Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch, 1635-1650
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1635-1650
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- Verge movement, with gut-driven fusée, steel balance-wheel, tangent screw regulator, silver dial with enamelled numerals and single, blued-steel hand; cast, chased and engraved silver case
- Dimensions
- Height: 6 cm (estimated, including ring); Depth: 2 cm (estimated); Diameter: 4.6 cm (estimated)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.61-1954
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.61-1954), this is a watch, dated 1635-1650. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Verge movement, with gut-driven fusée, steel balance-wheel, tangent screw regulator, silver dial with enamelled numerals and single, blued-steel hand; cast, chased and engraved silver case. Recorded dimensions: Height: 6 cm (estimated, including ring); Depth: 2 cm (estimated); Diameter: 4.6 cm (estimated). 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
V&A — Summary
Object Type Watches at this date were often as much items of jewellery as they are timekeepers. This watch is no exception and its single silver case is of especially high quality. People Henry Terold (his name is also recorded as 'Tirrel' and 'Thorald') is known to have been working in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in 1621-1622. Watches bearing his name are known from both Bury and Ipswich. Materials & Making It was once assumed that the person whose name appeared on a watch made at least the movement, but the watch industry had specialised workers from an early date. Terold's workshop in Ipswich may have made this movement. However, it is also possible that Terold had the watch made in London and simply put his name on it so he could sell it in Ipswich. The watchcase has unusually fine figures and was almost certainly cast and chased in a major centre of production. Relatively few English craftsmen learned the arts of drawing and modelling that were essential to execute figure scenes. If executed in England, sophisticated work of this kind often turns out to have been the work of foreign artists working in London. Alternatively, the case could have been made in Paris or Blois in France.
V&A gallery label
British Galleries: Although the watch movement claims to be made in Ipswich, the silver case probably came from London, or even abroad. Symbolic scenes on the cover and base possibly represent Endeavour and its reward, Abundance.
Inscriptions & marks
Movement engraved ' Henry Terold of Ipswich Fecit', for the maker Henry Terold (recorded in 1621-1622 at Bury St Edmunds)
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.
Related records
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
Pocket Watches · 1600
Pocket watch by Hans Reinboldt, France, 1600
German Clock Museum
Pocket Watches · 1600–1699
Pocket watch by Johan Etmiller, Germany, 1600–1699
Nordic Museum Foundation
Pocket Watches · 1600
Pocket watch by anoniem, France, 1600
Rijksmuseum
Pocket Watches · 17th century
Watch by John Bushman, United Kingdom, 17th century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · first quarter of 17th century
Watch by Suzanne de Court, France, first quarter of 17th century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York