Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A small circle of paper, silk, muslin, or other material, inserted in the outer case of an old-fashioned watch, to prevent the metal from defacing the inner case. These papers were frequently cut with elaborate designs, or painted with miniatures or ciphers and devices. Those of textile fabrics were embroidered in silk, or with human hair. Commoner ones were printed with the head of some public character, or with some motto or sentiment.
Examples
“Well, the roof leaked, and presto! when I rose I found my watch swimming in water -- your watch-paper all soaked and torn -- that is to say, my fingers tore it; and a dozen minuets I had bought for you shared the same fate, not to mention my jemmy-worked garters!”
The Youth of Jefferson A Chronicle of College Scrapes at Williamsburg, in Virginia, A.D. 1764
“Your watch-paper -- you remember; the one which you cut for me?”
The Youth of Jefferson A Chronicle of College Scrapes at Williamsburg, in Virginia, A.D. 1764
“I should not have cared much for this, but something worse attended it; the subtle particles of the water with which the case was filled, had by their penetration so overcome the cohesion of the particles of paper, of which my dear picture and watch-paper were composed, that in attempting to take them out to dry them, my cursed fingers gave them such a rent as I fear I never shall get over!”
The Youth of Jefferson A Chronicle of College Scrapes at Williamsburg, in Virginia, A.D. 1764
“But one day the accursed watch-paper flutters into”
“Jean Paul's pure and noble women; and he is at one time full of dread lest the Princess had read his watch-paper, and at another full of pique at the suspicion that she had not.”
“This is no easy matter; what with the watch-paper and various emphatic passages of something more than friendship, the true love does not at once stand forth, that he may find "the partition-wall between love and friendship with women to be very visible and very thick.”
“-- The watch-paper had been pink once, and had a faint tinge still, as if all its tender life had not yet quite faded out.”
“-- I don't know what was in that young schoolmistress's head, nor why she should have done it; but she took out the watch-paper and put it softly to her lips, as if she were kissing the poor thing that made it so long ago.”
“The old gentleman took the watch-paper carefully from her, replaced it, turned away and walked out, holding the watch in his hand.”
“Miss Jane Campbell has allowed me to question her on the delicate subject of avoirdupois equivalents; and the armless fair one, whose embrace no monarch could hope to win, has wrought me a watch-paper with those despised digits which have been degraded from gloves to boots in our evolution from the condition of quadrumana.”
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vanishedone BibliOdyssey: 'Hands up anyone who knew what a watch-paper print was? Yeah, I thought so. Me neither... Originally designed as a simple protective insert, watch-papers came to be used as an advertising medium for the watchmakers in the second half of the 18th century and another means by which print artists could ply their trade. These types of "professional" or conservative watch-papers form the majority of the genre, but a popular "amateur" variety also emerged that were valued as keepsakes.' May 26, 2009