Completion of the temporary exhibition

2022-10-31

From September 22 to October 31, 2022, the temporary exhibition "The hours go by, and the days, and the years…." from the funds of the State Historical and Cultural Institution "Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble" was held on the 3rd floor of the Northern building of Mir Castle.

Pocket watches worn in a vest or trousers pocket, as a rule, had a metal chain for easy removal of the watch and safety from loss.

The first examples of pocket watches appeared in the 16th century and were more of a luxury item than an instrument for accurately measuring time. Instead of glass, they used a leather case. Glass on the dial appeared only in the 19th century.

In the beginning of the 20th century men were not yet in a hurry to wear watches on their wrists, but the battlefield made its own changes. Before the First World War, the wearing of wristwatches was the lot of women. From the soot of battles on the fronts, "trench watches" appeared – soldiers received them as necessary equipment, since using pocket watches in combat conditions was difficult.

The exhibition presented 48 pocket watches known and now all over the world watch workshops: Swiss Doxa, FAVOR, Omega, HERA, German Junghans and Ruhla, American WALTHAM and ELGIN and many others.

The pre-revolutionary period of pocket watch production in Russia is represented by the popular models "Pavel Bure", "Henry Moser", the period of the USSR by the watches of the Chelyabinsk and Chistopol watch factories, Gostrest Tochmekh.

These elegant accessories emphasized the status of a person in society, his wealth, and now antique watches are the silent keepers of history and family traditions, which have a special power that allows you to take a fresh look at time itself.