Pocket Watches · Watch and case
Watch and case, ca. 1685
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- ca. 1685
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Watch and case
- Materials / technique
- Inner case and dial of silver; outer case of tortoiseshell, decorated in silver piqué work
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- 635:1, 2-1864
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number 635:1, 2-1864), this is a watch and case, dated ca. 1685. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Inner case and dial of silver; outer case of tortoiseshell, decorated in silver piqué work. 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 with balance springs proved capable of keeping time to within five minutes a day, rather than half an hour, thus making possible new concepts of punctuality. In the 18th century it became standard for London movements to be numbered, but this one of 1685, numbered 281, is an usually early example. The use of an inner case with an outer protecting case is characteristic of London watches in the late 17th century and much of the 18th century. People Richard Colston was the son of a clockmaker, and became a Freeman of the Clockmakers' Company in 1682. He probably died soon after 1702. Nathaniel Delander was an important casemaker who made cases for a number of watchmakers, including Thomas Tompion. This silver case is typical of its period in that it bears no hallmark. When Delander was threatened with prosecution by the Goldsmiths' Company in 1682 for making a sub-standard gold case, the Clockmakers' Company asserted that gold and silver cases were not liable for hallmarking. However, from 1683 hallmarked cases with Delander's mark are known. Ownership & Use The crescent on the chevron in the arms of the Strickland family, which decorate the outer case, shows that the watch belonged to a second son.
V&A gallery label
British Galleries: In the 16th and 17th centuries watches were luxury objects, but poor timekeepers. The Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) introduced a spiral balance spring in 1675 which enabled the balance wheel to regulate the running of the watch more efficiently. This revolutionary advance was rapidly adopted.
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.
Read next:Verge escapementDetached lever escapementFuseeIdentification Centre
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