Even though watch winders have been generally available for only the past 20 years or so, the practice of keeping exquisitely made time pieces in beautifully made cabinets goes back 400 years. 17th century watches were finely worked jewelry pieces that were also scientific instruments. They were valued as fashion items as well as implements that represented the technological advancements of the time. Therefore, owning a watch was a mark of high social standing and also indicated that the owner was a person of learning.
Watches were often kept in “collector’s cabinets.” During the 1600’s collector’s cabinets were popular with the aristocracy and other affluent members of European society. The best cabinets were made to create a striking visual impression. This was in keeping with the rare and precious objects within. The interior of the cabinet contained many drawers and compartments. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art there is a table top cabinet (circa 1655), veneered in ivory and silver, that is less than 30 inches wide and has more than two dozen drawers, some of them hidden. This allowed the owner to keep his or her collection carefully stored and organized. It was also a display of the maker’s virtuosity.
Along with one or more watches, a collector’s cabinet often contained items ranging from curiosities of nature to fascinating artifacts. Some collections were so extensive that the owner had two or more cabinets made. Occasionally the cabinets matched, but more often they differed from one another and were situated in different rooms.
In the palaces and grandest houses of the time, collector’s cabinets were sometimes kept inside of collector’s cabinets. How can this be? It is because the word “cabinet” had two meanings. Originally, a small room was called a cabinet. In the early Renaissance, a collector’s cabinet (or “cabinet of curiosities”) was a small room dedicated to the storage and display of examples of natural science and marvelous man-made objects. By the late Renaissance the term cabinet was also applied to any piece of furniture with one or more doors, or drawers, or a combination of the two. An impressively crafted collector’s cabinet (furniture) on a shelf, stand, or table in the collector’s cabinet (room) served two purposes. It was one of the items on display and it also provided safe keeping for the smaller items in the collection.
Since the 17th century, luxurious collector’s cabinets have been made in all manner of furniture styles and adapted to suit many different kinds of collections. A finely crafted watch winder cabinet is another of these adaptations.
