Pocket watch chains

[Tobus]

OK, so I was having a conversation elsewhere on the interweb, and someone posted a photo of a man from around 1885 who was wearing his pocket watch chain with the T-bar exposed in the front. In other words, he had fed it into the buttonhole from behind and the T-bar was on the outside, with the chain coming out from behind the waistcoat panel. I commented that I'd never seen it worn that way, and that I was pretty sure they were meant to be worn the other way around, with the T-bar on the inside and the chain coming out of the buttonhole.

But then I was shown more historical photos of men with the T-bars on the outside. And sure enough, when I looked at some of my photos of Highlanders, they did it too! I had never noticed this before. So now I've gone back and tried to find photos of some of the better-dressed X-Markers to see what they're doing, and I see that there's still no universal convention on this. I, and several others, wear the T-bar hidden on the inside.

So is there any sort of convention on this, or is it just personal preference? I must admit, seeing the T-bar on the outside looks sort of wrong to me. These are not overly decorative pieces, and appear to be mostly built for function, which tells me that they were designed to be hidden. But the prevalence of fully exposed T-bars in historical photos tells me that I could, quite possibly, be wrong about that. Perhaps even willing to change.

Here are some Highlander examples:

[Tarheel]

I have no photo, but I do have a thought. I feel the t-bar should go through the button hole from the front even if the button is also through the opening. The t-bar will be behind the fabric and the button on the opposite side. In the second photo (chain up higher on the vest) the button and t-bar seem to compete for the same space. One might loose a button that way.

If the t-bar were elaborate, scrolled and showy, I could see displaying it on the outside of the vest.

[ShaunMaxwell]

Wearing the T bar on outside seems odd to me as well, as I've never seen it done that way. Of course, you don't see many men wearing pocket watches these days, so who's to say? Nevertheless, I think I'll continue wearing the T bar of my chain inside my waistcoat!

Interesting find. Thanks for posting!

SM

[Terry Searl]

52 Thomas Richard Davis (Mike)Searl.jpgMy father was born in 1900 and in this photo of him in his later teens, or early twenty's, he wears his watch chain from his jacket lapel ......T bar exposed...... This was a formal posed photo and was it common to wear your chain and watch there, I don't know,...... but as wearing a watch and chain was the fashion, especially when in your " good clothes", I don't think how the chain was worn was as important as that you HAD a watch and chain......just my opinion though.

[KMCMICHAEL]

I believe that buttonhole on jacket lapels were originally for pocket watch chains.

My guess regarding the fashion above is that one does not want extra chain in the pocket to mar the watch, so the slack is taken in that manner.

I have started to wear a pocket watch when using a waistcoat. I used one years ago as a musician because a wristwatch made the sets seem long.

[Luke MacGillie]

Im having trouble looking at the photos, is it a T bar or something else, like a cross? I wear a St Michael medal from my paratrooper days hooked to the same link as the T Bar. It does a good job of balancing the T Bar, as well as being a nod to my military service as the back side of the medal has the unit logo of one of the units I served in. Allows me to have some other lapel pin than a set of wings!

[FossilHunter]

I have seen both in historical photos of gentlemen wearing watch chains. Keep in mind that there are fancy/ornate t bars and I imagine one would want to show them off if they had one.

This link here from pmtime on eBay states that the convention was to wear plain bars inside and fancy bars out.

[Jock Scot]

In my youth, the T bar was worn on show, when worn with the waistcoat and that was common. These days most, including me, seem to wear the T bar on the inside . Most wear the T bar on show when worn from the lapel, I notice. Does any of this matter? Not one jot.

[Tobus]

Im having trouble looking at the photos, is it a T bar or something else, like a cross?

I guess Photobucket is having "issues" today. The photos show what appear to be plain old bars.

In my youth, the T bar was worn on show, when worn with the waistcoat and that was common. These days most, including me, seem to wear the T bar on the inside . Most wear the T bar on show when worn from the lapel, I notice. Does any of this matter? Not one jot.

That's good to know. If it doesn't matter, no problem. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some obscure statement or meaning behind it that I wasn't aware of.

[EagleJCS]

I believe that buttonhole on jacket lapels were originally for pocket watch chains.

I think the buttonhole of jacket lapels were actually for buttons that would be hidden under the opposite lapel when the jacket was worn open, but could be buttoned when the lapels were flipped up for wet/cold weather. I used to have a military-issue trench coat that actually had a button on the right shoulder under a button flap. When the left lapel was flipped up to cover the chest, it could be buttoned to the right shoulder and the button flap then attached to a small button sewn to the underside of the left lapel.

I'll see if I can find an image of this online. Edit: Found one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Army-Quar...-/272621539569
(tried posting the image, but it was too small to see the details, so here's the ebay listing).

In response to the OP, I don't have a t-bar for my pocket watch, it has a belt clip at the end of the chain. If I did, I think I would also want to keep it on the inside of my waistcoat unless it were also decorative.