I'm glad for his post, though. I have several American pocket watches from the first quarter of the 20th century, but none of that description, so his post opened up a new line of inquiry for me, namely why, if viewing the movement of a pocket watch was valued, did the practice of a glass back not carry over to wristwatches as they became popular?
 
#17 ·
#20 · (Edited)
He mentioned a display back in the sense of a double case with a dust cover. but there were lots of open face cases that had a single glass display back. Most of the ones I've seen like that were in the 1900-1920 timeframe but there may have been some earlier examples. You didn't specifically mention wristwatches in your original post so I think he did provide a useful answer.
As far as being valued, display cases had a specific purpose to sell or display the movement and they aren't particularly rare or valuable. The display back as we know it right now is a consequence of the preoccupation with mechanical movements today. That preoccupation didn't really exist before their rediscovery after the quartz revolution. Back when mechanical was all you had, nobody cared to look at it as long as it worked.
The display case gave the customer a chance to handle a watch and look at the movement that would later be cased for him at the jeweler. Once the watches started to be cased at the factory there wasn't much need for a display back.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Here's an 1880s Howard with a display cuvette, as referenced above

E. Howard & Co VII N size in 14K Solid Gold Hunter Case | eBay

And, from my collection, an open face display back. I use these when I buy an interesting movement that I want to show off. This case is probably roughly turn of the century, as is the movement contained. The movement is an Illinois. It's hard to say who made the case, although in addition to the unsigned version(as this is) these often turn up signed for Hamilton, Hampden, Elgin, and Waltham.

 
#22 ·
Okay, to gather this discussion up a bit, we can say that:

1. Glass backs predate the wristwatch, having been available on pocket watches since at least the later part of the 19th century.

And that,

2. With the dawn of the wristwatch, glass backs seem to not have carried over, at least not until the recent era, perhaps as late as the 1990s,

this despite the fact that,

3. Decoration of the movement, for aesthetic reasons, persisted throughout that intervening period from the 1930s through the 1990s.

So clearly there was a change in attitudes about showing off the movement, as glass backs are today a fairly common feature on mechanical watches.

Did the glass back feature become so prominent in response to the take-over of electronic watches, and if so, why did it take 10 years for mechanical watch manufacturers to revive the practice?

Who was that visionary wristwatch maker who started a trend? Chronoswiss?
 
#23 ·
I can offer the answer "well, it was at least as early as the early 1950s" that clear backs were sold on standard wristwatch models.
Why do I say this?
Because the very watch that first captivated me and directly led to my watch fascination was a 1951 to 53 Wyler mechanical wind that had been presented to my Dad following his high school graduation, and which possessed -- originally -- a clear acrylic (plastic) case back allowing the movement to be entirely seen.
It seems clear that this case was designed for this explicitly, as my Dad told me the watch came to him this way, even when I first remember holding and looking at the watch when I was about 6-7 years old in 1969. My father wore the Wyler until the late 70s when he first owned a Fairchild (digital) and later owned a series of Timex and Casio digital watches.
The Wyler came to my (now burgeoning) collection after he passed on in 2012.
Pics below (hopefully)...

Wyler DEC1 through Wyler DEC2b are pics of my father's watch which recently came back from the watchmaker after a cleaning and front crystal replacement.
Following are pics of a similar watch model with the same Wyler Dial, but a different case - note the caseback using the relatively common screwback retaining ring and engraved caseback. I believe my father's watch back has a snap-fit ring (escutcheon?) that holds the plastic crystal in place. (It looks to me like that ring must have snapped at some point as I see a weld/solder point on the circumference now as well...)

Just thought it would be a helpful contribution - though I know this is a rather old conversation topic. :)

Mike Compeau
Cleveland, OH
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top