We were talking about the elegance of watches and I think there's no doubt that the pocket watch is much more elegant than the wristwatch for the simple reason that there's less clutter.  The components, for example, of a chronograph wristwatch are very close together and the watch looks very cluttered with spikes protruding all the way round it, whereas in a pocket watch, which is much larger, that doesn't happen. And then the pocket watch offers a greater pleasure in its feel. Breguet described some of his watches as savonettes. A savonette is a piece of soap, and many of these watches do resemble a piece of soap. They're round, they're gently tapering at the edges and very smooth to hold and you can caress them with your fingers. They're nice to feel. Just as some people carry stones sometimes in their pockets. They find a stone they like and it's got a comforting shape and pocket watches can offer that pleasure and the weight and the proportion are very important in the feel of the watch, it's nice to feel the watch. That doesn't really happen in wristwatches, as I said, they're too small and too many bits poking out of them. The lugs, the strap lugs and so forth. So the pocket watch has the advantage in elegance. Unfortunately it's... while it's very nice to wear a pocket watch in a waistcoat, not many people wear waistcoats now. I'm bound to say that I don't think very highly of anyone who walks down Bond Street without wearing a waistcoat, and those who do of course have the pleasure of their watch to amuse them. They can be wonderfully amusing things on occasion and many is the time I've sat at ponderous wordy meetings, totally boring and calculated only to assist the progress of the speaker, and I pull my watch out and examine the works. It's a great comfort and helps pass a boring time. Again, you can't do that with a wristwatch, it's too small.

There was an occasion in Guildhall in London where the Lord Mayor was due to appear to show he'd duly been elected at 12 o'clock and at five past 12 I felt he ought to be reminded of this and I had a Tompion repeater in my pocket and I pulled it out and pressed the plunger and it struck 12 healthy ringing blows right throughout the whole of Guildhall and it was a most interesting talking point. Everyone enjoyed it, and you see that's something which... pleasure which only horologists can have because harness makers and knitting needle manufacturers and carriage makers and the like don't make that kind of noise. They just have to wait till the Lord Mayor is ready to speak to them, but we horologists can command him to appear. He has to come; it's too embarrassing not to come.