Grail Watch
@grail-watch.com
⏱️Watch industry ⌚️ historian and writer 👨💻
The search for (horological) grails is the search for illumination!
The search for (horological) grails is the search for illumination!
Over 100 years ago!
Apart from the archaic spelling of the holiday's name, the decorations featured in this 1918 Jewelers' Circular's are pretty much exactly what you'd find at a Target or Wal-Mart today! It blows me away to see how little American culture has changed!
Apart from the archaic spelling of the holiday's name, the decorations featured in this 1918 Jewelers' Circular's are pretty much exactly what you'd find at a Target or Wal-Mart today! It blows me away to see how little American culture has changed!
October 7, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Over 100 years ago!
Apart from the archaic spelling of the holiday's name, the decorations featured in this 1918 Jewelers' Circular's are pretty much exactly what you'd find at a Target or Wal-Mart today! It blows me away to see how little American culture has changed!
Apart from the archaic spelling of the holiday's name, the decorations featured in this 1918 Jewelers' Circular's are pretty much exactly what you'd find at a Target or Wal-Mart today! It blows me away to see how little American culture has changed!
Jörgensen Jörgensen, "Dog King" of Iceland, brother of famed #watchmaker Urban Jürgensen, died on January 20, 1841 at the age of 60. A few years earlier, fellow convicts memorialized him, carving likenesses of the king and his queen on the Ross Bridge over the Macquarie River.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Jörgensen Jörgensen, "Dog King" of Iceland, brother of famed #watchmaker Urban Jürgensen, died on January 20, 1841 at the age of 60. A few years earlier, fellow convicts memorialized him, carving likenesses of the king and his queen on the Ross Bridge over the Macquarie River.
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Following the native uprising against settlements, Jörgensen particpiated in "the Black Line" operation. This was called a "friendly mission" to restore order but in reality was a campaign to subdue and murder the aboriginal population of #Tasmania.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Following the native uprising against settlements, Jörgensen particpiated in "the Black Line" operation. This was called a "friendly mission" to restore order but in reality was a campaign to subdue and murder the aboriginal population of #Tasmania.
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Jörgensen became a constable in #Tasmania, arresting Irish convict and outlaw Norah Corbett. He reunited with her and they were married in 1831. Always adventurous, the Dane led several expeditions to explore "Van Diemen's Land", but he was better known for drunken nights on the Hobart streets.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Jörgensen became a constable in #Tasmania, arresting Irish convict and outlaw Norah Corbett. He reunited with her and they were married in 1831. Always adventurous, the Dane led several expeditions to explore "Van Diemen's Land", but he was better known for drunken nights on the Hobart streets.
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Thanks to a powerful friend, Jörgensen was spared in 1825 and exiled to Tasmania, a colony he helped found 24 years earlier. From prison, he blew the whistle on a forgery ring, earning the thanks of local merchants. The governor granted him a ticket of leave and, in 1835, a full pardon.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Thanks to a powerful friend, Jörgensen was spared in 1825 and exiled to Tasmania, a colony he helped found 24 years earlier. From prison, he blew the whistle on a forgery ring, earning the thanks of local merchants. The governor granted him a ticket of leave and, in 1835, a full pardon.
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Jörgensen witnessed the Battle of Waterloo, reporting on the carnage for the English press. Accused of theft in 1820, he was ordered to leave England but refused and ended up with a death sentence in Newgate Prison.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Jörgensen witnessed the Battle of Waterloo, reporting on the carnage for the English press. Accused of theft in 1820, he was ordered to leave England but refused and ended up with a death sentence in Newgate Prison.
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As his brother Urban became #watchmaker to the Danish royal court, Jörgen Jörgensen spiraled through years of gambling, drinking, and debtors' prisons, with interludes as a soldier in Spain, a spy for British intelligence, and a failed gambler in Paris.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
As his brother Urban became #watchmaker to the Danish royal court, Jörgen Jörgensen spiraled through years of gambling, drinking, and debtors' prisons, with interludes as a soldier in Spain, a spy for British intelligence, and a failed gambler in Paris.
