Swiss Watch Found in 400 Year Old Tomb
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A Swiss watch has been discovered in a 400 year old tomb in China.
During an archaeological dig in Shangsi Town, China, a 400 year old tomb was discovered.
Two journalists who were accompanying the archaeologists – further to the dig, the journalists reported that a small Swiss ring watch was discovered within the tomb.
The find has currently baffled experts, who believed that the tomb had lay undisturbed for 400 years – since the Ming dynasty.
It was reported in the local paper, “The People’s Daily” that the watch was stopped at 10:06, however, the photograph above seems to show the watch showing the time to be about 11:05.
“When we tried to remove the soil wrapped around the coffin, a piece of rock suddenly dropped off and hit the ground with a metallic sound,?” said Jiang Yanyu, former curator of the Guangxi Autonomous Region Museum.
“We picked up the object, and found it was a ring. After removing the covering soil and examining it further, we were shocked to see it was a watch.”
The Chinese translation from the news article is unclear, however, it appears to state that the item is made of bronze and has a traditional winder on the side and the word “Swiss” engraved on the back.
All digging has been suspended pending the arrival of experts from Beijing.
Possible Explanations
• The Swiss watch and clock industry appeared in Geneva in the middle of the 16th century. In 1541AD, reforms implemented by Jean Calvin and banning the wear of jewels, forced the goldsmiths and other jewellers to turn into a new, independent craft: watch-making.
The commercial manufacture of Swiss watches could have been pre-dated by individual craftsmen creating time-pieces.
By the 16th Century, China had maritime trade with the Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese and Dutch.
It is feasible therefore that the inhabitant of the coffin (dated around 1600AD) may have been a wealthy traveller, or could have purchased the item from a travelling merchant – Smaller communities and townships too poor or scattered to support shops and artisans obtained their goods from periodic market fairs and travelling peddlers.
The watch could have been a prized possession – European Jesuits who visited China in the 16th century reported that European timekeeping was far more advanced than that encountered in China. The Chinese people marked time with water, incense and sand clocks.
An in depth examination of the watch could reveal more information.
• The ring watch could have been manufactured at a later date, dropped by a visitor to or near to the tomb at any time, it could have been dropped in the dirt and solidified, the clump could have been kicked or knocked into the tomb area by anyone around the dig. Without knowing the circumstances and conditions of the dig, it is impossible to rule out.
As an avid sci-fi fan, I could come up with a whole host of other wonderful explanations for the find, however, I will follow the story and wait for the more mundane explanations to be investigated first….Would love your views!
that’s amazing,let’s wait and see
How interesting! Let’s hope it is not a con story, it will be an exciting find.
a very interesting find. let’s hope that the story ends up as genuine.
That is a mystery that we may never unravel. What a strange happening.
Cool! Hope it’s not a hoax.
Who would have ever thought a watch would be in there, who knows maybe there has to be a reason why a swiss watch was down there…I could not imagine maybe someone was down there before they discovered it.
This may turn out to be an early form of communication meaning “Give me a ring sometime”
This is a fascinating story! I really didn’t know that timepieces were even in existence way back then. So yeah, it sounds like it’s possible that it is an ancient watch. This would be a great launching point for a story … “When Darius stepped out of his time machine and back into his dingy office in Harrisburg, he was still spinning with excitement at having seen the Chinese tomb before it was sealed shut. His first thought was that he should call Marge and tell her he’s back. He looked down to check his finger-watch … it was gone! His stomach sank as he remembered taking off the timepiece and setting it on the casket so that he wouldn’t accidentally scratch the wood as he was studying the carvings. He had simply forgotten to retrieve it before leaving. A lump formed in his throat as panic set in … he would have to inform the High Command of his blunder. Darius of all people should have understood the implications of leaving post-dated objects back in the past. He doubted that his error would significantly change anything in history, but he knew that even tiny lapses could be catastrophic. He opened his office door and stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of Second Street. Something was not right … where were the caucasians? Where were the Pennsylvanians? Where was the newspaper stand on the corner? All he saw around him was a crowd of oriental people. And every one of them was staring back at him in curiosity. His mind blanking out, Darius slumped to the ground in a faint, landing at the base of a street sign written in Chinese characters that translated as Li Lu, or Plum Street.” Or something like that.
Wow. Not the story but the writing. Such a great article, well written and the work and time put into it obvious. Great job.
Very interesting! Let’s wait and see if it’s really true.
This is a crazy story. Very interesting piece. Well done. RJ
A very interesting article. well done.
How interesting. I didn’t know that timepieces were in use so long ago. Well done.
I think this story is far fetched. Anyone could have put it there to look like it was part of a tomb.
THat would also explain why the Chinese are apt on creating Swiss counterfeits. hehehe
Anyone who is hoping that it’s not a hoax should start thinking outside the box. Investigate, think outside and see how something like this is ever possible.
yeh, interesting article. I cam over from that story on another site that talked about Dr.Evering…
bye!
