A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design, trench watches, were used by the military. Pocket watches generally have an attached chain to allow them to be secured to a waistcoat, lapel, or belt loop, and to prevent them from being dropped. Watches were also mounted on a short leather strap or fob, when a long chain would have been cumbersome or likely to catch on things. This fob could also provide a protective flap over their face and crystal. Women's watches were normally of this form, with a watch fob that was more decorative than protective. Chains were frequently decorated with a silver or enamel pendant, often carrying the arms of some club or society, which by association also became known as a fob. Ostensibly "practical" gadgets such as a watch winding key, vesta case or a cigar cutter also appeared on watch chains, although usually in an overly decorated style. Also common are fasteners designed to be put through a buttonhole and worn in a jacket or waistcoat, this sort being frequently associated with and named after train conductors.
An early reference to the pocket watch is in a letter in November 1462 from the Italian clockmaker Bartholomew Manfredi to the Marchese di Mantova Federico Gonzaga[citation needed], where he offers him a "pocket clock" better than that belonging to the Duke of Modena. By the end of the 15th Century, spring-driven clocks appeared in Italy, and in Germany. Peter Henlein, a master locksmith of Nuremberg, was regularly manufacturing pocket watches by 1524. Thereafter, pocket watch manufacture spread throughout the rest of Europe as the 16th century progressed. Early watches only had an hour hand, the minute hand appearing in the late 17th century.[1][2] The first American pocket watches with machine made parts were manufactured by Henry Pitkin with his brother in the later 1830s.
Jewellery
Forms
Anklet Belt buckle Belly chain Bindi Bracelet Brooch Chatelaine Collar pin Crown Cufflink Earring Lapel pin Necklace Pendant Ring Tiara Tie clip Tie pin Toe ring Watch pocket
Making
People
Bench jeweler Clockmaker Goldsmith Silversmith Jewelry designer Lapidary Watchmaker
Processes
Casting centrifugal lost-wax vacuum Enameling Engraving Filigree Metal clay Plating Polishing Repoussé and chasing Soldering Stonesetting Wire sculpture Wire wrapped jewelry
Tools
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Materials
Precious metals
Gold Palladium Platinum Rhodium Silver
Precious metal alloys
Britannia silver Colored gold Crown gold Electrum Shakudō Shibuichi Sterling silver Tumbaga
Base metals
Brass Bronze Copper Mokume-gane Pewter Stainless steel Titanium Tungsten
Mineral gemstones
Aventurine Agate Amethyst Beryl Carnelian Chrysoberyl Diamond Diopside Emerald Garnet Jade Jasper Lapis lazuli Larimar Malachite Marcasite Moonstone Obsidian Onyx Opal Peridot Quartz Ruby Sapphire Sodalite Sunstone Tanzanite Tiger's eye Topaz Tourmaline Turquoise Yogo sapphire
Organic gemstones
Abalone Amber Ammolite Copal Coral Jet Pearl Nacre
Other natural objects
Shell jewelry
Terms
Carat (mass) Carat (purity) Finding Millesimal fineness
Star Wars, space opera film series (created by George Lucas) that became one of the most successful and influential franchises in motion picture history. Begun in the 1970s and ’80s and resuscitated at the turn of the 21st century, the Star Wars films continually advanced the field of motion picture special effects and developed into an enormously lucrative merchandising industry.
The sidekick “droids” R2-D2 and C-3PO from the original Star Wars trilogy (1977–83).
The sidekick “droids” R2-D2 and C-3PO from the original Star Wars trilogy …
© 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd./Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
George Lucas’s success as a writer and director with American Graffiti (1973) gained him the backing of 20th Century Fox, which put up $9.5 million for the production of the first Star Wars film. The film, directed by Lucas, was in production for four years, with scenes shot in Tunisia and Death Valley, California, and on soundstages in England. When it was released on May 25, 1977, Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope) met with runaway success. A space opera set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” the film centres on Luke Skywalker (played by the then relatively unknown Mark Hamill), a young man who finds himself embroiled in an interplanetary war between an authoritarian empire and rebel forces. Skywalker and the opportunistic smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) are tasked with saving Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) from captivity on a massive space station commanded by the menacing Darth Vader, whose deep mechanically augmented voice (contributed by James Earl Jones) became instantly iconic. At the core of the film and the series it initiated are the Jedi Knights—a group of either benevolent or malevolent warriors who harness and manipulate the Force, an all-pervasive spiritual essence that holds in balance the forces of good and evil—and Skywalker’s quest to join their ranks.
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Though Star Wars initially opened in only 42 theatres, the film earned almost $3 million in its first week and had grossed $100 million by the end of the summer. The film won six Academy Awards along with a special-achievement award for accomplishments in sound, and it revolutionized the motion picture industry with its advancements in special effects. Lucas’s effects company, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), designed a slew of imaginative alien creatures and mechanical “droids” that populated a variety of exotic locales. Perhaps most impressive, however, were the elaborate space battles accomplished with scaled miniatures. The series continued to make remarkable advancements in the field of special effects into the 21st century, and ILM became one of the most successful effects studios utilized by Hollywood. Lucas followed the first Star Wars film with two sequels, Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi (1983). The franchise thrived in the 1980s and ’90s through the release of videos, a substantial merchandise line, and the theatrical re-release of the trilogy in 1997.
More than 20 years after the first film appeared, Lucas began releasing a second trilogy of films depicting events that had transpired before those in the original series. Lucas returned to the role of director (he had directed the first film but not its two sequels) and utilized a new cast of popular young actors—including Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman—as well as recent advancements in digital video technology. Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones (2002), and Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith (2005) were all box-office successes, though they received markedly less critical acclaim than the original trilogy. The Star Wars franchise, however, remained incredibly lucrative into the 21st century. It included not only clothing, action figures, and multiple extensive book series but also the animated feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)—which depicted events occurring between Episode II and Episode III—and numerous successful video game lines created by another of Lucas’s companies, LucasArts. By the time the sixth film was released in 2005, nearly 30 years after the series began, it was estimated that the franchise as a whole had brought in some $20 billion, an achievement thus far unparalleled in the motion picture industry.
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A seventh film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was released in 2015. It was the first entry in the series to be produced by the Walt Disney Company, which had purchased Lucasfilms Ltd. in 2012. The film, which was directed by J.J. Abrams, introduced new characters to the Star Wars mythos and expounded upon the stories of favourites such as Han Solo and Princess Leia. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) was the first in a projected series of stand-alone installments in the series.
Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and the charismatic astromech droid BB-8 contemplate escape from the desert planet Jakku in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Director J.J. Abrams helmed the seventh installment in the science-fiction franchise.
Daisy Ridley (left) and John Boyega in Star Wars: The Force Awakens …
© 2015 Lucasfilm
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