Watches are called “kettles” because of old Cockney rhyming slang: “kettle and hob” rhymes with “fob,” as in a fob (pocket) watch on a chain, and over time “kettle” stuck as slang for a watch.

Origin of the term

  • In traditional Cockney slang, everyday words were swapped for short, catchy rhymes so people could talk in a kind of “code.”
  • The phrase “kettle and hob” was used because it rhymed with “fob,” the name for the small pocket watch and its chain that men wore on their waistcoats.

How it became “watch”

  • As pocket watches were a common status accessory, “fob” became closely associated with the watch itself, not just the chain.
  • The slang then dropped the second word (“and hob”), leaving just “kettle” as shorthand, which broadened from fob watches to mean watches in general in some London/UK circles.

Use today

  • The term is now mostly old‑school and heard in contexts linked to Cockney culture, London street slang, or watch‑enthusiast discussions that enjoy the retro nickname.
  • Modern speakers in the UK might recognize “kettle” in this sense, but it is far from everyday mainstream usage and often needs explaining to younger or non‑British audiences.

Fun linguistic angle

  • This is a neat example of how playful slang outlives the objects it was first tied to: even though pocket fob watches are rare now, the nickname “kettle” still survives in niche use.
  • It also shows how rhyming slang can “break” the logical link: there is no real connection between a boiling kettle and a timepiece, only the rhyme chain “kettle and hob → fob → watch.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.