

SCOTLAND: Talk about Old World craftsmanship. This pocket watch was found in the 1990s on the wreck of the Swan, a ship that sank in 1653 during the English Civil War. It is covered with rock-like encrustations, but X-ray computed tomography—the same process used to peer into the famous Antikythera Mechanism—has now revealed a beautifully preserved interior. Steel parts corroded away, but the intact brass holds remarkable details, including a maker's mark. Nice work, "Niccholas Higginson of Westminster."