[d][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] The production of this watch was made possible primarily by a previously unseen scale of miniaturization of the torsion pendulum and coil spring mechanism, placed in a technical unit by Peter Henlein, a technological innovation and novelty of the time, operating in all positions.
[20][28][14] Henlein created the pomander watch while he lived in the Franciscan Monastery in Nuremberg,[29][30] where he gained knowledge of the Oriental world gathered over centuries,[31] Henlein acquired the new techniques and tools which helped him creating the first watch in the form of a gilt pomander.
[19] The pomander watch displays small engravings of the city of Nuremberg at the beginning of the 16th century, e. g. the Henkerturm built in the year 1320, which can still be visited today or the still standing Weinstadel.
The inscription is: DVT ME FUGIENT AGNOSCAM R. The possible two translations are:[32] The letters „MDV PHN“ are engraved under the examined silver plating and were found on the inside of the casing underneath the outer face of the clock.
In the early days of watchmaking, locksmiths often were involved in the production as they were accustomed to making small metal components.
It became as a valued symbolic gift of diplomatic exchange between leading personalities in from the East to the West, and was believed to have a healing and protective effect.
[47][48] The symbolism of the sun on the pomander, as the source of energy and light for life on earth has been a central object in culture and religion since prehistory.
[1][3][53][32] There is also a confirmation of the date of invention, verifying that the engravings lie beneath under the layer of a medieval method of fire gilding.
[55][56] Also Johann Neudörfers also wrote in 1547 that Henlein invented the pomander watches (die bisam Köpf zu machen erfunden).
[f][57] The Walhalla in Donaustauf, which is a memorial for "politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the German tongue",[58] honors Peter Henlein with the words inventor of the watch.
The one from 1505 is in private ownership, and the Pomander Watch of Melanchthon, from 1530, which is owned by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
[62] One of the first culture-historical encounter of the Europeans with technology from the Orient was a mechanical water clock from the Abbasid Caliph of Bagdad Harun Al-Rashid (ruled 786 – 809 CE)[63] sent as one of the gifts to the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne on the occasion of his coronation in 800 CE, in Aachen[64] The House of Wisdom, an intellectual center in the Caliphates Capital of Baghdad and the Islamic Golden Age started influencing the world civilization and its discoveries, by starting to translate (Translation Movement) and developing ancient knowledge and its discoveries,[65] from one of the most influential texts of all time, Almagest by Ptolemy (AD 100-170), to the influential The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical devices by the Muslim polymath Ismail al-Jazari in 1206, describing 100 mechanical devices.
[65] The broad network made it necessary to have primarily navigation devices, such as astrolabes, which were introduced to Europe from Muslim Spain in the early 12th century.
[67] The Andalusian engineer Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi wrote the technological manuscript Kitāb al-asrār fī natā'ij al-afkār (The Book of Secrets in the Results of Thoughts).
[70] During Peter Henlein’s time at the Franciscan Monastery of Nuremberg, it supported many different scholars and very learned personalities.
[71] Thus Peter Henlein the inventor of the watch not only came into contact with new techniques and tools, but also with a spiritual and intellectual environment of craftsmanship.
[32][73] By combining an Oriental status symbol, the pomander (or fragrance apple), with a miniaturized watch movement, his invention changed the way we measure and manage time.
[32] Historically, the watch was crafted at the same time Leonardo da Vinci painted Mona Lisa.