Writing month with roman numbers?

Question

I got an old wall clock. I'm not at all a clock expert and I would like to know more about its real age. It has a date engraved in its wood: `18/III 07`. I assume that this is finishing-date and 18 is the day and III is the month. Now the 07 is most likely 1907, or maybe it is 1807. I assume the clock has its origin in central Europe. Germany, Austria or France, maybe Switzerland. When did people stop, in let's say in Germany and France, to write dates with roman month numbers? UPDATE 2013-01-12 (or 12/I 2013 ;-) ): After having the (real-life)-feedback of a knowing person: The watch might be from the early 19th century regarding the clockwork mechanics (wooden plates are keeping the gears in place, instead of metal plates as done in newer clockworks). The date is most likely not the construction date, but a repair date as it can be found regularly. So 1907 is the most likely.

Answer 1

You have found a nifty bit of history in your artifact! It brings a few points to mind:

• When I was in school in Europe 40 years ago (Germany and Switzerland) it was still normal to use lower-case Roman numerals for the month. I would be surprised to learn that has changed since then.

• In the U.S., we write dates in different order, month-day-year, and I have wondered if that system might be spreading to Europe because of trans-Atlantic business communication. Using the Roman numeral for the month would be a useful way to disambiguate.

• The repair shop date suggestion seems quite plausible. Another possibility is that it was carved in by a pawn broker! Is the carved date in an obvious place, or hidden? Are the numbers artfully carved or somewhat crude? For fun, read the beginning of "The Sign of Four," a Sherlock Holmes novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, where Holmes finds dates scratched into the inside cover of Watson's pocket watch.