Chatelaine, watch key, watch

During the 1770s it started to become fashionable to wear two watches. Sometimes one of these would be a fake watch, which was called a 'fausse montre' after the French.

This particular fausse montre with its painted enamel dial is part of a Pinchbeck 'equipage'. An equipage consisted of a hook, invisible when worn, and one or several, often highly ornamental, plaques, from which dangled not only watches, but also various trinkets or ‘toys’, such as containers for thimbles, scissors and bodkins, as well as tassels. Equipages were worn by women, gentlemen wore their watches in a fob pocket in their trousers, so that only the attached string, seal and key were visible.

This equipage also includes a false watch key and a seal set with blue glass. The seal depicts 'a pelican in her piety', a symbol of selfless love.