From what I can gather, the earliest erotic pocket watches date back to the 17th-century when they were intended as prized erotica for a small but wealthy market. Some of these early designs were made as saucy keepsakes for loved ones, while others were specifically manufactured for the Chinese market, in particular the Emperor and his entourage, where many of these naughty timepieces were given as gifts to cement trade and diplomatic agreements.
By the 18th-century, erotic automaton pocket watches—that is timepieces with painted dials and movable parts depicting explicit scenes of sexual congress—were popular with royalty and the upper class. These watches usually featured a brightly painted erect penis that swayed back and forth in time with the second hand. One such watch, the Henry Capt, Musique d’Amour sold for $216,880 in 2011. Of course, back in the day, being caught with a porny timepiece could lead to its confiscation and public censure. Today we’ve got the Internet…
These pocket watches weren’t just cheap knock-offs, they made by some of the finest and most famous clockmakers in the world like Cortébert, Breguet et Fils, and Doxa. In the 20th-century, companies like Omega and Smiths-Ingersoll continued the tradition producing a limited but highly collectible selection of erotic watches—including one in which Snow White entertained the Seven Dwarves.
The following selection ranges from Breguet et Fils “Cavalcade” (1820), which depicts a couple on on horseback, to the mid-20th-century Swiss designs of randy gentlefolk enjoying some outdoor sports.
H/T Bid Square, Treadway Galleries, Watchismo, and The Saleroom.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
X-libris: Awesome vintage erotic bookplates
When a glimpse of stocking was something shocking: Vintage erotic postcards of 1920’s flappers
Spanker’s Delight: The vintage erotica of Chéri Hérouard (NSFW)
The Ministry of Silly Clocks, fun timepieces based on the classic Monty Python sketch