Oval gilt-brass cased verge watch

Description — British Museum

Movement frame: Oval gilt-brass plates with four baluster pillars. A hole in the pillar-plate for the potence. Mainspring & set-up: Mainspring housed in a plain brass barrel with a crudely dovetailed cap. The gut line has only one hole for attachment. Fusee & stop-work: Gilt-brass fusee with English stop-work. Train: All three wheels gilt-brass, the second and contrate wheels have steel collets integral with the arbors. Escapement & balance: Verge escapement, the crown wheel runs between riveted potence and counter potence. Steel verge and 2-arm balance. Pierced and engraved balance cock pinned to a stud on the potence-plate. DIAL & HAND Gilt-brass dial with an engraved chapter ring. Roman hours I-XII and heart-shaped half-hour marks with a circle of 12 holes around the inside. Blued-steel hand. CASE: Oval gilt-brass case, with hinged lid and integral back. The pendant and supporting plate made as one piece. Moulded band, with an upper and lower moulding enclosing a bombé central section. Modern fake.

Curator's comments — British Museum

This watch appears to be completely of 19th century manufacture but clearly copied from an existing example. The engraved signature is very poorly executed and not in the style of the period. The case is gilded all over and the rotating winding cover is tight and shows no signs of continued operation. The way in which the pendant has been made integrally with its underlying plate is not in keeping with 17th century practise. The person who made the watch did not fully understand the way in which the dial and movement of these watches is spring latched into the case. In place of the normal omega shaped spring with two catches, there are two rotating lugs which engage in a hole and a recess in the upper case band. If the watch is of 19th century date then the work is of some sophistication as there is a great deal of wear in the pivot holes, some of which have been punched up and some of which have been re bushed. One possible explanation for this is that only the two movement plates are original and were from an unsigned watch. This may be supported by the fact that the bow and arrow set-up components, with the exception of the ratchet wheel, appear to be early.