A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War 1. The display is traditionally analog. Pocket watches generally have an attached chain to prevent them from being dropped, secured to a waistcoat, lapel, or belt loop. The chain or ornaments on it are known as a fob. They often have a hinged metal cover to protect the face of the watch; pocketwatches with a fob and cover are often called "fob watches". Also common are fasteners designed to be put through a buttonhole and worn in a jacket or waistcoat, this sort being frequently associated with and named after train conductors.

An early reference to the pocket watch is in a letter in November 1462 from the Italian clockmaker Bartholomew Manfredi to the Marchese di Manta, where he offers him a 'pocket clock' better than that belonging to the Duke of Modena. By the end of the 15th Century, spring-driven clocks appeared in Italy, and in Germany. Peter Henlein, a master locksmith of Nuremberg, was regularly manufacturing pocket watches in England by 1524, while Taqi al-Din was manufacturing them in the Ottoman Empire by 1556.^[1] Thereafter, pocket watch manufacture spread throughout the rest of Europe as the 16th century progressed.

Pocket watches are commonly regarded as being one of two types: the open-faced watch or the hunter-cased watch (also called savonette from the French). The latter has a hinged front cover that protects the face and crystal of the watch. It can also serve as a light collector to illuminate the dial in relatively dim lighting conditions.

Since the separate dial that marks the passage of seconds is traditionally placed closest to the six o'clock position, this means usually the stem (or pendant) of an open-faced pocket watch is set at its twelve o'clock position. The hunter's stem is placed most commonly at the three o'clock position. When read, the open-faced watch is held with the stem straight up and the hunter is read by turning the watch 90° with the stem pointing to the right. A third style, the demi-hunter case, is a hunter-case with the center designed to allow the position of the hands to be seen without opening the case, such as a hole or small crystal.^[2]

Modern manufacturers of pocket watches, especially those watches with a quartz movement, are not bound by tradition when regarding the orientation of movements and the cases they are inserted into (open-faced or hunter).

Sometimes, what appears to be a mechanism intended for use in a wristwatch is used as the mechanism for a pocket watch.

Early pocket watches

Antique verge fusee pocketwatch movement, from 1700s.

The watch was first created in the 16th century when the spring driven clock was invented. These watches were at first quite big and boxy and were worn around the neck. It was not for another century that it became common to wear a watch in a pocket.

Pocket watches are not common in modern times, having been superseded by wristwatches. Up until about the turn of the 20th century, though, the pocket watch was predominant and the wristwatch was considered feminine and unmanly. In men's fashions, pocket watches began to be superseded by wristwatches around the time of World War I, when officers in the field began to appreciate that a watch worn on the wrist was more easily accessed than one kept in a pocket. However, pocket watches continued to be widely used in railroading even as their popularity declined elsewhere.

For a few years in the late 1970s and 1980s three-piece suits for men returned to fashion, and this led to small resurgence in pocketwatches, as some men actually began using the vest pocket for its original purpose. Since then, a few watch companies make pocketwatches, and they have their firm adherents. However, in the U.S.A. for most men, most of the time, a pocket watch must be carried in a hip pocket, and the more recent advent of mobile phones and other gadgets that must be worn on the waist has made the prospect of carrying an additional item in that area less appealing, especially since all cell phones and similar devices tell the time.

This said, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, digital music players, digital audio players, pagers and other electronic gadgets that a user may place in a pocket or holster usually have timekeeping functionality as well, and serve commonly today as a pocket watch would have in the past.

In some countries a gift of a gold-cased pocket watch is traditionally awarded to an employee upon his or her retirement. In that capacity, a "gold watch" has become a cultural symbol alluding to retirement, obsolescence, and old age.