Carriage watch with gilt brass case and engraved dial by Nicolas Lemaindre, Blois, 1630

V&A — Summary

Carriage watches were large, robust watches possibly made for the use of travellers and frequently excellent examples of the art of the watchmaker. This watch has a finely-made movement and a superbly engraved dial which reflect the high quality of watchmaking in Blois in the seventeenth-century. Blois makers received royal patronage and rivalled Paris in the quality of the movements, the engraving and the enamelling. Nicolas I Lemaindre was watch and clockmaker (horloger) of the queen mother, Marie de Médici, widow of Henri IV, who was at one point exiled to Blois. He died in 1652-3. His nephew Nicolas II Lemaindre was watch and clockmaker to the brother of Louis XIII, Duke Gaston d'Orléans, to whom the château of Blois was granted. Nicholas II also made fine watches in the second quarter of the seventeenth century.

V&A — Physical description

Watch with circular gilt-brass case, the side pierced and engraved with panels of flowers and foliage between 16 radial flutes. The base of the case, which is almost flat, has been soldered to the side. The bezel, back and the rim of the case have been matted with a circular tool. The dial glass is lacking. The gilt-brass dial has an applied gilt-brass chapter ring with Roman hours, I - XII, and inner ring of quarter-hour marks. The centre of the dial is engraved with The Entombment . A band of engraved foliage runs around the dial outside the chapter ring. Single steel hour hand with foliage head and extended tail. Brass movement plates separated by Egyptian pillars. Top plate engraved as below. The going train has a fusee and chain, and a verge escapement. Single-foot balance cock, pierced and engraved with flowers and foliage. Later balance-wheel and steel spring. The regulator arc has a projecting pin engaged by the fork of a lever, the outer end of which moves between positions marked A[vance], fast, and R[etard], slow. The mainspring set-up click has table and foot pierced and engraved with flowers and foliage. The resting barrel of the striking train is pierced and engraved with foliage and flowers. The count wheell is numbered 1 to 12, with pierced and engraved centre, mounted on top of the top plate. Steel index with tail. Silver bell mounted inside case. The front case has been cut out at a later date to reveal the dial face through the glass.

V&A — Object history

Bought at the Bernal Sale, Christie's, London, 1855, lot 3913. Grand Palais Exhibition RF.2001/297