Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
18ct yellow gold & Rock Josephus Quash 'oversized' astronomical pocket watch, 1665
- Maker / attribution
- Josephus Quash (maker)
- Date
- 1665
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- yellow gold
- Dimensions
- Case 52 mm
- Stock no.
- G2395
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Somlo Antiques (G2395)
- Catalogue title (original)
- 18ct yellow gold & Rock Josephus Quash 'oversized' astronomical pocket watch. Made 1665 (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Somlo Antiques (dealer), London (stock number G2395), this is a pocket watch by Josephus Quash, dated 1665. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: Case 52 mm. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Somlo Antiques
Josephus Quash was born in 1623 and apprenticed to George Smith in 1637. He worked in London's Blackfriars in 1662 and served as the Steward of Clockmakers' Company in 1674. Quash bound several apprentices for other masters including Robert Grinkin, Ahasuers Fromanteel and David Bouquet. Brand: Josephus Quash Made: 1665 Model: Pocketwatch Reference: - Calibre: - Movement: Manual - Gilt full plate with a verge escapement, a decoratively pierced and floral engraved, silver, screwed-on balance cock, plain flat steel balance, worm and wheel set-up, fuseé and gut line, and unusual silver fluted baluster pillars Material: Gilt metal & Rock crystal Features/complications: Rock crystal case is made in the form of scalloped radiating facets set within engraved gilt-metal mounts. Dial: The gilt dial features a stippled ground and vertical silver applied dials. The upper dial features a central revolving disc indictating the date via a blued steel pointer. The turned blue steel hand indicates the month with corresponding signs of the zodiac and dates in each month upon which the signs of the zodiac commence and end according to the Julian calendar. The lower dial features Roman numerals with half hour divisions, an inner quarter hour ring and a turned blue steel fluorite hand. A fan-form apeture indicates days of the weeks with corresponding allegorical figures while three apetures to the right indicate the moon-phases with the time of moon rise below and moon age above Case dimensions: 52mm Bracelet/strap: N/A Accessories: N/A SKU: 2395
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
The balance spring (c. 1675) improved watches dramatically and introduced the minute hand. English pair-cased verge watches with pierced balance cocks and French oignons were typical; enamel painting at Blois and Geneva, and the repeating watch (1680s), made watches objects of great refinement.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology
Atlas type guide
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Detached lever escapementFuseeIdentification Centre
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