Elongated octagonal cased verge watch with stackfreed

Description — British Museum

Elongated octagonal cased verge watch with stackfreed. Movement with elongated octagonal gilt-brass plates and plain pillars rivetted to the back-plate. Open mainspring with guard-posts. Train wheels of brass; verge escapement with balance and hog's bristle regulation. Steel stackfreed spring and roller; engraved brass cam. No dial plate; enamelled silver dial and protective rim applied to front of case. Faceted gilt-brass case with hinged back cover; moulded band; engraved foliate design around dial.

Curator's comments — British Museum

Comment from Hugh Tait, Catalogue of Watches in the British Museum. Vol. I (1987) Maker Unknown, initials HS; probably German, perhaps Nuremberg, mid-17th century Watch (Movement with Going-Train Only) Case: Back: solid, hinged on the right; plain except for the scribing of two concentric circles. Band: standard; at XII, a later turned pendant and ring added. Lid: none intended. Dial: dial-plate with eight sloping sides, left plain; in the flat centre, an applied circular dial of silver, with chapters I-XII in black enamel, and within the chapter-ring a foliated design executed in translucent enamels; a later (?) engraved brass hand; a low ring encircling the silver dial riveted to the dial-plate; in the spandrels above and below the ring, engraved scrollwork. Movement: Brass plates, pillars and wheels; stackfreed spring planted on the right; brass cam and wheel; surface of the cam decorated with engraved scrollwork; long cock with balance; simple regulator; mainspring missing. The maker's initials, HS, in a rectangular frame shaded on all four sides, are engraved on the right of the winding square. Around the edge of the pillar-plate is an engraved border similar to the design in the spandrels on the dial-plate. There are two minor variations in the movement: (a) two brackets are used for the crown-wheel; in this watch, the free end of the bracket is in the form of a ring through which the verge passes; the pivot hole for the crown-wheel is in the edge of the ring; (b) the bridge for the second- and third-wheels is extended sideways to carry the pivot for the hour-wheel; the bridge is held to the plate by three screws. Dimensions (of case): 43.0 x 36.0mm. Provenance: Octavius Morgan Bequest, 1888. Notes: 1. This form of bridge, extending to the centre, is to be found again in registration no. 1874,0718.6 and is similar to that in a striking watch (registration no. 1874,0718.12), where it is extended across the plate to accept, in addition, the pivots of wheels in the striking-train. 2. A similar form of bridge is found on a striking watch in the Gewerbemuseum, Nuremberg (inv. no. 567), which is in a case with moulded bands identical to those on this watch-case. The movement is signed CA SCH (punched on the pillar-plate using individual letters). The same mark is on a watch-movement (case lost) in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, which also has this form of bridge. G. H. Baillie, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, 1929, 2nd edn, London, 1947, attributes this mark to (a) Caspar Schuster, Nuremberg, c. 1550, (b) Carl Schmidt or Carol Schmeid, c. 1600. It seems equally possible that it refers to Carl Schubart, Nuremberg, 1631-92; indeed, the dating makes this last attribution most probable. 3. The engraved border on the pillar-plate has been trimmed away slightly on all eight sides to fit snugly into the case. 4. For the use of a comparable watch as a miniature 'monstrance' clock mounted on a metal stand, see F. J. Britten, 'Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers', 3rd edn, London, 1911, p. 137, fig. 138.