Reloj de bolsillo o reloj de faltriquera se denomina al reloj que por su pequeño tamaño se puede llevar en un bolsillo y, por lo general, posee una cadenilla colgante metálica (oro, plata, níquel) para sujetarlo llamada leontina. Vale la pena mencionar que muchas personas suelen cometer el error de referirse a este tipo de reloj como reloj de leontina cuando lo correcto seria decir reloj de bolsillo con leontina. Los relojes de bolsillo están en desuso, pues han sido sustituidos por el reloj de pulsera; sin embargo, utilizarlo es visto por algunas personas como signo de elegancia, etiqueta y posesión de riquezas. Para muchos otros, en cambio, es signo de afectación y lo ven como algo esnob. Fueron inventados en Francia a mediados del siglo XV.

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A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design, trench watches, were used by the military. Pocket watches generally have an attached chain to allow them to be secured to a waistcoat, lapel, or belt loop, and to prevent them from being dropped. Watches were also mounted on a short leather strap or fob, when a long chain would have been cumbersome or likely to catch on things. This fob could also provide a protective flap over their face and crystal. Women's watches were normally of this form, with a watch fob that was more decorative than protective. Chains were frequently decorated with a silver or enamel pendant, often carrying the arms of some club or society, which by association also became known as a fob. Ostensibly "practical" gadgets such as a watch winding key, vesta case or a cigar cutter also appeared on watch chains, although usually in an overly decorated style. Also common are fasteners designed to be put through a buttonhole and worn in a jacket or waistcoat, this sort being frequently associated with and named after train conductors. An early reference to the pocket watch is in a letter in November 1462 from the Italian clockmaker Bartholomew Manfredi to the Marchese di Mantova Federico Gonzaga, where he offers him a "pocket clock" better than that belonging to the Duke of Modena. By the end of the 15th century, spring-driven clocks appeared in Italy, and in Germany. Peter Henlein, a master locksmith of Nuremberg, was regularly manufacturing pocket watches by 1524. Thereafter, pocket watch manufacture spread throughout the rest of Europe as the 16th century progressed. Early watches only had an hour hand, the minute hand appearing in the late 17th century. The first American pocket watches with machine made parts were manufactured by Henry Pitkin with his brother in the later 1830s.

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