Timepieces suspended from a small pin or brooch are commonly referred to as lapel watches. Cartier, an early creator of these watches, dubbed them pendant watches. Professionals still adopting the style, such as nurses, often designate them fob or scrub watches. Whatever sobriquet you employ, these watches feature a proportionally sized pin at the top with the watch suspended below. The watch’s dial is usually upside down in order that the wearer can glance down and see the time displayed correctly from their point of view. Lapel watches first appeared at the fin-de-siècle alongside wristwatches. Previously, pocket watches had been the sole portable timepiece available. 

As a matter of practicality, women had previously suspended their pocket watches from chatelaines and neck chains. The technology to create more delicate movements allowed for smaller casings, and wristwatches for women became a distinct possibility. Assisting this revolution in timepieces, the fashion of long sleeves and gloves for evening wear faded into obscurity and fancy wristwatches began to gain popularity. Once the fine jewelry Maisons began creating intricate, gem-encrusted ladies’ wristwatches, a bit of restyling and these smaller watches were perfectly sized to be suspended from a pin or neck chain. They offered an alternative for those who did not wish to sport this nouveau wrist jewelry and provided an efficient timepiece for working women. As their practical aspects became more apparent, affordable utilitarian lapel watches were manufactured for working-class patrons.

Still in use today by a few aficionados, the lapel watch reached its heyday during the Art Deco Period. The finest examples we see in the market are from the first half of the 20th Century.