Continuing from the previous post:
What is not far fetched is that civilizations did come and go and it could have been (if this story holds any credibility at all) a remnant of a past civilization.
Another alternative thinking would be that it dropped out or came from space from Extra-terrestrial beings living off planet who might have visited this planet in the past.
ta!
It looks like this story was dropped, I can’t find anything recent on the internet.
No mention of the archaeologists’ names….I’m doubting the credibility of this story entirely.
It is mentioned in the Austrian Times but I wonder where the story first appeared.
The watch is not that old. It’s from the last century. The back of it even says it in english. So the whole idea it was made 400 years ago is out. It was either placed there by a recent explorer or by a time traveler. This story is collecting dust so no ones talking. If it was a hoax it wouldn’t have lasted this long. Hopefully these guys are smart enough to know if it was placed there within the last century or 400 years ago.
This is right up there with the Ancient Antikythera mechanism, but instead of it proving ancient technological capability, it may prove time travel. But the mainstream doesn’t care, no one even talks about the Antikythera mechanism. Heck maybe it was from a time traveler. Time travel is real, Einstein even knew that.
Just because a story “disappears” doesn’t mean it was fabricated. Powerful people don’t like certain things getting out to the public.
Deep Underground bases, Area 51, Roswell, Aurora’s, Monoliths, Mars faces and pyramids. We are living in the past and we only know what they want us to know.
I just want to add that the Antikythera mechanism was discovered in 1901 and it wasn’t til the late 70’s it was talked about. And still no one is really aware of it.
Problem number 1: A time traveler would be from a future time from us. At this time there are no time machines and I highly doubt there were time machines a hundred years ago.
Problem number 2: From the pictures it is hard to tell if this is truly a watch at all, It simply gives the appearance of a watch, it does not have the appearance of any moveable pieces.
Problem number 3: Any time traveler, although they might own a watch that would be for them a very rare antique, would not be so foolish as to bring such a rarity with them unless they MEANT to prove their ability to travel through time.
Can you say HOAX? I think you can
@R. Hynes: Question, how do YOU know there are NO time machines? Kyle S. said it perfectly “we are living in the past, we only know what THEY want us to know”. And quite literally, we ARE living in the past, for there are SOOO many technologies, cures,information, ect that IS being kept from us. We all must individually wake up, find our own truths, & stop following & believing what modern society, government, & media tells us OR doesn’t tell us. Also, how can you question what a time travelor would or wouldn’t do, or whether they’d leave something or not? There are uncomprehensionable things happening all the time, that you or I would never understand. Always keep an open mind and know that nomatter WHAT you may believe, theres absolutely NOTHING thats impossible.
Maybe the archeaologist just said he found it there as a joke.
Any idea if the watch still works? I know it’s a silly question, and maybe I’ve already forgotten what I read in the article, and whether it answered that. My mom also wanted to know if it was found on a hand.
Never mind. It says it wasn’t even found inside the coffin.
Some of you are missing the finner points and are just focusing on the story. I have always been rebellious and never liked learning the way everyone learns so here is my perspective that will probably help you see a different angle.
1. Bronze (Time Traveling with Bronze?)
2. Time (PM or AM)
3. Wind up or has a small battery
4. Size of the wring gives you the size of the hand and thus the size of the human being (Woman or man)
5. Fingerprints (Looks Like they have their fingers all over it)
6. Location of the ring and what part of the Coffin it fell off. Angel and direction of location beaning if the coffin was dug up before and placed back in (If Time Traveler then that person needed information of that era or some kind of object)
7. The age of the soil around the ring
8. Who made the ring? Swiss could be over 100 watch makers
9. clearly it is shaped for a woman so it can be concluded a Woman time traveler just like the TV show (Warehouse 16) which of course HG Wells is actually woman not a man that traveled through time. some times TV shows are the outlet for dreamers and visionaires so that artest can create their visions into reality.
10. Look how thin that watch is! Our technology today and we still can not make a watch that thin! So is that really a functioning watch or just a ring that looks like a watch with the hand at a certain time. Maybe back then t was a jewlery thing where people were wearing fake ring watches that show a specific time like lunch time or the time were people get up. usually the wealthy get up around 11am or start dong anything at 11 am.
These are my ideas and concerns and maybe will give all of you a fresher perspective!
It was obviously the Doctor.
Just because it looks like a watch, does not mean it is a watch.
The fingers are in the form of a ‘V’ which could be just a symbol and do not appear to be under any glass, no scratches or cracks. The word SWISS on the back does not appear to be any Chinese characters that I know of but we don’t get a view of that so I can’t judge but it could also be symbols in another language.
Also the band is not normal for a ring, it is more like an earring fastener.
That is my theory, even though I would love to be able to prove time travel exists, this is not good enough evidence.
This is unfounded. I doubt if the old technology could produce a Swiss watch which works even as a simple wall clock. lol