Damaskeening is decorative patterning on a

watch movement A watch is a portable Clock, timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, atta ...

. The term damaskeening is used in America, while in Europe the terms used are Fausses Côtes, Côtes de Genève or Geneva Stripes. Such patterns are made from very fine scratches made by

rose engine lathe A rose engine lathe is a specialized kind of geometric lathe. The head stock rocks back and forth with a rocking motion and/or slides along the spindle axis in a pumping motion. A rosette or cam-like pattern mounted on the spindle is controlled b ...

using small disks, polishing wheels or ivory laps. These patterns look similar to the results of a

Spirograph Spirograph is a geometric drawing device that produces mathematical roulette curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The well-known toy version was developed by British engineer Denys Fisher and first sold in ...

Guilloché Guilloché (; or guilloche) is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name, also called a ros ...

engraving. The earliest known damaskeened American watch movement is E. Howard & Company movement SN 1,105, a gold-flashed brass movement with a helical hairspring. In the period between 1862 and 1868, the same Boston firm damaskeened approximately 400 Model 1862-N (Series III) gold-flashed movements as well, and about 140 nickel-plated brass movements then were so decorated between 1868 and 1870. Howard used damaskeening in this period to draw the viewer's eye to the Reed's patented main wheel, an important technical feature of the watches. Damaskeening was first used in America on solid nickel movements in 1867 by the U.S. Watch Co of Marion, NJ. In 1868–69, the American Watch Company of Waltham, MA employed damaskeening on small numbers of top grade nickel Model 16KW (a.k.a., Model 1860) and nickel Model 1868 movements. Damaskeening then quickly spread to most other American watch manufacturers and watch grades. Two-tone damaskeening can be created by applying a thin plating of gold and then having the damaskeening scrape through the gold outer layer and into the nickel plate.

References

* ''A Study of E. Howard & Co Watchmaking Innovations, 1858 - 1875,'' by Clint B. Geller, NAWCC BULLETIN Special Order Supplement #6 (2006), * ''American Watchmaking, A Technical History of the American Watch Industry, 1850 - 1930,'' by Michael C. Harrold, NAWCC BULLETIN Supplement (1984) * ''Complete Price Guide to Watches'', by Cooksey Shugart, Tom Engle, Richard E. Gilbert, Edition 1998 (18th ed), Watches Timekeeping components {{decorative-art-stub