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Back in London, Jörgensen began writing his memoirs while incarcerated on a prison ship. He insisted that he had only wanted to free the Icelandic people from Danish oppression. The independence movements in #Iceland and #Norway may even have been inspired by the misguided "Dog King".
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The British sent the HMS Talbot to restore their control. When it arrived in early August, Captain Alexander Jones quickly tore down the codfish flag and arrested Jörgensen, not for deposing the Danish governor but for violating his 1807 parole! The English left Iceland under Danish rule.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The British sent the HMS Talbot to restore their control. When it arrived in early August, Captain Alexander Jones quickly tore down the codfish flag and arrested Jörgensen, not for deposing the Danish governor but for violating his 1807 parole! The English left Iceland under Danish rule.
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Was King Jörgensen an idealist or a privateer? No one was certain. He called for restoration of the "Althing," Iceland's historic parliament, but it never assembled. The confiscated Danish property fueled chaos, and his proclamations were met with confusion.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Was King Jörgensen an idealist or a privateer? No one was certain. He called for restoration of the "Althing," Iceland's historic parliament, but it never assembled. The confiscated Danish property fueled chaos, and his proclamations were met with confusion.
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The Dog King emptied the Reykjavik jail and made the prisoners his bodyguard, parading the streets in uniform with sword and pistol, and hoisted a new blue flag adorned with 3 white codfish. For 8 weeks during the high summer he ruled Iceland from a throne made of rough planks.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The Dog King emptied the Reykjavik jail and made the prisoners his bodyguard, parading the streets in uniform with sword and pistol, and hoisted a new blue flag adorned with 3 white codfish. For 8 weeks during the high summer he ruled Iceland from a throne made of rough planks.
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Styling himself "Protector of All Iceland," Jörgensen declared independence from his native #Denmark and promised revolutionary reforms: debts to the Danish crown canceled, taxes halved, grain prices lowered, hospitals and schools improved, jury trials introduced, and free movement for citizens.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Styling himself "Protector of All Iceland," Jörgensen declared independence from his native #Denmark and promised revolutionary reforms: debts to the Danish crown canceled, taxes halved, grain prices lowered, hospitals and schools improved, jury trials introduced, and free movement for citizens.
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The ragtag crew arrived in Iceland on June 25, 1809, but the Danish governor Count Trampe refused to allow the British-backed group to trade with the Danish outpost. Jörgen and his small group of armed companions marched ashore in Reykjavik and deposed Trampe's government.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The ragtag crew arrived in Iceland on June 25, 1809, but the Danish governor Count Trampe refused to allow the British-backed group to trade with the Danish outpost. Jörgen and his small group of armed companions marched ashore in Reykjavik and deposed Trampe's government.
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In London, Jörgensen met an Icelandic merchant, a French trader, and an English soap-boiler who convinced him to join their trading expedition to #Iceland, weakened after a 1783 volcanic eruption. This is where his destiny took a legendary turn!
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
In London, Jörgensen met an Icelandic merchant, a French trader, and an English soap-boiler who convinced him to join their trading expedition to #Iceland, weakened after a 1783 volcanic eruption. This is where his destiny took a legendary turn!
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Soon he was an experienced captain and "more English than Danish." In 1807, war broke out between #Denmark and Britain; reluctantly he captained a Danish privateer, lost a battle to the Royal Navy, and wound up paroled in London.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Soon he was an experienced captain and "more English than Danish." In 1807, war broke out between #Denmark and Britain; reluctantly he captained a Danish privateer, lost a battle to the Royal Navy, and wound up paroled in London.
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From the start, Jörgen was different from his brother, the chronometer master Urban Jürgensen. Intelligent yet unruly, he was a mischievous prankster with a violent streak. At 14 he fled to the sea, sailing with the British for 12 years to South Africa, Australia, and the new colony of Tasmania.
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August 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
From the start, Jörgen was different from his brother, the chronometer master Urban Jürgensen. Intelligent yet unruly, he was a mischievous prankster with a violent streak. At 14 he fled to the sea, sailing with the British for 12 years to South Africa, Australia, and the new colony of Tasmania.
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