Pocket Watches · Repeating watch
Repeating watch, Netherlands, 1725
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1725
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Netherlands
- Object type
- Repeating watch
- Holding institution
- Rijksmuseum
- Accession / object no.
- BK_NM_7299
- Catalogue title (original)
- Repeating watch (English)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Rijksmuseum (object number BK_NM_7299), this is a repeating watch, made in Netherlands, dated 1725. 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 Rijksmuseum (English)
The scene of a company making music may have been the work of an Amsterdam chaser of French origin. Amsterdam craftsmen were specialized in small-scale depictions chased in gold. The maker of the watchcase, Thauvet Beslay, mounted the scene in a gold ajouré, or openwork, outer case. According to the text engraved on the open book, the scene is from Ovid’s guide to the art of love, the Ars Amatoria.
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
Repeating watches
Before electric light, telling the time in the dark was a real problem. Repeating watches strike the time on demand when a slide or push-piece is operated: quarter repeaters sound hours and quarters, minute repeaters hours, quarters and minutes. Edward Barlow and Daniel Quare disputed the invention in London in the 1680s. Early repeaters struck on a bell inside the case; Abraham-Louis Breguet introduced the gong (a coiled steel wire) around 1780, allowing thinner watches.
Repeaters require a separate train with racks, snails and a governor to control the striking speed, and are among the most demanding complications to make and adjust. Swiss makers of the Vallée de Joux specialised in repeating ébauches in the nineteenth century.
What to look for
- A slide on the case band or a push-piece through the pendant.
- Gongs encircling the movement (after c. 1780) or a bell in the case (earlier); pierced case for sound.
- The racks, snails and governor visible under the dial or on the movement.
- Terms such as 'Minutes', 'Quarts' or 'Répétition' on the dial or cuvette.
Dating clues
- Bell-striking quarter repeaters: c. 1690–1800.
- Gong repeaters and dumb repeaters (striking on the case): after c. 1780.
- Minute repeaters became more common after c. 1830 with Vallée de Joux ébauches.
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:Minute repeaterMinute repeater
Related records
Pocket Watches · 1660-1670
Watch of enamelled and gilt brass, signed 'Pieter Visbach Haghe', made in The Hague, Holland, 1660-1670
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pocket Watches · 1680
Pocket watch, Netherlands, 1680
Rijksmuseum
Pocket Watches · 1690-1700.
Verge watch in silver pair case by Johannes van Ceulen of the Hague, 1690-1700.
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1725
Pocket watch, Netherlands, 1725
Rijksmuseum
Pocket Watches · 1742
Pocket watch, Netherlands, 1742
Rijksmuseum
Pocket Watches · early 17th century
Engraved silver and gilt brass watch signed 'J. Bock', Germany (Frankfurt), early 17th century
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pocket Watches · 1600–1699
Pocket watch by #Georg_Ernst_Künstler/in, Germany, 1600–1699
Fine Arts Museum Vienna
Pocket Watches · 1600
Pocket watch by Balthasar de Paep, Belgium, 1600
German Clock Museum