Pocket Watches · Clock-watch
Clock-watch by Johann Salomon Mayer, Germany, dated 1738
- Maker / attribution
- Johann Salomon Mayer (maker)
- Date
- dated 1738
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Germany
- Object type
- Clock-watch
- Materials / technique
- Gilded copper alloy and mother-of-pearl medallion mounted with agate cameos of the Roman Emperors Augustus and Vespasian; centre, a carnelian bust of Minerva, with helmet and armour in gold; set with diamonds, mostly brilliant and table-cut; almandine and hessonite garnets, emeralds; enamelled plaques
- Dimensions
- Height: 15.5 cm; Width: 14.7 cm; Depth: 2.8 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- 7677-1861
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number 7677-1861), this is a clock-watch by Johann Salomon Mayer, made in Germany, dated dated 1738. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Gilded copper alloy and mother-of-pearl medallion mounted with agate cameos of the Roman Emperors Augustus and Vespasian; centre, a carnelian bust of Minerva, with helmet and armour in gold; set with diamonds, mostly brilliant and table-cut; almandine and hessonite garnets, emeralds; enamelled plaques. Recorded dimensions: Height: 15.5 cm; Width: 14.7 cm; Depth: 2.8 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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 — Summary
The watch movement was probably made in London in about 1690. The top plate of the movement bears the name of Du Thuillay of Halle. The watch was later incorporated into the medallion which was made by the goldsmith Johann Salomon Mëyer of Zerbst, whose signature is on the back of the medallion, together with the date 1738.
V&A — Physical description
gilt metal clock-watch, with a mother of pearl medallion set with onyx cameos of Augustus and Vespasian, a gold bust of Minerva with a crown of rose-cut diamonds, all set with stones
V&A — Production note
Made in Zerbst and Halle. Watch movement probably made in London about 1690
Inscriptions & marks
signed 'Du Thuillay A Hall'; signed 'J.S.Meyer, Zerbst, 1738'
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
Early spring-driven watches
Portable spring-driven timepieces appeared in southern Germany, France and Italy in the early sixteenth century; Peter Henlein of Nuremberg is traditionally credited, although the historical record is complex. These early watches were worn as pendants or carried, had iron or brass movements with a verge escapement and a foliot or small balance, and used a stackfreed or fusee to equalise spring force. They indicated hours only and were notoriously inaccurate.
From the later sixteenth century watches were made in Blois, Paris, Geneva, London and Augsburg in oval, octagonal, cruciform, skull and other 'form' cases of rock crystal, gilt brass, silver and enamel. They were jewellery and status objects as much as timekeepers.
What to look for
- A single hour hand and often a touch-pin hour ring for feeling the time.
- Stackfreed (a cam and spring) instead of a fusee on German watches.
- Pierced and engraved cocks over the balance, fine gut fusee lines.
- Rock-crystal, enamelled or engraved form cases.
Dating clues
- Drum-shaped German watches: c. 1530–1580.
- Oval and form watches: c. 1580–1650.
- Before c. 1675 there is no balance spring; watches can vary by many minutes a day.
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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