Mary Poppins Watch
This post will be a bit different for me. Instead of covering current technology I will be discussing antiques. I am student of history of various types. I study the history of war, politics, and computers mostly, but I like to study the history of any other topic I am learning about.
Computer history goes back much further than most people would expect. The earliest computers were humans. As late as the 1960's humans were the fastest and most reliable way to get general computational work done.
There were specialized mechanical devices that were used as well. The oldest known example would be the Antikythera mechanism dating back to the first or second century BC. During the Second World War and through the Cold War mechanical devices were regularly used to target naval guns and calculate position from an inertial guidance system.
Modern electronic computers came into their own during the 1960's and 1970's, becoming more useful for specialists needing to perform calculations and for consumers wanting to do some smaller calculations or just play a game. Today the smart phones we carry in our pockets each dwarf the processing power of the entire world from 50 years ago. In fact the top of the line smartphone from each year has about the same processing power as the fastest multi-million dollar, building sized super computer from twenty years prior.
The first consumer computational device was the clock. If you think about it clocks are computational devices. Part of the clock sets up a regular beat, the tick-tock associated with mechanical clocks. A series of gears and dials then keeps track of how many ticks have gone by and displays that information to the user, sixty seconds to a minute, sixty minutes to an hour, and twelve hours to a full rotation of the dial, all powered by that tick-tock of the mechanism. Even though all it does is count, 28 + 1 is still a computation.
The first clocks were very large, being built into building and the aptly named clock tower in many towns. These clocks served as a standard time for everyone in the town. By the turn of the 20th century however, these clocks had been miniaturized to fit in a pocket. They were arguably the first portable computer for general consumers.
While watching Mary Poppins I noticed the titular character check the time on a watch hidden behind the lapel of her jacket. It was attached via a retractable pull cable similar to the one my ID badge for work is attached to. I scoffed when I saw this, thinking that in 1910 they didn't have such small devices of these types.
While modern watches can be very small (Timex makes a number of watches that are only 25 mm or just under an inch across), I assumed this was too small for that period. So I set off trying to prove myself right.
I was wrong.
I found on Etsy a watch being sold that has all these features. It was manufactured by Ketcham and McDougal in New York. There are two dates on the back, one for 1903 and the other 1910. The date in 1903 is directly beneath the patented notification, so perhaps it was patented in 1903 and this unit manufactured in 1910?
Either way this proves that Mary Poppins, being set in 1910, could have had a watch that small on a retractable lanyard like this. The watch is about 3 cm in diameter which is almost as small as the watches Timex sells.
Computer history goes back much further than most people would expect. The earliest computers were humans. As late as the 1960's humans were the fastest and most reliable way to get general computational work done.
There were specialized mechanical devices that were used as well. The oldest known example would be the Antikythera mechanism dating back to the first or second century BC. During the Second World War and through the Cold War mechanical devices were regularly used to target naval guns and calculate position from an inertial guidance system.
Modern electronic computers came into their own during the 1960's and 1970's, becoming more useful for specialists needing to perform calculations and for consumers wanting to do some smaller calculations or just play a game. Today the smart phones we carry in our pockets each dwarf the processing power of the entire world from 50 years ago. In fact the top of the line smartphone from each year has about the same processing power as the fastest multi-million dollar, building sized super computer from twenty years prior.
The first consumer computational device was the clock. If you think about it clocks are computational devices. Part of the clock sets up a regular beat, the tick-tock associated with mechanical clocks. A series of gears and dials then keeps track of how many ticks have gone by and displays that information to the user, sixty seconds to a minute, sixty minutes to an hour, and twelve hours to a full rotation of the dial, all powered by that tick-tock of the mechanism. Even though all it does is count, 28 + 1 is still a computation.
The first clocks were very large, being built into building and the aptly named clock tower in many towns. These clocks served as a standard time for everyone in the town. By the turn of the 20th century however, these clocks had been miniaturized to fit in a pocket. They were arguably the first portable computer for general consumers.
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| Mary Poppins checking the time |
While modern watches can be very small (Timex makes a number of watches that are only 25 mm or just under an inch across), I assumed this was too small for that period. So I set off trying to prove myself right.
I was wrong.
I found on Etsy a watch being sold that has all these features. It was manufactured by Ketcham and McDougal in New York. There are two dates on the back, one for 1903 and the other 1910. The date in 1903 is directly beneath the patented notification, so perhaps it was patented in 1903 and this unit manufactured in 1910?
Either way this proves that Mary Poppins, being set in 1910, could have had a watch that small on a retractable lanyard like this. The watch is about 3 cm in diameter which is almost as small as the watches Timex sells.
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