Gilt-brass and silver cased verge watch in the form of a tulip

Description — British Museum

FRAME Oval plates with four baluster pillars. A separate bridge on the pillar-plate for the recessed second wheel. TRAIN Gilt-brass barrel with ratchet and click set-up. Fusee originally with gut line, now with chain. Three-wheel train, with very crude modifications and replacements. ESCAPEMENT Verge escapement with replacement crown wheel, verge and balance. The balance cock is also replaced, the original was pinned to the stud in the potence-plate, the present cock has no transverse hole for a pin and is retained by a screw. DIAL AND HAND Gilt-brass dial with an engraved border of foliage and flowers. Applied silver chapter ring, hours I-XII and heart-shaped half-hour marks. In the middle an engraved townscape. Single blued-steel hand. CASE Gilt-brass and silver case in the form of a tulip. The gilt-brass body engraved and chased, the pendant in the form of a twisted stem. Gilt-brass finial in the form of a small bud. Three plain silver hinged covers, each with a central rib to give the appearance of a tulip petal. The movement slides into the case and was originally retained by two catches on a single semi-circular spring beneath the dial. This has more recently been replaced by two screws.

Curator's comments — British Museum

Following the theocracy established in Geneva by John Calvin in 1541 and the Calvinist focus on time, as watches counted the hours, their manufacture was encouraged. In 1625 a Geneva City ordonnance permitted co-operation between crafts to make watchcases and watchmakers were permitted to make their own cases. Jaques Sermand I (1595-1651) and his nephew also named Jaques Sermand II (1636-1666) specialized in the production of form watches often made of precious and semi-precious materials, crucifix, stars and tulip buds as here.