Oval clock-watch

Description — British Museum

OVAL CLOCK-WATCH, Germany, 1590 - 1610 : Oval gilt-brass plates with plain pillars rivetted to the back-plate. Open main- springs with guard-posts; all train wheels of steel. Going train with verge escape- ment, dumb-bell balance and hog's bristle regulation. Steel stackfreed spring, roller and cam. : Striking train, for hours only, with nag's head release; annular count-wheel recessed into back-plate. : Oval gilt-brass dial-plate with engraved decoration and touch pieces. Later engraved silver dial. : Gilt-brass case; applied silver band with chased design; front cover with pierced apertures; back cover with pierced foliate decoration. : Unidentified maker's mark punched on back-plate:- : : (possibly a flag on a staff). : Ilbert Collection, 1958 (M&LA CAI-2226).

Curator's comments — British Museum

Comment from Hugh Tait, Catalogue of Watches in the British Museum. Vol. I (1987) Maker Unknown (unidentified punch-mark); probably German, first half of 17th century Watch with Hour-Striking Mechanism Case: Back: standard pierced 'urn and flowers' design; in the centre, a threaded hole and square boss for the attachment of a small circular bell, which appears to be original. Band: cast with a central recess instead of a semicircular central moulding; surface pierced to form a colonnade; an applied semicircular central moulding of silver, with a hollow section but not pierced, made in one piece and secured by two screws passing through the pendant support at XII, with two more for security at III and IX; the silver moulding engraved with scrolling foliage; the strip of the band adjacent to the back cut away to form a low colonnade; a turned urn-shaped pendant with engraved decoration and ring; turned pendentive finial passing through the applied silver moulding into the flat recessed body of the case. Lid: the outer circular band comprises twelve egg-shaped apertures, the metal between each having a short central cross-piece; the central roundel has a pierced foliate design; the spandrels of the outer rim are engraved with a laurel-leaf motif. Interior of lid engraved to match the exterior. Dial: applied silver dial with chapters I-XII; centre finely engraved with minute foliate and floral decoration; touch-pins fixed in the dial-plate; surface of the dial-plate engraved to match the spandrels on the lid; later hand; hole for releasing the striking near edge between VII and VIII. Movement: Standard but with an exceptionally large count-wheel; steel hammer pivoted in a cock; brass mainspring block with bracket for the crown-wheel and balance-pivots; count-wheel driven by pinion; short, steel cock with bar-balance. The maker's mark, a shield emblazoned with a flag (?) on a staff, is punched near the edge of the pillar-plate outside the stackfreed spring. Dimensions (of case): 56.9 x 48.8 mm. Provenance: Ilbert Collection, 1958. Notes: 1. The case has the appearance of having been regilded and the silver dial is probably a later addition. 2. For another example of the use of an applied silver semicircular moulding on the band, see registration no. 1958,1201.2217. 3. Restoration to the movement includes the replacement of wheels in both trains.