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Pocket Watches · Pair-case watch

Pair-case watch

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Thomas Tompion (Maker)
Date
1682–83
Historical period
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Country of origin
England
Place
British, London
Object type
Pair-case watch
Materials / technique
Outer case: leather with gold studs; inner case and dial: gold with blued-steel hands; movement: gilded brass, partly blued steel, silver
Dimensions
Diameter (outer case): 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm) Diameter (inner case): 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm) Diameter (back plate): 1 7/16 in. (3.7 cm)
Holding institution
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Accession / object no.
17.190.1489a, b
Credit line
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Catalogue title (original)
Pair-case watch (English)

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Record summary

Held and catalogued by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (object number 17.190.1489a, b), this is a pair-case watch by Thomas Tompion, made in British, London, England, dated 1682–83. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Outer case: leather with gold studs; inner case and dial: gold with blued-steel hands; movement: gilded brass, partly blued steel, silver. Recorded dimensions: Diameter (outer case): 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm) Diameter (inner case): 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm) Diameter (back plate): 1 7/16 in. (3.7 cm). The record is illustrated with 4 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

The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.

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

Verge and pair-cased watches

After Christiaan Huygens and Robert Hooke applied the balance spring around 1675, the verge watch became a reasonably reliable timekeeper and the minute hand became standard. Through the eighteenth century the typical English watch was a pair-cased verge: a fusee movement with a pierced, engraved balance cock, housed in an inner case and a separate protective outer case, often of repoussé gold, shagreen, tortoiseshell or enamel.

French watches of the same period were thicker 'oignons', later replaced by elegant thinner watches following Jean-Antoine Lépine's bar-bridge calibre of c. 1770. Dutch, Swiss and German makers supplied international markets, and verge watches were made until the mid-nineteenth century as cheaper alternatives to the cylinder and lever.

What to look for

  • The pierced balance cock on the backplate: winged (continental) or with a foot (English); its style dates the watch.
  • Fusee and chain visible through the movement; key winding through the dial (early) or case back.
  • Hallmarks inside English silver or gold cases, which give a date letter.
  • Maker's name and serial number engraved on the backplate; watch papers inside outer cases.
  • Enamel dials (after c. 1720) versus earlier champlevé metal dials.

Dating clues

  • Champlevé dials: c. 1680–1730; white enamel dials thereafter.
  • English case hallmarks give the year of assay to within a year.
  • Verge watches persisted in cheap production until c. 1850.

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:Verge escapementFuseeBalance spring (hairspring)Verge escapement

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