Patron Saint of Watch Makers, Feast Day Today, December 1st
Eligius of Noyon is the patron saint of clock and watchmakers. He was a skilled metal smith, so presumably that is why. His feast day is today, December 1st.
If anyone knows more, please add. Otherwise I'll have to do a little research later and hopefully add to this.
8 comments
Sort by
Tudor
Started as a quartzbro goofing on the mechanical snobs, wrote for thetruthaboutwatches.com, and lately started finding forgotten familial vintage watches in need of love.
Member since
Last active: 3 hrs ago
6.50” / 16.51 cm
He would have been nothing without Dagobert.
This is admittedly one of his lesser patronages, but it got top billing here.
Googling is not helping in finding out why he is the patron saint of clock and watch makers, so I'm assuming it's the metal working thing.
He would have been nothing without Dagobert.
I assume you’re referring to THIS Dagobert.
Just walked by his statute in Bremen today and took a snapshot. The shop next to it is actually a jewellers (no watches), but still appropriate for him...
Just walked by his statute in Bremen today and took a snapshot. The shop next to it is actually a jewellers (no watches), but still appropriate for him...
I assume this statue is St. Eligius? If my Google-fu is correct, this is the old Brinkmann and Lange building on Sogestrasse in Bremen, so presumably the statue was from the jeweler, as is the nearby horse fountain, circa 1928? It would be fitting, and it's good to see that a jeweler is still in the space.
Yes it is St Eligius. It is in Bremen, at the entrance to Sögestraße. [At the other end of Sögestraße, 3 minute walk from here, are three watch shops, one of them a Wempe.] Not 100% sure, as I haven't been living in Bremen for over 30 years, but I vaguely recall that Brinkmann was once on the other side of the street (the one you see in the picture, it is Obernstrasse). Sögestraße is orthogonal to the view, it goes off to the left. 1928 would make sense, as there are a few sculptures in central Bremen from that period, and the bricking style of this building also matches the period.
Also, just behind me is Karstadt, a large department store, with a huge selection of watches on the ground floor. Yes, a lot of fashion brands, but also Tissot, Citizen, Seiko, Junghans, etc.
Don't know whether the statue is from the jeweller - possibly, but it could easily pre-date the shop.
Just asked around a bit: it was indeed the case that Brinkmann & Lange were in that building, and the horse fountain is indeed nearby (very small). The jeweller in the pic is a relatively new addition, the statue precedes them by quite some time, and there were jewellers' shops before in that place, but direcly before the current occupants the shop housed Deutsche Telecom (aka T-mobile).