...
>>>>There is one cockney rhyme I've never been able to fathom, and that the use of "kettle" for a wristwatch (No, the old adage "a watched kettle ..." doesn't count as RS).
>>>
>>>Got this from Bartleby's:
>>>
>>>A tin kittle is a silver watch. A red kittle is a gold watch. “Kettle,” or rather kittle, in slang language is a corrupt rendering of the words to-tick read backwards.
>>
>>Well blow me! :-)
>>
>>That's bugged me for years!
>>
>>Never heard of Bartleby's.
>
>It's actually from a book called "Brewer's Phrase and Fable". Got it in a search at Bartleby.com (a book seller).

I've got that book but never thought to look into it for that!