Pocket Watches · Watch
Chiming, alarm and quarter-repeating coach watch in gilt-brass cases by Wilhelm Köberle; Eichstätt, Bavaria, Germany, ca. 1700.
- Maker / attribution
- Wilhelm Köberle (watchmaker)
- Date
- ca. 1700
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Eichstätt
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- engraved gilt brass; silver
- Dimensions
- Height: 145 mm; Width: 115 mm; Depth: 65 mm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- 276-1906
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number 276-1906), this is a watch by Wilhelm Köberle, made in Eichstätt, dated ca. 1700. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: engraved gilt brass; silver. Recorded dimensions: Height: 145 mm; Width: 115 mm; Depth: 65 mm. The record is illustrated with 2 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
V&A — Physical description
Clock-watch in cases of gilt brass, piercd and engraved, with alarm and repeating mechanism. Inscribed at a later date with a chronogram: ANSELMO II. ABBATI. IVRIS. RVBRI. PARTHENONIS. ASSERTORI. DEFENSORI. AC. PACIS. ARBITRO. Recording the name of Anselm II Schwab, abbot of Salem in Baden, as protector of the Cistercian Nunnery of Rothermünster, giving the date 1771. Signed WILHELMVS KÖBERLE EŸSTET. With outer case of tooled leather and brass key. The inner case is pierced and engraved with foliage and strapwork and the balance-cock is of similar work. The face is of silver with gilt brass alarm-dial in the middle engraved with foliage. The 'pair-case' is pierced with a pattern of holes and engraved with the chronogram. The outer case is of red leather decorated with gold with enriched borders, flowers, and a star-rosette. Steel hands. Verge escapement.
V&A — Object history
The watch was given in 1771 by the Cistercian nunnery of Rottenmünster, near Rottweil, to the abbot of the monastery of Salem, Anselm II Schwab (1713-78; abbot from 1746). In 1771 he celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his election as abbot, and early in the year he helped to end a long-standing dispute between the town of Rottweil and the nunnery at Rottenmünster. Bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum from Percy Webster, a well-known London dealer, for £40 in 1906.
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
Verge and pair-cased watches
After Christiaan Huygens and Robert Hooke applied the balance spring around 1675, the verge watch became a reasonably reliable timekeeper and the minute hand became standard. Through the eighteenth century the typical English watch was a pair-cased verge: a fusee movement with a pierced, engraved balance cock, housed in an inner case and a separate protective outer case, often of repoussé gold, shagreen, tortoiseshell or enamel.
French watches of the same period were thicker 'oignons', later replaced by elegant thinner watches following Jean-Antoine Lépine's bar-bridge calibre of c. 1770. Dutch, Swiss and German makers supplied international markets, and verge watches were made until the mid-nineteenth century as cheaper alternatives to the cylinder and lever.
What to look for
- The pierced balance cock on the backplate: winged (continental) or with a foot (English); its style dates the watch.
- Fusee and chain visible through the movement; key winding through the dial (early) or case back.
- Hallmarks inside English silver or gold cases, which give a date letter.
- Maker's name and serial number engraved on the backplate; watch papers inside outer cases.
- Enamel dials (after c. 1720) versus earlier champlevé metal dials.
Dating clues
- Champlevé dials: c. 1680–1730; white enamel dials thereafter.
- English case hallmarks give the year of assay to within a year.
- Verge watches persisted in cheap production until c. 1850.
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.
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