Nuremberg, Germany, may have been the birthplace of modern timepieces. It was there, around the year 1500, that coiled springs were first used to drive the works of clocks. Soon artisans learned how to use the new source of power in order to produce portable clocks known as watches.
Once these devices came into general use, there were no significant manufacturing changes for many generations. But in the aftermath of the Civil War, Yankee ingenuity found a way to eliminate the watch’s winding key—essential up to that time.
Any gay Nineties sport with a fine watch that a pin could wind through the stem was prone to display it with pride. Such a timepiece was the subject of so much admiration and talk that stem-winder came to indicate anything or anyone considered to be first-rate. Likely soon to be made obsolete by digital and other new-fangled kinds, the gold-plated stem-winder remains alive in popular speech.
Respectfully Submitted by
Orlan Smith