Oval gold pair-cased puritan verge watch with date indicator

Description — British Museum

Oval gold pair-cased puritan verge watch with date indicator. Movement frame: Oval gilt-brass plates with four pierced egyptian pillars. A hole in the pillar-plate for the potence. Engraved decoration around the verge aperture. Riveted to the pillar-plate a later steel end-plate for the contrate wheel. Mainspring & set-up: Gilt-brass barrel with dovetailed cap and riveted steel hook. Tangent screw set-up with two cut steel brackets. Silver index disc engraved 1-6. Indicator now missing. Fusee & stop-work: Gilt-brass fusee with gut line and english stop-work. Train: Gilt-brass train of three wheels, the second and contrate with three crossings and domed collets. Escapement: Verge escapement with the crown wheel running between riveted potence and counter potence. Both with hatched decoration on the visible side. The verge and balance are not original. The crown wheel possibly replaced. Motion work: Pinion of report: 3 on the great wheel. Dial wheel: 28 teeth; calendar pinion: 10; calendar wheel: 40, calendar pinion: 4; calendar ring: 62. Turns on the fusee = 13. Duration = 10 hours approx. Dial & hand: Gilt-brass dial plate with a thin overlaid plate of gold on the outside. Outer rotating silver ring engraved 1-31 for the date indicated by a pointing hand at the top. Gold chapter ring with roman hours i-xii and arrow head half-hour marks. Single blued-steel hand. Recessed into the back of the dial plate a brass spring and sliding steel bolt, both now missing. Cases: Plain gold inner case with a hinged glazed bezel. A rotating cover for the winding hole. Gold pendant with loose ring; very small gold pendant. Outer plain gold box with a steel closing latch.

Curator's comments — British Museum

The watch is listed in an 1828 list of items formerly kept in "The Old print Room" which were handed over to Mr. Hawkins by Mr. Smith; the list singed, "Charles Frederic Barnwell and John Thomas Smith".[see copy in object file]. Text from 'Watches', by David Thompson, London, 2008, p. 38-39. Robert Grinkin the younger PURITAN-STYLE GOLD PAIR-CASED VERGE WATCH LONDON, 1630-40 SIGNED: 'Robert Grinkin Londini' The first watch to be acquired by the British Museum arrived at Montague House - the original building that housed the collections before the present structure replaced it - in September 1786. Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Rich came to the Museum and donated a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, together with 'a small plain oval gold watch in a double case, going upon catgut, usually worn by Oliver Cromwell'. Family tradition has it that Rich's grandfather Nathaniel was a colonel in the Parliamentary army when he was given the watch by Cromwell, although he was deprived of his command in 1655 and imprisoned for his opposition to Cromwell's government. This so-called 'Puritan' watch is by the London maker Robert Grinkin the younger, who has sometimes been confused with his father of the same name. On his father's death in 1626, Robert Grinkin the younger inherited books and tools. A member of both the Blacksmiths' and the Clockmakers' Companies, he was Assistant in the former in 1647. He became a Free Brother in the Clockmakers' Company in 1632 as a founding member and was Court Assistant in 1637, Junior Warden in 1640, Renter Warden in 1641-3, Senior Warden in 1645 and Master in 1648, 1649 and 1654. In April 1658 it was agreed that the Company Chest should be moved from Edward East's house to Robert Grinkin's in Fleet Street but it was found to be too big to fit through the door. Grinkin died in 1661; his will mentions members of his family, and 'very loving friends' John Benson, John Nicasius, Henry Dorsett,John Bayes, Jeremy Gregory and William Rogers. This small oval pair-cased watch, made around 1635, is similar to many other 'Puritan' watches of the period, so-called for their plain undecorated design. It is nevertheless a very rare example of the type because it has gold cases. The otherwise plain dial has an outer rotating calendar ring on which the date is indicated by a pointing finger at the top. There are small holes in the ring to turn it manually to adjust for the short months. In the centre, the single hand registers the hours and half-hours engraved on the chapter ring. The watch movement is in many ways unspoilt, but one alteration has been the replacement of the original balance wheel with a larger one. This was probably because the mainspring was replaced by a stronger one, necessitating a larger, heavier balance to compensate. This has led to the removal of part of one of the pillar heads to provide clearance and also the removal of part of the right-hand blued-steel bracket for the tangent screw set-up mechanism. In addition, the index and its retaining screw, originally indicating against the small silver calibrated disc, are also missing, leaving a vacant screw-hole in the back plate. Whether or not the watch did belong to Oliver Cromwell is uncertain. There seems little reason to doubt the story given by Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Rich, and perhaps a gold 'Puritan' watch would have been fitting for the Lord Protector of England. However, with no more than family anecdote to support the claim, this vexed question must to this day remain unanswered.