Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Pocket watch by Augustin Heckel (Augsburg 1690 - Richmond-upon-Thames 1770), 1727
- Maker / attribution
- Augustin Heckel (Augsburg 1690 - Richmond-upon-Thames 1770) (creator); Steven Hoogendijk (1698 - 1788) (creator)
- Date
- 1727
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Holding institution
- Museum Rotterdam
- Accession / object no.
- europeana_fashion_5224_A_C
- Catalogue title (original)
- Gouden zakhorloge met voorstelling van Achilles temidden van de dochters van Lycomedes (Dutch)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museum Rotterdam (object number europeana_fashion_5224_A_C), this is a pocket watch by Augustin Heckel (Augsburg 1690 - Richmond-upon-Thames 1770), dated 1727. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Catalogue description from Museum Rotterdam (Dutch)
Gouden zakhorloge. Gouden champlevé wijzerplaat met gegolfde minuutband, Arabische minuutcijfers en Romeinse uurcijfers. Geblauwd stalen ajourgezaagde wijzers. In het centrum een scene met een baldakijn, waaronder twee vrouwen, die samen een kroon houden en elk afzonderlijk respectievelijk een fakkel en een zwaard. Daaronder de letter G daaronder een signatuur en het datumvenster. Gladde gouden binnenkast. Het uurwerk met spillegang met snek en rechte geprofileerde pilaren. Ajour gezaagd ornament voor de stuiting van de snek. Rond het uurwerk een losse zilveren ajour gezaagde uurwerkmanchet met gravering van voluten en lambrequins. Op de achterplatine een gesloten brug met drijfwerk van vogels en florale motieven, met een niervormige opening, waarachter het zichtbare lensvormige deel van de balans en de balansveer. Ajour gezaagde ornamenten, evenals de brug vastgezet met geblauwd stalen schroeven. Op de brug twee handvormige pijltjes ter weerszijden. In het centrum aan de onderzijde de signatuur. De gedreven gouden buitenkast met een voorstelling van een feest (Achilles onder maagden), in een band van voluten en accolade-motieven, met daarin afbeeldingen van de vier seizoenen. De glasrand in dezelfde stijl met afbeeldingen van dieren.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
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
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
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.
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