Memento Mori Watch

Legend has it that as Mary Queen of Scots was taken to her execution, she gave a watch like one of these to her maid, Mary Seaton. 

I say like one of these because the pieces pictured here were most likely made in the early 19th century, and so they cannot be the original. Perhaps the story is only a fanciful fable, or perhaps copies were made over the years, but whatever the case, both the watch and the tale behind it are deeply striking. 

I can only make out what seem to be quotes from the Scriptures in these photos, but apparently the engravings include a line from Horace: 

Pale death visits with impartial foot the cottages of the poor and the castles of the rich. 

How appropriate it is to be reminded of my mortality and the vanity of the world every time I go to check the time!