Pocket Watches · Repeating watch
Gilt-brass cased verge coach-watch with hour repeat
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1680-1700 (uncertain)
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Germany (possibly)
- Object type
- Repeating watch
- Materials / technique
- brass, gold
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 60.30 millimetres (case)
- Holding institution
- British Museum
- Accession / object no.
- 1958,1201.2322
- Credit line
- British Museum, London
- Catalogue title (original)
- Gilt-brass cased verge coach-watch with hour repeat (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by British Museum (object number 1958,1201.2322), this is a repeating watch, made in Germany (possibly), dated 1680-1700 (uncertain). The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass, gold. Recorded dimensions: Diameter: 60.30 millimetres (case). The record is illustrated with 6 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
Description — British Museum
Movement with gilt-brass plates and four baluster pillars. Barrel with tangent-screw set-up on the back-plate. Fusee now with gut-line but originally for chain, and with standard stop-work. Four wheel train. Verge escapement. Blocked holes suggest that there was a balance spring originally. The present 3-arm balance and pierced balance cock are modern. : Repeat for hours only operated by a pull-cord and powered by a fixed barrel. : DIAL AND HAND Silver dial with Roman hours I-XII and T-shaped half-hour marks surrounding and quarters circle of alternate plain and black rectangles. In the centre a foliate design with a bird enamelled in black. Steel hand with long tail. : CASE: Gilt-brass case with a series of pierced roundels around the band. The dial is mounted on a hinged upper section which in turn has a second hinge for the glazed bezel. Gilt-brass pendant. The case catch consists of a long steel strap riveted to the outside of the case. Inside the case the bell is screwed to a square boss.
Curator's comments — British Museum
The watch appears to be a strange conglommeration of different parts. The movement is attached, most unusually, to the case by three screws from the outside of the lower bezel. With a fairly thin movement this means that the winding square is very deep in the case. The dial appears to be early 17th century but is not original to the watch. The mixture of steel and brass wheels suggest that the trains have been improved.
Provenance
Previous owner/ex-collection:, Courtenay Adrian Ilbert; Purchased through:, Christie's; Acquired 1958
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
Repeating watches
Before electric light, telling the time in the dark was a real problem. Repeating watches strike the time on demand when a slide or push-piece is operated: quarter repeaters sound hours and quarters, minute repeaters hours, quarters and minutes. Edward Barlow and Daniel Quare disputed the invention in London in the 1680s. Early repeaters struck on a bell inside the case; Abraham-Louis Breguet introduced the gong (a coiled steel wire) around 1780, allowing thinner watches.
Repeaters require a separate train with racks, snails and a governor to control the striking speed, and are among the most demanding complications to make and adjust. Swiss makers of the Vallée de Joux specialised in repeating ébauches in the nineteenth century.
What to look for
- A slide on the case band or a push-piece through the pendant.
- Gongs encircling the movement (after c. 1780) or a bell in the case (earlier); pierced case for sound.
- The racks, snails and governor visible under the dial or on the movement.
- Terms such as 'Minutes', 'Quarts' or 'Répétition' on the dial or cuvette.
Dating clues
- Bell-striking quarter repeaters: c. 1690–1800.
- Gong repeaters and dumb repeaters (striking on the case): after c. 1780.
- Minute repeaters became more common after c. 1830 with Vallée de Joux ébauches.
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.
Read next:Minute repeater
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