Pocket Watches · Watch; verge movement
Pocket watch by Senebier, A., Switzerland, 1630
- Maker / attribution
- Senebier, A. (maker)
- Date
- 1630
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Place
- Geneva, Geneva canton, Switzerland, Geneva
- Object type
- Watch; verge movement
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- L2015-3095
- Credit line
- Lent by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers
- Catalogue title (original)
- Oval crystal-cased watch with miniature and locket by A Senebier
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number L2015-3095), this is a watch; verge movement by Senebier, A., made in Geneva, Geneva canton, Switzerland, Geneva, dated 1630. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. The record is illustrated with 3 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
Science Museum Group description
The enamel portrait is generally thought to be of Charles I, backed up by the initials C.R. on the reverse. The accompanying date suggests that of his execution, although it is incorrect by one year. Hair within the locket is reputed to be that of the King’s, although this claim has never been substanciated. Clockmakers Museum No. 18
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.
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