Silver cased verge watch with date indicator [case not original]

Description — British Museum

Movement frame: Circular gilt-brass plates with four baluster pillars. A potence-hole in the pillar-plate. Engraved decoration around the verge aperture. Two engraved concentric circles engraved on the outside of the potence-plate. Riveted potence and riveted counter-potence. Mainspring & set-up: Brass barrel not original. Tangent-screw set-up not original but replacing a similar system. Fusee & stop-work: Gilt-brass fusee with gut line. The groove appears to have been re-cut.There is a single hole for gut line attachment which is now used again but also a chain fixing, added later and now not used. English stop-work, the worn stop hook replaced by a steel pin. Train: Three wheel train of gilt-brass wheels, the second wheel with three crossings, the contrate with four. The second and contrate pinions, both of 6 leaves. Escapement & balance: Verge escapement, the crown wheel replaced, The potence has a later wedge with bearing for the crown wheel, the counter-potence has a later plug. Verge and balance not original. Long ovoid balance cock pinned to a stud on the potence-plate. The table and foot pierced and engraved with foliate scrolls. Motion work: Pinion of report [A]: 6 Dial wheel [B]: 34 (12 hours) Wheel [C]: 24 Pinion [D]: 4 Wheel [E]: 14 (7 hours) Wheel [F]: 56 (7 days) Pinion [G]: 14 Wheel [H]: 58 (29 days) Wheel [I]: 62 (31 days) Wheel [J]: 59 (29.5 days). Duration: Pinion of report 6, dial wheel 34. Fusee has 12 turns. Duration = 25.4 hours. : DIAL: Gilt-brass dial plate matted all over and engraved with a cherub at each side. In the upper area a subsidiary silver ring engraved 1-31 clockwise for the date. Within this a revolving silver disc engraved with concentric circles clockwise, showing the months, Mars - Fevrier, the zodiac, Aries - Pisces, the signs of the zodiac, and in the middle, the number of days in each month. A pointer at 12 shows the date against the outer ring. A sector of the disc is blank to allow for the discrepancy in the gearing between the rotating disc and the rotating central hand - over the year, the error is accommodated by re-setting the dials at the beginning of the year i.e. the first day of Aries. To the right, through a circular and sector aperture a revolving silver disc below shows the age and phase of the moon and the time of high tide at London Bridge. In the lower right area a sector aperture shows the ruling planet for the hour. To the left of centre a double sector aperture shows the days of the week in French each with its planetary sign. In the lower section an applied silver dial has Roman hours I-XII and T-shaped half-hour marks surrounding a quarters circle. In the centre an engraved landscape with buildings, a river and a tree. The blued - steel hands are replacements. : CASE: The silver case, engraved with foliate scrolls grotesques and cherubs, and with cast foliate pendant and large turned finial, is a 19th century replacement. Attached to the pendant is a 19th century chain with alternate pierced lozenge shaped plates and chain links with a button hook at the end.

Curator's comments — British Museum

Huguenot watchmaker 1. The replacement case and the fact that nearly all the steel parts of the watch have been replaced suggest that it was in a very distressed condition and without a case before its restoration. 2. The style of pendant and the large turned finial are characteristic of watches dating from ca.1620-1630. The style of the engraving on the case is not 17th century in the scrolling or the decorative elements. 3. The second and contrate wheels are very likely to be of 18th/19th century date.