Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch by Jean-Henry Ester, Switzerland, 1615-1640
- Maker / attribution
- Jean-Henry Ester (watchmaker)
- Date
- 1615-1640
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Place
- Geneva
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- Enamelled gold and crystal set with almandine garnets and table-cut diamonds
- Dimensions
- Height: 3.9 cm; Width: 2.6 cm; Depth: 2.8 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- 785-1901
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number 785-1901), this is a watch by Jean-Henry Ester, made in Geneva, Switzerland, dated 1615-1640. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Enamelled gold and crystal set with almandine garnets and table-cut diamonds. Recorded dimensions: Height: 3.9 cm; Width: 2.6 cm; Depth: 2.8 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 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 — Physical description
Enamelled gold watch set with almandine garnets and diamonds in the form of a flower bud, top-plate signed 'J H Ester'. Enamelled gold case set with five diamonds in silver (four table-cut) with some use of black backing to the diamonds. On each of the three petals one large faceted almandine garnet, probably set without foil directly onto gold. The settings for the garnets are enamelled en ronde bosse in white and black opaque enamel. A small suspension knob (pendant) is also in the form of a bud and is enamelled in black and white. One of the petals forms a cover and is decorated on the inside of the cover in blue, red, green and brown translucent enamel with a parrot among foliage with flowers and peas in pea-pod style. Enamel dial. Roman numeral hours, dots at the half-hours. Dial centre enamelled with a four-petal flower in deep red translucent enamel, with translucent green oval leaves between the petals. Above and below the chapter ring foliage (one trace of green enamel remaining) on a translucent blue ground, with some loss to the enamel. Steel hand with tail. Brass oval plates. Baluster pillars. Fusee designed for gut line, but line missing. Brass wheels. Verge escapement, steel balance wheel, with pierced single-foot cock. Decorative cover for mainspring click.
V&A — Object history
Bought from Mrs. Noble, London, 1901, for £65.
Inscriptions & marks
engraved 'J H Ester'
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.
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