What are Pince Nez?

Pince Nez are a form of antique eyeglasses worn from roughly 1870 through 1930. Pince Nez stayed on the face through various methods of spring tension securing the pince nez to the nose. 


Types of Pince Nez

There were various types of pince nez styles throughout the 19th and 20th century. Most common were hard bridge pince nez, spring bridge pince nez, fingerpiece pince nez, oxford pince nez and more. See here for more info on the different types.


Pince Nez Size

Pince nez were made in a variety of sizes, often coming in trial sets with 50-10 frames identical in every way other than the bridge size. Pince Nez bridge size generally ranged between 14-27 millimeters.


pince nez pronunciation


Pince Nez are not pronounced as they seem to be written, but rather as "Pance Nei" or /ˌpæns ˈneɪ/

Glasses without arms
Glasses without arms, or glasses without temples, is a term many people unfamiliar with pince nez use. It is the easiest way of describing what they see if unfamiliar with what they are called. Not all glasses without arms are called pince nez.


Pince Nez definition

The literal meaning of pince-nez is "pinch nose". They come from the french word nose and the latin word pinch. There were many vintage and antique eyeglasses that did not have temples yet did not stay on the face by pinching the nose. The frames are often mistakenly called pince nez but in reality do not fit the pince nez definition.


Pince Nez ffxiv

One of the more popular pince nex search terms used is pince nez ffixv. Final Fantasy XIV is an online multiplayer where players assume online character and interact with each other via the games interface. Players can customize their appearance with various looks and accessories. One of them is pair of pince nez.


Pince Nez Reading glasses


While pince nez originally were used for all types of corrective vision, many today prefer to wear pince nez as reading glasses due to the nature of being used only when reading and the ease of which pince nez can be removed. There are even some companies in recent years that have manufactured reproduction pince nez reading glasses prefitted with lenses for reading. 

Pince Nez Sunglasses

Many vintage pince-nez glasses had tinted lenses. Black, green, orange, yellow, and even blue are common lens colors found on pince nez sunglasses. This was often done for corrective purposes rather than protection from the sun, and do not neccasarily protect from UV rays..

Many people first encounter pince nez in the form or sunglasses. Films like the matrix with Morpheus wearing pince nez sunglasses popularized this form of eyewear for many. People often find us on the web searching for "Morpheus Sunglasses".

Fits-U Pince Nez

Many people finding a pair of pince nez for the first time find them engraved with the word Fits U under the bridge. Fits-U refers to a model of pince nez made by American Optical. 

Fits-U pince nez are one of the more popular types of pince nez worn back around the turn of the century.

Pincenez.com

Pincenez.com is the Internet's one stop shop for anything pince-nez related. Whether you are looking into the history of pince nez, pince nez pronunciation, or to buy a pair of pince nez, we have it all. We also offer a large selection of vintage 19th and 20th century eyewear from the era when Pince nez were common. We aim to bring you information and history for this type of vintage eyeglass frame at the Journey Of Eyewear Blog, as well as the best selection of pince nez and other antique eyeglasses for sale, from 1850 until the 1990's at The Shop At PinceNez.com, a carefully curated online store where you can buy from the best selection of antique eyeglasses and vintage eyeglass frames. We have a large selection of vintage cat eye glasses, john lennon glasses, windsor eyeglasses, pince nez, and other antique eyeglasses for sale.